Ask HN: Where do you look for a remote part-time programming job? Do they exist?

Recruiters told you those roles don't exist because recruiters are compensated on a percentage of your salary. Lower salary, lower fee, but it takes the same amount of work to fill the role. So why should they bother with part-time when there are loads of full-time roles to chase?

However, remote part-time does exist! If you're a frontend developer looking to fill a few extra hours on contract feel free to reach out - my email is in my profile.

The easiest way is negotiating at your current job. I realize this hasn't worked for you, but it is possible.

The next easiest way is negotiating at new job. You don't tell them upfront you want part-time job, you just get an offer and then negotiate for hours. If you tell them upfront they won't bother interviewing you, if you can negotiate once you have an offer you have much stronger position.

Here's someone who has been doing this for years: https://codewithoutrules.com/2018/01/08/part-time-programmer...

(Also don't use the phrase "part-time", "reduced hours" maybe, especially if it's 30 hours a week. Makes it sound bad.)

I wrote a book about the process, based on doing it myself multiple times, and a bunch of research and interviews like the one above: https://codewithoutrules.com/3dayweekend/

Happy to answer any questions!

There are plenty of those. Often companies that can't afford to take you on full time, such as if you're working at a prestigious/stable job or if they don't have a steady cash flow.

Startups are a good place to look.

If you have good output, e.g. do more in an hour than many people do in a day, they're easy to negotiate part-time/remote.

How many hours is part time? I'd suggest maybe contacting very small consulting firms, 1-3 man shops that share a tech stack with you. These firms will have occasionally need more work than can handle but won't have the pipeline to hire a full time individual.

Just send them a link to your github profile on linkedin.

You're thinking about this the wrong way. The people who pay think like the following:

1) I need something done.

2) I have a budget for the project/month/year/some period of time or work.

3) I think the project will take X time.

4) I need to find someone who will do the project for the budget and will do it in the amount of time I need. All based on 1-3 above.

5) I'll hire a full time person to do the project for this budget.

It's obviously slightly more complex than that (but not a lot). You have to change their mindset a bit and get what you want out of it. And YOU have to sell yourself into that different mindset.

Are you good at maintenance? Great! Can you do the same about of maintenance as a full time person in only 20 hours and are willing to take the same pay a full time person would take for that work? Great, sell that.

Are you good at getting projects done? Great! Can you do the same about of project work as a full time person in only 20 hours and are willing to take the same pay a full time person would take for that work? Great, sell that.

The point is, companies are used to doing things one way. If you can explain to them why you are a good fit but on a different schedule, they may very well give you what you want. But you have to sell it.

A note on recruiters. They aren't going to sell you as a part time person on a different schedule because that's not the product they sell. A company comes in and asks them for a full time person to fulfill a role. They and the company both understand what that looks like. Recruiters have a network of people they know who can fulfill that role. They find the best ones, submit them, and make the company happy, and get paid.

It's not that recruiters are bad or not progressive. They aren't selling what you are offering. And if you try to sell something different, you're their competition.

If you want what you've described, I suggest getting good at selling yourself.

It's likely easier to go through periods where you contract for a few months, then don't work at all. The problem with part time anything is offering full-time benefits. An employer still has 75% of the costs if you work 50% of the hours.

Consulting, or find someone who needs consistent work done in small amounts. We hire interns and people who want to work after their main jobs to work on our smaller products. This helps keep costs in check, and still provide value to clients.

Try remoteok.io and weworkremotely.com. Dice or Indeed might work too.

It's not so much looking for part-time remote work, so much as looking for remote work and then seeing if they'll handle part time.

Independent contracting or consulting is also an option, but that has it's own caveats -- but might also be a better fit.

What do you class as part time? 4 day weeks should be a lot easier to get, you can get a 5 day then ask to move down. Below 4 days probably gets a lot harder. You might want a non-technical client and freelance for them. Pay might be crap though.

Not affiliated, https://30hourjobs.com/

You can get a full time job and negotiate to go part time after proving yourself for a year or two.