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KerbalsFTW t1_j4wschy wrote

Reply to comment by farox in [D] I’m a Machine Learning Engineer for FAANG companies. What are some places I can get started doing freelance work for ML? by doctorjuice

Ex-software freelancer here.

> First thing is that as a freelancer you're not part of "the team". This can be good or bad for you, I think it's fantastic.

Agreed, but with a few caveats:

  • You always need a plan for your contract to end, including early. (Never happened to me, but I always planned for it).

  • Companies will eventually try to treat you like staff: assuming you'll always be there and they can tell you what to do rather than asking if you'll do something. At this point you need to start telling them about the break from them you are about to be taking.

> In my experience most small companies won't have use for you. For one, you'll be more expensive than their employed staff, but they also want to keep that know how in house.

Disagree here: small companies struggle to get a wide enough set of skills, and they also have projects that need finishing without expanding their committed outgoings.

There are two major downsides to freelancing:

  • Location. If you are not in a very big tech city you will have to frequently relocate, or work primarily from home (in which case you are competing with very, very cheap people).

  • Skills. Companies do not give you time to learn the next big thing. You are expected to turn a profit for them from day 1. If they are going to be investing in their staff learning new things, it will be with staff they expect to stick around.

> Another thing to keep in mind: Do not go into this for the money. If you factor everything in: Vacation, sick days, hardware, licenses, pension/retirement (rule of thumb: 30% of your net income) etc. it doesn't come out that far apart.

Agreed.... depends how much you value flexibility and time to work on your own projects.

As regards finding work: agencies are essential at first, tell everyone you meet you are a freelance software guy (keep it vague: they'll probe if they need someone), friends and contacts works great but not at first, try to find a "social technology hub" in your city. These are clubs that are frequented by people who work at the big tech places and socialise, this might be a hackerspace or an exercise club. They are not always easy to find.

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