I’m responsible for appointing contractors for all types of work, including this.
I hire people I know or, if it’s a new area for me, based on recommendations from colleagues or my network.
Only if I don’t know anyone and don’t get suitable recommendations do I look at the market and ask for quotes.
People do business with people, not companies. I have used the same external IT team in my last 3 roles.
I know that makes it difficult, but best bet is to build on existing relationships and forge new connections
this post was submitted on 18 Jun 2023
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Ok, thank you so much for your advice.
This aligns with my experience with enterprise contract work. Generally need to have a pre-existing relationship to get a foot in the door. For me this has come from building strong relationships with other devs at the same company. Some of those devs will move on and go down the management track, the higher up they get, and depending on your relationship, the more likely they would want to bring you in for a specific thing since "I've seen RandomDevOpsDude implement this successfully before, why not get him to do it again?" style.
I have a couple large customers (as in $billion+ companies) and I got the contracts because I knew people at the company, or knew someone who knew someone. Remember the foundation of business is trust. Getting a referral is basically a shortcut to them trusting you. If you then go on to do good work for them you can get a very good thing going for yourself.