Fifty-seven million people, or 35% of the total U.S. workforce, are choosing to freelance this year, according to a survey commissioned by Upwork and the Freelancers Union. Of these, 60%, or 14.8 million, are moonlighters—professionals who have a primary job (contingent or traditional) who moonlight with a side job. For tech workers who freelance, or want to freelance, technical interviewing is an awesome freelancing gig. Below are six reasons why.
- Low, flexible commitment.
Being a freelance technical interviewer fits your life. This is because you conduct as few or as many technical interviews as you’d like. You can conduct 10 technical interviews one week, and two, three, or even none the next week. So if your workload in your primary job is going nuts, there’s no worry that this freelance gig will at the same time.So if your workload at your primary job is going nuts, don’t worry; you’ll be able to pick up this freelance gig right where you left off. Other freelance work (such as IT projects) often does not have the same workload flexibility.
- It’s not more of the same from your day job.
Adding more IT projects—coding, for example—often means more of the same of what you’re doing at your day job. It can be easy to burn out, on both the freelance gig and your primary role. With technical interviews, you might conduct them from time to time in your regular job, but they aren’t core to it. As a result, with technical interviewing freelance work, there’s far less chance that it contributes to burnout. Especially given the low, flexible commitment involved.
- Help pick the best and brightest.
You may not be able to pick who you work with at your primary job, but with freelance technical interviewing, you get a key role in determining the people who are getting employed in the tech profession. You get to use practices and make decisions how you wish your hiring managers and directors would. This can be a highly satisfying experience.
As part of this effort, you can have a hand in promoting diversity, by ensuring that those under-represented in the tech industry (e.g., women, ethnic minorities, LGBTQ, etc.) get equal treatment and an equal chance during your interviewing and evaluation process.
- Work in your existing contact sphere.
In many cases, the people you conduct technical interviews on behalf of are people you know—which helps keep the process comfortable for all parties. A typical scenario is the person next door from another company who trusts your technical expertise asks you for input to help evaluate an IT candidate. Why not take advantage of this and earn supplemental income from your technical skill and interviewing experience? It’s, of course, also possible to extend your technical interviewing freelancing to contacts of friends, or even completely outside your contact sphere—especially as word about your technical interviewing services spreads.
- Make yourself a more attractive hire.
In two ways, technical interviewing can be valuable for landing future job opportunities. First, the people you perform technical interviews for will be familiar with your technical skill, and you likely will be high on their list of potential candidates if you’re interested. Second, putting technical interviewing on your resume is attractive to all employers, as it is indicative of technical skill and experience, as well as communication ability. As a technical interviewer, you both interview candidates (verbal communication) and write reports on candidates (written communication).
6. It’s great networking.
When you conduct freelance technical interviews, you get to know key people at client companies, as well as interviewees. Many of these can be valuable contacts in your own career. Talking to fellow IT pros can be enjoyable. Interactions with candidates, fellow freelancers, and industry leaders alike can be valuable for both sharing expertise and learning.
Related: Keeping Your Employer Satisfied with Your New Freelance Gig
Interested in freelance technical interviewing through eTeki? Contact us at info@eteki.com or 813-513-7722.
