Freelance
Hiring a developer who also understands the rest of the project.
Alongside a full-time job I keep building freelance, outside office hours. That makes this a good fit for scoped work that has to get done — a module, an integration, a migration, an audit — and a poor fit for a chair in your office from nine to five. Below is exactly where the line runs, so you do not discover it afterwards.
When this fits
A scoped piece that has to get done
A module, an integration, a migration: work with a clear edge around it. You describe what it has to do, I deliver it in agreed steps, and progress is visible without us having to share the same hours.
An agency with overflow
More work in than capacity, or a project that calls for Laravel while the team is booked elsewhere. I work as a subcontractor, white label if you prefer, with you as the point of contact towards the client.
A speciality you need once
Peppol and e-invoicing, Stripe Connect, a migration that cannot fail, or an audit of what is there. Work you would not hire a permanent developer for, that still has to be right — and that scopes well.
A codebase nobody dares touch
The developer has moved on, the framework is versions behind, and the next change is frightening. I take it over, get tests and a deployment under it, and hand it back with a document explaining how it runs.
What this is not for: daily presence, working inside your sprint from nine to five, or a role that has to be reachable during the day. If that is what you need, a full-time freelancer or a permanent hire is the better call, and I would rather say so now than after the first week.
How it works in practice
Outside office hours
The work happens in the evenings and at weekends. In practice that means a steady stream of deliveries rather than full days: you are told up front how many hours a week realistically go in, and the planning is built on that rather than hoping for it.
€85 per hour, €105 for specialist work
Both excluding VAT, and per hour worked rather than per day present — you pay for what was built. The higher rate covers work where the risk sits with me or the clock is against us: e-invoicing and Peppol, payments, audits, migrations, and anything against a hard deadline. Each month you get an overview of where the hours went, grouped per piece of work.
In your repository, by your rules
Your branching model, your review, your style. I am not there to tell you how it should be done; I write code that does not stand out from the rest, and documentation for what I changed — which counts double when we do not speak daily.
Meetings at hours that work
A conversation in the evening or early morning, a written update each week, and a kick-off in person in West Flanders when it is worth the drive. A reply to a message within the day, even though the building happens later.
What you will want to know
Can you work at our office during the day?
No. I have a full-time job and freelance alongside it, so the work happens in the evenings and at weekends. If you need somebody present or reachable during office hours, I am the wrong choice — better known now than after the first sprint.
How much time can you put in, then?
That is agreed up front, in hours per week rather than days, and I take on only a couple of things at a time so the promise holds. For most of the work here that is plenty; for something due tomorrow, it is not.
What is your hourly rate?
€85 per hour for ordinary development work, €105 for specialist work and work against a hard deadline — both excluding VAT. It is stated here so you do not have to ask. Tell me what is on the table and you get back which rate applies and how many hours I see in it, before anything is committed.
Can you work as a subcontractor for an agency?
Yes, and it is part of the work. White label towards your client if you want, with you as the point of contact, and with the same clarity about when the work happens.
Which stack do you work in?
Laravel and Livewire first of all, with PHP, MySQL, PostgreSQL, Redis and Docker around them. Vue where the front end calls for it, and Magento, Shopify or WooCommerce when it is e-commerce.
Work that has to get done, outside the hours?
Describe briefly what is on the table, which stack and by when. You get back whether it fits the hours that exist, what I see in it, and when I could start.
Taking on new work