[joeld42]

I do this, what I do is avoid recruiters and look for job postings that are a good fit, then send them an email asking if they'd be interested in discussing part time contract work instead of FTE. Often they say no, they want full-time (especially at larger companies) but sometimes they are willing to chat about it.

I think you have to have enough experience that you (and the employer) are comfortable skipping the interview gauntlet. After all, if you're contract if you're not doing good work they can just stop. One thing that is helpful is to suggest working on a small, limited project for like 2-4 weeks, and they can decide if they want to continue working with you or not. (of course, you have to do a good job on the project).

It's a little weird, there are times when I'm scrambling for work and it seems like there's nothing out there, and other times when I'm turning away work, but if you can deal with the unpredictability it can be good.