Getting Started as a Freelance Programmer
A great way to start your professional career as a developer is to find some freelance work either on the side or primarily to grow your portfolio. It will keep you working on your own schedule and able to manage your time better for a professional setting, which full time employers will recognize when added to your resume.
Where to Look
Honestly, the best place to start with this type of work is more local than you may think. Family and friends are a great way to find close connections for people who need a software build out on their professional website — even if its just a feature! Simply building out a feature on an existing site for a friend or family member is a great way to learn a new trick or functionality in a real world application.
To go a step further than just asking your family and friends is to look around local businesses and reach out. It doesn’t take much time, and all you have to do is look up local businesses with a lot of online traffic but a weak online presence. This doesn’t mean find a business without an instagram, but rather a company who needs an updated website or features to add to help match the amount of traffic the site gets.
Freelance Job Sites
If you want to jump into the more professional freelance realm straight away, or you’ve done a few local projects already, try some of these great job sites. These particular websites can help you find specifically freelance gigs. Make an account and regularly check and apply for jobs that apply to you!
Once You Get the Job…
A few tips and tricks to people who get their first freelance gig — mistakes will happen! Not necessarily in the work, but within the business of the work. By this, I mean recording your hours, prices, and regularly checking up on the client. Here are some of the things I wish I knew when I started:
- Set your rate upfront — Make sure you set your hourly rate before you take on the project. Once they agree to the price, charging the client won’t be awkward. An hourly rate can be decided by you, and however many hours it takes you to complete a project before the deadline is what you’ll be paid. Look online and see what people with similar work and job experience is being paid and work off of that!
- Record your hours — Clock your hours either through an app or online in a spreadsheet. This will help you not guess at the end and feel more accountable when someone asks you how much you really put in to their projects. Also, with your code, push it often! Don’t forget that you can have your github pushes represent your hours of work and the times you’ve worked on the project with your progress!
- Check in on your client — Without sounding dependent on your client or unprofessional by constantly emailing, make sure you are checking in on your client periodically with updates to let them know you’re making progress and working on their project. If they’re left in the dark, they won’t know if you’re even working, stuck, or should look elsewhere. This is also a great opportunity to engage with them in a friendly way so you can build a good relationship with them for potentially more work//practice your professional report skills!
- Finish your work early if you can — Freelance can be stressful; especially if you’re taking on a difficult project or something new alone. To take away from the stress of completing on time, set your completion goal earlier than what the client wants. This will take pressure off for unforeseen issues you come across or a tougher feature than you initially thought giving you grief. Also, this allows you to show the client that you’re done early and go over the project with them to see if they’re happy! Tweak things, make sure they love what they have, and make them super excited about the finished product. This strategy really works!
This is my most solid advice I can give — especially the last four points! Get out there and get known. Freelance projects show full-time employers that you can meet client needs in a professional way, are time oriented, and can actually code beyond projects. Good luck out there!
