Advice needed: I'm thinking of working online and stopping going into the office
Advice needed: I'm thinking of working online and stopping going into the office
(OP)
Hi all,
I'm a semi-retired mechanical engineer, and I'm a bit tired of my commute into Reading, UK, every day. I've been thinking of trying to work as a freelancer online, but I'm not sure if it works.
Have any of you engineers ever worked online before? Does it work? Do you trust it?
I ask because one of the young engineers at work showed me a couple of these sites and said there might be engineering work on there. www.lytbulb.com, www.elance.com, www.odesk.com
What do you all think?
Regards,
Bill
I'm a semi-retired mechanical engineer, and I'm a bit tired of my commute into Reading, UK, every day. I've been thinking of trying to work as a freelancer online, but I'm not sure if it works.
Have any of you engineers ever worked online before? Does it work? Do you trust it?
I ask because one of the young engineers at work showed me a couple of these sites and said there might be engineering work on there. www.lytbulb.com, www.elance.com, www.odesk.com
What do you all think?
Regards,
Bill





RE: Advice needed: I'm thinking of working online and stopping going into the office
I send all of my submissions, and drawings on line to my customer, and have a head to head meeting once a week, to go over things that we would not want to share with others. I work with people I know and have worked with in the past. I have not worked in the blind to an internet site.
B.E.
You are judged not by what you know, but by what you can do.
RE: Advice needed: I'm thinking of working online and stopping going into the office
I wouldn't sub out any work to an individual I had never met, unless that person was taking full and sole responsibility for the work and I had little risk from me to my clients.
RE: Advice needed: I'm thinking of working online and stopping going into the office
If you are offended by the things I say, imagine the stuff I hold back.
RE: Advice needed: I'm thinking of working online and stopping going into the office
RE: Advice needed: I'm thinking of working online and stopping going into the office
You could just move north and get away from the M4 corridor.
RE: Advice needed: I'm thinking of working online and stopping going into the office
I own a small design company and we work for companies throughout the UK and a few in Europe and Africa. It is very common to not visit them or at least only visit on a very occasional basis , so yes it is possible to do all or a very large majority of the work online but I am guessing you already knew that.
When I started up I worked from home for a few months, mostly to keep costs down and get a good idea of what kind of office I wanted to move into and get a feel for what was about, never make stress purchases unless you can possibly not avoid it. I absolutely hated it, possibly because in my mind I knew it was only for a short while but I never turned a room into an office, it was a spare room with office stuff in it, everything was a mess and I never came to terms with starting and finishing work and days and weeks just drifted away with no real definition to them. Having said all that I am not the most organised or tidy person and this is probably a failing of mine more than working from home but as I said I hated it.
Getting work is a huge part of any business and especially start up companies. Basically unless there is a glut of work or a shortage of skilled people you are going to have to win work from companies that have long standing relationships, why are people going to choose you, even if they are aware of you? If you don’t have a very good answer to that question then I would say you will almost certainly fail, that is the key to any start up. Putting your name on a couple of web sites is highly unlikely to provide enough work, however they will probably want paying anyway.
RE: Advice needed: I'm thinking of working online and stopping going into the office
http://www.nceng.com.au/
"Programming today is a race between software engineers striving to build bigger and better idiot-proof programs, and the Universe trying to produce bigger and better idiots. So far, the Universe is winning."
RE: Advice needed: I'm thinking of working online and stopping going into the office
RE: Advice needed: I'm thinking of working online and stopping going into the office
http://www.nspe.org/PEmagazine/index.html
RE: Advice needed: I'm thinking of working online and stopping going into the office
I think the common answer there was the same that I expected; it's based on personal relationships. I can't see inside that Lytbulb one cause it's invitation only, but as "rowingengineer" writes, any engineering work on those other ones Elance and O Desk seem to be VASTLY under priced. Is anyone a member of that Lytbulb one? What happens in there?
I agree that my previous relationships are going to be the ones that generate my work if I go "freelance from home". Maybe then I can get out from the M4 (right on "ScottyUK"!)
Sometimes I wonder about this rise of internet and networking and all this. Does it make my work easier? I guess the emails and online file storage does in a way. But most of the systems I use with the consultancy companies are difficult to access from home.
Do you guys use any websites for file storage or communication that you recommend? I'll need to use something easy if i do end up "freelancing"
Cheers,
Bill
RE: Advice needed: I'm thinking of working online and stopping going into the office
Much communicating is done with e mails these days, but then the same storage problem comes up if you didn't print out the mail.
RE: Advice needed: I'm thinking of working online and stopping going into the office
RE: Advice needed: I'm thinking of working online and stopping going into the office
not worth your while imo. you will be bidding against indians 99% of the time and be forced to underbid A LOT.
try to find work in your local area through networking etc.
RE: Advice needed: I'm thinking of working online and stopping going into the office
B+W Engineering and Design
Los Angeles Civil Engineer and Structural Engineer
http://bwengr.com | http://bwstructuralengineer.com | http://bwcivilengineer.com