After 14 years of service working for &#x27;da man&#x27; as a Linux Admin (a.k.a. DevOps Engineer, as the youngins now call it) in the corporate world, I&#x27;ve decided to form an LLC and work corp to corp hourly only, with a specialization in automation (scripting, config management, fixing up operations procedures, policies and monitoring, infrastructure advice and setup, etc.)<p>Already in my first contract now, and the joys from billing hourly and watching full-time colleagues work more hours, and on-call&#x2F;weekend (&quot;unpaid overtime&quot;), while I get paid for everything I do, make it joyful compared to my FTE days.  I also feel a lot more productive since my work is project-based and focused.<p>What&#x27;s less joyful is looking for my next gig after this one ends.<p>When I use Dice, I get contacted by recruiters every so often who do have gigs, but want to take 50% of my money.  For a 140&#x2F;hr gig, they want to pay 80.  This is a running theme, and what they do is contact a bunch of people like me, soliciting the lowest bid, regardless of skillset.  They all do it.<p>How do I avoid this race to the bottom, and get access to employers &#x2F; small businesses &#x2F; etc. looking for automation engineers like myself?   Is there a site that&#x27;s for people like myself?  Sites like simplyhired cater more towards full-blown devs, and I&#x27;m a &#x27;sys admin who can code&#x27;.  Also have some cloud experience.<p>Anyone do something like this?  I&#x27;m in NYC, by the way.  If so, how do you keep steady contracts coming your way?
Ask HN: How to find gigs as an independent contractor