Hello. I am Aaron. I lead a five-person team based in the Philippines. We have over the years made our money by landing projects from clients and agencies in the US, Latin America and Europe. We used platforms like Upwork, Freelancer and Toptal to find this work. As you may have noticed, the rise of AI agents and the spread of corporate automation have changed things. Many developers have lost their jobs. These developers are now competing in the freelance market, which has made it harder for us to find work. The space for us has gotten smaller. Because of this our revenue has not dropped over the past few years but has also become very unpredictable. Income levels for developers in Asia are still much lower than what developers earn in the US, Latin America and Europe. At the time the number of companies and clients who were once actively looking for developers from Asia has gone down. The talent pool from the US, Latin America and Europe has grown. Now more competition is coming from those regions. We used to handle these challenges when the work was steady.. Now things are very different. After thinking it through we’ve realized our way of working can no longer support stable long-term income. So we are now looking at two paths: First shifting our focus to AI specialization. Second, expanding our operations into high-revenue markets like the US, Latin America and Europe. But here’s the problem: we don’t have the skills to carry out these plans. Even though we want to move into the AI field we haven’t found the right people to make this shift happen. Our team has technical skills in AI automation. We’ve worked with AI and Large Language Models (LLMs). We believe there is a lot of profit to be made by using AI training platforms like Mercor, AfterQuery, DataAnnotation, Outlier, Turing and Snorkel. Projects in this space often require expertise, in natural sciences not just software engineering. That means we are missing the kind of talent. We also face limitations because of where we're located. We can’t easily bring in people with the background.

Hello, I am a Senior AI and Data Engineer with extensive experience in building data pipelines, backend systems, and AI-powered applications. My work primarily involves leveraging Python, SQL, ETL/ELT processes, APIs, cloud platforms, and data engineering technologies. I have a proven track record of successfully designing reliable data pipelines, integrating diverse data sources, improving data quality, and optimizing database and application performance. In the AI ​​domain, I utilize machine learning and cutting-edge AI technologies to build practical solutions for data processing, automation, intelligent search, and application workflows. I enjoy the end-to-end development process—taking a project from the data layer through the backend to a fully production-ready solution. I am a proactive problem-solver who excels at tackling complex challenges and collaborating closely with Product, Engineering, and Business teams. I prioritize writing clean, maintainable code and building systems that are reliable, scalable, and easy to manage. My strength lies in combining a solid foundation in data engineering with backend development experience and practical AI knowledge. I place great value on using technology to solve real-world business problems rather than adopting tools simply for the sake of using them. I am currently wrapping up my previous engagement and actively seeking new opportunities. I value collaboration with fellow developers and always welcome conversations with others interested in software development or the latest trends in AI. I also have a proposal for a new collaboration, which you can review below. https://docs.google.com/document/d/1LI7Pm-BTuFDtSUEJyHWh1IYstdFLmHqYvd8CvDZP4bM/edit?usp=drive_link