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Can you please provide me pointers to websites where i can pick up some real challenging work and contribute?

Regards, Siddharth

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What do you mean? Are you looking forward to contribute to open source software, find work at a startup or find a co-founder that is willing to partner up with you? – Olivier Lalonde Dec 12 '09 at 8:27
olalonde - looking Siddharth's previous question, it seems to be that he's looking for startups to work with. – Joseph Fung Dec 21 '09 at 0:27
I work as an architect for a product company. My expertise is in server side development like building application servers, BPM/workflow engine, XML repositories etc etc. I am basically looking for an exiting start up where i can contribute as a part timer and then eventually looking forward to do something of my own. Right now i am looking for people who have exiting ideas where i can help them building the software ... – Siddharth Dec 21 '09 at 17:21

2 Answers

up vote 2 down vote accepted

Generally, I'd say that in-person networking will be your best bet, unfortunately your profile indicates you're in India, so I'm not sure I can recommend any good events/groups to you.

However, if I was in your position, here's what I would do:

  1. Find startups you like, and follow their company, developers & CEO's on Twitter - chat with them there to get to know them and see if you can help out or if they know someone you can help. Startups know other startups so this is a good route. Here are the twitter handles for a few early-stage companies I'd recommend (ie. I've met the founders and they would probably welcome help): @giftah, @welldotca, @guestlistapp, @sprouter

  2. Look at job postings on freelance sites that talk about "new company" or "startup" e.g. elance.com, scriptlance.com, getacoder.com - see what's interesting there.

  3. Build a profile/portfolio: your profile on this site doesn't tell me much about you. If I were considering having you help my startup, I'd want to see links to work you've done (e.g. live sites, code samples in code.google.com, open source projects, articles you've written, etc). If you don't have this stuff up on a blog, I'd recommend you do so ASAP.

  4. Contact people that work directly with startups, and send them your pitch and portfolio (see #3 above). I'd contact angels and small boutique VC's, as well as accelerators. So - drop a line to the folksat ycombinator.com or acceleratorcentre.com and let them know you'll help one of their startups if they want.

  5. Consider joining and posting your request on Sprouter.com - it's a twitter-like community specifically for entrepreneurs, and the community managers there are VERY active in trying to get people connected.

Not sure this is the answer you're looking for, but I hope it helps.

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Joseph thanks a lot. Yes this is the exact answer i was looking for. I will follow your suggestions and i hope i will get what i want !!! – Siddharth Dec 21 '09 at 17:19
Also, if you drop me an email I'll ask around with the startups I know to see if they are looking for help in your areas of expertise (I'm at joseph (at) josephfung (dot) ca) – Joseph Fung Dec 22 '09 at 13:57
Siddharth, if this is the right answer for you (and it does look like a good answer), then you should mark it as accepted so that Joseph gets credit for it. – Denis Hennessy Dec 22 '09 at 21:23
Accepted ... done – Siddharth Dec 23 '09 at 17:45

What kind of work are you trying to pick up? We are a start-up and I'd be interested to know what your specialties are.

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I work as an architect for a product company. My expertise is in server side development like building application servers, BPM/workflow engine, XML repositories etc etc. I am basically looking for an exiting start up where i can contribute as a part timer and then eventually looking forward to do something of my own. Please let me know if you think i can be of any help to you – Siddharth Dec 21 '09 at 17:16

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