HR Guide & Talent Position Requirements
Before reading this document, to make sure you get paid, make sure you have read this article.
Please read this entire document thoroughly and check pinned and bookmarked messages in ld-engineers / ld-techtalent.
Position Requirements
To ensure we are able to bring you the highest quality of clients, please try to meet the following requirements:
- Please respond to client introductions within 24 hours.
- Please 'check in' at the designated Slack 'check in' time of your channel. Write 'check in' in the project channel with an update on the project status.
- Please respond to Slack communication:
- within 1 hour during your work schedule (and inform your client of your schedule)
- within 24 hours on weekdays (M-F)
- within 48 hours on weekends (Sa-S)
- You can set your own work hours but you should make sure to check in with clients at the agreed-upon time.
- Please inform us and your client ahead of time if you will be unable to do #1 and #2 for a particular period of time due to sickness, an emergency, vacation, holidays, time off, or any other reason. If you need to extend your time off, then you should send a note in Slack regarding that.
- Example 1: First, you message that you'll be off for 3 days for sickness, but if you're still not better, then you can message on the 3rd day, that you'll be off for another 2 days for sickness. This way the client is never wondering if you ghosted them.
- Example 2: Each day that you are off, you just message in your project 1-on-1 channel saying that you need to take the day off.
- Please update your client (if you are assigned) once every weekday (M-F) with your status (i.e. during the check-in time once it is set).
- Time tracking should only take place when you are associated with a client project. You should only track time when contributing significantly to a client project's codebase or work -- not for idle time, waiting, or simple back-and-forth communication, unless the client says specifically that it is acceptable. For specific questions beyond this on what type of time you can track (i.e. whether you can track calls, etc), please ask the client you are working with.
- Talent are expected to keep project information confidential and uphold NDAs and terms provided by clients, as well as the Terms of Service and Privacy Policy of LD Talent.
- Please report your hours worked using Slack.
- You do so by putting specifically formatted messages in the project Slack channel:
- [30-m work session] Working on …
- You need to replace … with brief but useful information for the client and LD Talent
- Your messages will be identified by our Slack bots and then deducted from the hours balance that the client has funded.
- Clients need to approve your work sessions for you to get paid. means the work session has been registered and means that the client has approved the work session.
- This time tracking mechanism is intended to provide information to the client and protect your privacy by not taking screenshots, etc., as some other systems do.
- Paypal or an alternative service will be used to make payouts to you 7 days after the work session is approved by the client.
- Note: If your country does not support PayPal please message us in your lde channel and we will use an alternative (Skrill, Payoneer, Xoom, ACH, etc.).
- Note: This waiting period also applies to: github + blog projects and reviews, q&a projects, bonus payments, and any other amount due.
- You do so by putting specifically formatted messages in the project Slack channel:
- Please do not discuss payment issues or payment-related matters with our clients directly. Our clients expect LD Talent to take care of such detail. Therefore, point such comments to your personal lde channel only.
- Please do not work after the 5-hour free trial until the client funds the next invoice for 20 hours. It is okay to spend a few minutes providing a proposal or time estimate for the rest of the project, but otherwise, it is important that you track your time so that you make your fair salary.
- Please do not discuss pricing or hourly rates with the client. Ask the LD staff in your personal lde channel to help with the matter.
- Only communicate with clients in the Slack project channel and Slack interview channel. Not in a Slack direct message, email, or any non-Slack method. If a client reaches out to you outside the platform then inform us in your lde channel.
- Please highlight your strengths (not weaknesses) when communicating with clients.
- For contractors: Please do not discuss or mention your other jobs (like if you have a day job) with clients. You are a freelance talent so it is understood that you may have other gigs. However, the focus for client communication should be their project.
- Please do not send Slack direct messages. Send private direct-message content in your lde channel so LD Staff can respond to you.
- Until you are assigned to a client, if you want some paid work, here is an opportunity.
- Note payments for this work will also be made after the work is completed and reviewed.
Thank you for your excellence!
HR Guide
- We have a culture of:
- remote engineering, geeking out, git committing, and stackoverflow-ing
- efficient text-based communication in Slack
- timely and periodic check-ins in Slack
- transparent communication in Slack
- efficient project planning and smart time management in Trello
- frequent code committing and clear commit messages
- leveraging cloud technologies and hosting
- organization and cleanliness
- freedom
- responsibility, ownership, and pride in work
- digital nomad - travel-friendly as long as you are online during your work hours
- adopting popular and modern technologies
- empathetic design and agile engineering
- social media presence
- trust
- friendliness, courtesy, empathy, respect, and professionalism
- pride in work
- helping each other
- We encourage using first names with everyone -- both clients and talent.
- Be sure to spell people's names correctly and in general use correct spelling and grammar as a display of professionalism.
- Be kind to fellow talent and clients.
- We care about each and every one of our talent's happiness both in their work and overall. We ask for feedback periodically so we can improve the experience for you, but please feel free to reach out and let us know if something is upsetting you or concerns you.
What you should do if you are stuck on a problem:
- Research thoroughly on google, leveraging stackoverflow.com and similar sites.
- Ask in responsive online chat groups such as the #skill-[skill name] channel in the LD Talent Slack.
- Or post your question in the ld-engineers / ld-techtalent channel to ask fellow talent if they know the solution to the issue you are facing.
- If you find the solution, then you may consider posting it on blog.ldtalentwork.com -- you'll be financially compensated for this - details here.
Please configure your Slack notifications so you do not miss time-sensitive notes from clients or us.
