switching from programmer to project manager

[m_webber]

Hi Community,
i was working several years now as a programmer and there are more and more health problems with each year. so i wanted to look in the posibility of becoming project manager here, instead of working myself.
I'm interested in making my own team of beginner programmers from here, which will work for me at hourly rate based on project i have won here and for me to receive percentage of the deal.
My questions is it possible here to do that (as agency?) Does client will see that someone else is working on the project instead of me? Are the costs beneficial? did anyone had successfull swith like this?

Thanks

[petra_r · Accepted solution]

The short answer is that you can't have anyone work on your projects without the client's knowledge and consent, and as an agency you do not hire your agency members, the client does through your agency and the freelancers can see what the client is paying you.

What you are planning is not how an agency operates, it is subcontracting and that requires (on fixed price contracts) the knowledge and consent of the client and is not allowed on hourly contracts.

It is also not likely to be profitable as essentially the Upwork fee gets applied twice so between the double fee and what the freelancers earn there is little room for you to make money unless you really scrape the bottom of the barrel with the people you get to do the work, and that way quality will likely be poor.

[vladag]

Hi Nikolai,

Petra shared correct information and you'd need the client's consent in order to transition their contract to a different freelancer. You can find more information about how the Agency model works and is set up in this Help article.