The State Of Tech Freelancing in The Netherlands: The power of the freelance community

By Wietse Boersma, Recruiter.

This post first appeared on LinkedIn on the 16th of April 2020.

A solution to the issue of suboptimal freelance engineer performance and flow, from a recruitment consultancy and resourcing perspective, lies in (facilitation of a freelance) community. The often-heard sales pitch of a recruitment consultant ‘making the match between organisation and engineer’ is simply no longer adequate rhetoric -- rather an echo of days gone by

In my opinion, a solution to the issue of suboptimal freelance engineer performance and flow, from a recruitment consultancy and resourcing perspective, lies in (facilitation of a freelance) community. The often-heard sales pitch of a recruitment consultant ‘making the match between organisation and engineer’ is simply no longer adequate rhetoric -- rather an echo of days gone by. Consultancy that goes beyond moving CVs from point A to point B is the future. The (recruitment) consultancy industry needs to continuously consider and (further) develop its value proposition. In addition to the acquisition of clients and projects, candidate networking, and subsequent matchmaking, third-party freelance engineering consultancy should add value by providing communal aspects that benefit both client and freelance engineer. A freelancing community, if you will, should offer freelance engineers the advantages that permanent employment at a client organisation may provide.

Enter OrinoQo

OrinoQo provides such communal advantages alongside freelance IT mediation. It’s an ‘inner circle’ for organisations and freelance engineers alike, both adhering to principles that aim to optimize flow, trust, cohesion and performance. After all, at a time when software engineers are scarce and demand is high, organisations should worry about engineers wanting to join the company when the necessity arises. Simultaneously, engineers profit from organisations pledging to create an environment for freelancers that lets them do what they do best. Such an environment will enable the engineer to deliver value to business.

In order to opt in to the OrinoQo community, organisations should pledge to provide stability, an environment that facilitates personal growth, flexibility for its engineers, and an environment of technological modernity (and -splendour). They should perform due diligence by agreeing to apt all-in hourly rates, payment terms and termination terms. An organisation that provides such a culture will get the most out of their freelance engineers.

OrinoQo community affiliation, in turn, will allow for organisations to resource plan effectively, guarantee engineer prowess thru OrinoQo code reviewing, -interviewing and self-sustaining community referencing. Moreover, the communal advantages (in terms of cohesion, coaching and feedback) make for engaged engineers. As discussed in the previous blog, research has shown that engaged people are less anxious, less depressed, in better physical health, more positive and thereby often motivated intrinsically, proactive, on-site more often, less likely to leave, and high-performant.

Engineers, for their part, should pledge to participate in community events whenever possible, thereby strengthening the community and its advantages. Engineers should also allow for the OrinoQo community to codereview and -interview in order for OrinoQo to guarantee its community engineers’ technological splendour to affiliated organisations. The freelance engineer will not have to worry about project acquisition anymore because of OrinoQo community affiliation. Most important of all, the engineer will benefit from the support, coaching, cohesion and trust that the community will provide, thereby becoming an engaged engineer. Naturally, the happy client organisation that follows, encourages structural business and smiling faces all around.

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