Victoria, BC Freelancers: Where’s the Co-Working?
I know there must be more people than I freelancing in this town; I’ve been competing with you in the SERPs for the last year now.
How many people would have some interest in a co-working arrangement? Is anyone already sharing office space? Is there any office space available?
If you’ve stumbled across this page, either from the coworking wiki or in a random Google search, take a second to comment on your interest - even if it’s just “maybe one day a week, maybe”. I think it would be good to gauge the interest in such a venture.
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April 24th, 2008 at 2:16 pm
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April 25th, 2008 at 2:02 am
Hello, Adam!
I’ve been freelancing in Victoria for about a year now, doing some web development stuff. I know at least one other person that does the same. Mostly for US clients, but right now I’m associated with a local company Walkinweb, working on some of their projects.
I’m doing this part time, as I’m in my second year only. However, this summer we’re starting a startup company (however redundant this might seem), providing some services to different enterprises. Give me a shout if you might be at all interested in this. We might be interested in coworking option. If not “we”, then definitely “me”, as I would love to change a pace at which I work. Sharing an office space seems like a great idea.
P.S.: I came here from Google, searching for “Indochino”. I talked to Kyle (and then to their at-the-moment developer) last summer about doing PHP stuff for them, but as he fairly noticed I didn’t have any industry experience back then. Things have changed though :)
April 25th, 2008 at 8:57 pm
Hi Grigory,
I’m a part-timer myself, and have about the same experience (although I was a PHP developer when I started). I’m sort of working on the startup thing myself, as of sometime this week.
Anyhow, I’ll have to see how the summer’s prospects turn out, but I’m definitely interested if I can scrape together the cash flow freelancing between classes.
I’ve had a similar experience with Kyle, although less involved. I like to send them some correction to their site every now and then though. It makes me feel like a big man.
May 1st, 2008 at 6:39 am
I’ve been running my company for 3 years now and have only just got my own space. We spent the last couple years working out of coffee shops. It sure is hard finding good rentable space in Victoria. OUR Tiny office space is located on the back side of the Fernwood Squar… with 3 guys it’s already kinda packed but we’ve got two really comfy chairs perfect for a drop-in or two. Not sure if anyone would be interested but we’re always game for meeting new people and sharing inspiration. I’d be down with having a few people by most Friday’s if anyone’s interested. Kind of like the Jelly concept I contemplated a while ago.
http://www.simplestation.com/journal/jelly-anyone/
October 29th, 2008 at 6:44 pm
Hey Adam,
I ended up freelancing in Victoria after coming here from NZ on a 1 year working holiday visa; my partner got herself a great job with the government so we’re still here!
After a struggle to find non-Windows (preference) non-Java (skillset) development I ended up contracting for a UK company a friend was running tech for; the currency is great but the contact hours (my 9am is their 5pm) leave a bit to be desired! It’s a full-time contract so I haven’t had to tout for business so far, and have been a bit wary of getting further into freelancing as ‘full-time’ turns into full-on at crunch times, which isn’t too helpful for satisfying other clients…
As my first attempt at working outside the office it’s been ‘interesting’: I can’t work in a cafe as I find the people, noise (particularly background chat and espresso machines!) all too distracting; but working from home for the UK means no peer group and no shortage of home distractions. I’m also ‘new’ to PHP (~1yr) and web development (~2.5yr), having mainly done C++ backend telco stuff before.
I can’t promise anything long-term as we’re only planning to be here for another 2-or-so years but I’m interested in anything adhoc or commitments on the scale of months. Jelly sounds interesting but I also have the same space restrictions at home, plus probably Vic business licensing if they decided to weigh in…
Definitely interested in some social/peer contact though - it was my UK friend’s suggestion to sell the numbers at their xmas party by combining with their local freelancers group that prompted me for the first time to put ‘victoria’ and ‘freelance’ into the same search term - shocking! ;-)
Cheers!
November 8th, 2008 at 7:43 am
Hey Bob,
I’ve not gotten very far as far as this goes, on account of not being able to host it, and not trying very hard to get anything together.
However, there is a facebook group for graphic/web designers in Victoria. I’ve just stumbled upon it, it seems alright.
January 21st, 2009 at 11:53 pm
Hi all,
Looks like we might have a co-working opportunity coming up on Mayne Island (one of the Southern Gulf Islands). If Victoria-area folks are interested in co-working, pop over here and drop me a line: http://flyingtroll.com/post/72180962/victoria-gulf-islands-co-working
April 12th, 2009 at 11:14 pm
Any updates on co-working in Victoria? I’ve recently moved here and work at home full time and currently lack a decent home office. I am looking at converting the garage into the ultimate software developers home office, but that I would explore co-working options as well.