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What is it like freelancing? Is it a viable option to earn income? (self.cs_career_questions)

submitted 1 year ago by Decide to c/cs_career_questions

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I know some basic HTML, CSS. JS, and very little React -- I'm learning it currently. One of the things I see mentioned online is freelancing as a way to earn income. Now, I've tried this before in the past on UpWork, and it was nearly impossible to get anything out of it, I rarely received a response and that required submitting a lot of proposals which in turn cost a lot of money.

When I go on UpWork, many of the jobs need WordPress developers or an array of skills I simply do not have and appear to require a lot of time to learn.

Furthermore, I'm in an odd place financially and career wise, where I can't seem to get a job anywhere, not even at places that would've hired me before, and certainly not as a junior developer.

I suppose I'm asking for advice. If freelancing is an option to pursue, how do I go about it in the cheapest and most cost effect way possible? If freelancing is not the right option, then what can I do with what I do know? Lastly, is the job market in a weird state for every sector?

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[–] echutaa 13 points 1 year ago (4 children)

My experience actively freelancing is dated now but I might still have some insight you would want to hear.

don’t expect to make good money right off, in fact expect too pickup a part time job to get by. it takes years to build a client base that is capable is supporting you unless you’re skills are highly sought after.
when I had a similar skill set I found local job boards (Craigslist, Reddit/Lemmy, etc) much easier to get work. The clients tend to be easier to work with as well because they probably won’t have the same expectations on a large freelancing site.
managing client expectations is the key to success, know you ability and spec jobs for longer than you think. It’s better to get passed on a job than stuck with something you can’t do.
this might just be me but the business side of things is a drag and takes a lot of time. Marketing, specing, client relations, it was too much for me as a one man shop, don’t discount how much time it takes.

Good luck out there, freelancing was the hardest but also most rewarding work I’ve ever done. You’ll be forced to learn a lot in and out of tech at a breakneck pace. Some of the best lessons I learned have nothing to do with 1’s and 0’s.

[–] Decide 3 points 1 year ago (2 children)

This makes a lot of sense. I'll have to see how I can apply this locally, but at least it's more information that I had before on how to approach this. I appreciate it, thank you.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I just elaborated some of his points and shared a system that I used when I was freelancing as a reply to his comment. Idk how to tag you on Lemmy, so I figured I'd reply to you here in case you want some more advice from someone who freelanced for about 8 years as my sole income.

[–] Decide 3 points 1 year ago

Thank you! Your reply provides a lot of missing context. It will be my bible, or at least part of the guidelines I need to get something started.

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