Ask HN: How did you land your first projects as a solo engineer/consultant?

Hacker News Discussion ↗

How People Landed Their First Consulting Gigs

  • Overwhelmingly via existing relationships:
    • Former coworkers, bosses, and employers bringing them in as “trusted hands.”
    • Friends referring them to small businesses or startups.
    • Prior equity/”advisory” roles naturally converting into paid work.
  • Community presence:
    • Being genuinely helpful on Slack/Discord/forums led to inbound work.
    • Writing open source that people adopted, then needed help with.
    • Blog posts, articles, and conference talks acting as “credibility beacons.”
  • Chance encounters:
    • Meeting people at conferences, bars, or in niche communities (e.g., OS/2 users, scientists, photographers).

Cold Outreach, SEO, and Platforms

  • Cold email is seen as low-yield due to massive spam volume, especially from low-cost offshore agencies.
  • Some report success by:
    • Highly targeted outreach with real, tailored value (mini-diagnoses, Loom videos, concrete suggestions).
    • SEO + LinkedIn content bringing in a trickle of leads.
    • Upwork-style platforms working after building reviews; otherwise, it’s a race to the bottom on rates.
  • Lead-gen/consultant-matching agencies can be useful early on, at the cost of a commission.

Specialization vs Generalist Debate

  • Strong push to differentiate:
    • Become an expert in one technical area, tool, or business vertical (e.g., ERP, executive search, OS/2, Salesforce-like ecosystems).
    • Show a clear face, story, and portfolio; generic “AI consulting” or “backend dev” is seen as undifferentiated.
  • Counterpoints:
    • Deep specialization narrows the potential client pool.
    • Some claim clients are increasingly unwilling to pay “expert rates,” citing layoffs and perceived AI substitutes.
    • Others strongly dispute this, arguing experts remain in demand and generalists are more replaceable by LLMs.
    • T-shaped profiles (deep in one area, broad elsewhere, including business knowledge) are praised.

Business Realities of Solo Consulting

  • You must handle marketing, sales, contracts, billing, and dry spells; some enjoy this, others find it exhausting.
  • Recommendations:
    • Avoid working for free beyond tightly scoped “free consultations.”
    • Use small, paid milestones to align incentives and reduce risk.
    • Treat early clients as seed for referrals and case studies, not one-offs.
  • Several commenters ultimately chose employment or consulting firms for stability and to avoid constant self-promotion.