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Ask HN: How have you transitioned into a new technology as a freelancer?

8 points by Swinx43 ↗ HN
What are some of the ways that you have managed to transition into a new technology as a freelancer? I am currently working as a freelance business intelligence and analytics architect with 10+ years experience delivering data warehouse and analytics solutions, predominantly using Microsoft technology.

I am currently trying to find a way to transition into data engineering and more data science oriented roles. I am doing a lot of self study and proof of concepts for clients where the opportunity arise. However most companies would only offer an opportunity to transition into such a new role if you join them as a permanent staff member.

How have you managed to stay a contractor / freelancer while changing technology and discipline during your career?

5 comments

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aprdm
I am a backend developer, I had an opportunity to be a contractor for a frontend angular project (which I never had played with before).

I basically thought I could do it and then did it. I spent around 160h in the project even tho I only billed 80h. So I basically worked "for free" half of the time but that was me "paying myself" in knowledge.

Swinx43
Did you land the opportunity yourself or how did it come about? I see one of the biggest issues being that people always hire contractors for their area of expertise. It is thus difficult to convince people that you can do a new technology without having done it before for a client.
aprdm
I was already doing backend work for them and they asked if I knew anyone to do the front-end.
GeneralMaximus
I set aside about two months every year to pick up new technology.

I'm 26, have no mouths to feed, and no debt. Losing two months of income in return for better work prospects is not a big deal to me.

I start by building a small project using whatever bit of technology I'm learning, put it up on GitHub, write a blog post or two about it, and do a show and tell at a local tech meetup or conference. This results in a bunch of leads that I can then choose from.

My process works fine for skills that don't take much time to learn, or are in the same lane as what I already do. E.g, going from Angular to React or Python+Django to Node+Express.

However, if I were to move to a completely different field I might have to take a different approach. I haven't done it so I have no experiences to share. I imagine I'd have to take out a bigger chunk of time, perhaps ask somebody from my desired field to mentor me.

Swinx43
I think your approach definitely has value and can most certainly work. If you make enough from current contracts in 10 months it definitely is possible to set 2 months aside for learning new tech and not feel financial strain.

Having no dependents also help and I am also in the fortunate position to not have any big financial commitments. The difficulty I find is in consciously setting aside 2+ months. Physiologically I always feel like I need to work while there is work available. Thus I am contributing to my own problem instead of solving it.