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Ask HN: Developer going freelance, how to get started?

3 points by Rjevski ↗ HN
How would you begin marketing yourself as a freelance developer starting from scratch, zero, nada? I mean no significant web presence, no 10k Twitter followers, not wasting time with LinkedIn and not having launched an ICO.

I've been quietly employed as a Python developer for a few years now and so as a result I've never bothered making a "portfolio" (not that I know what a developer portfolio should look like - I'm not a designer with tons of beautiful things to show off unfortunately) nor really spent the time building a web presence (I quite enjoy my "offline" life). So pretty much the only thing I've got to show off is a resumé and references from previous employers, which doesn't really look groundbreaking.

Anyone who's been through this before, would you mind giving me some advice on how to get started? Thanks!

2 comments

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grawprog
I've never really done it with the idea of making a long term business out of it I found Craigslist and other local classifieds was a pretty good way to get jobs at least in the short term. I got one long term project, several one time jobs and several repeat customers in a period of a few months. I also looked through the wanted ads for people looking for small projects they needed done.

I did some research before I started about the kinds or rates to charge based on my skills. I kept my prices lower than the highest or even mid range but didn't go to low. I found I actually got a few clients that chose me because I wasn't offering the lowest price.

They had all had bad experiences with people offering deals. I always laid out the terms of our agreement beforehand and made sure we both agreed on the scope of the work and the fees I was charging. I wouldn't do any work before that, even for small quicl things. One or two clients questioned it but usually after a quick explanation about how it was to make sure I did the work that was agreed upon and that we both ended up happy afterwards they usually had no problems.

If I had continued doing that I likely would have found more places, either online or around my community to advertise. I never really tried to look for any remote work so I don't have much to ad for that. A lot of the above I imagine still applies.

The only thing I can really add is that until you get to the point where you're overwhelmed, always be looking for more clients however you can. But, don't take on too much at once so you can't finish things on time and don't agree to do something above your skill level. As tempting as it is to take a job and try to learn what you nees while doing it, your work will likely end up poor and your client may end up unhappy. If you want to learn something new, do it on your own time then take jobs that require those skills.

Always track your time spent working, even if you don't bill by the hour. It's easy to get caught up working on something too long and end up not making as much as you wamt out of it. Give your self clear time frames to work on something and track the actual time spent working on it using some kind of time tracking app.

If you can, also try and give yourself working hours. Even if they're long, 12 hours or longer, still make a cutoff between work and the rest of your life so you don't become trapped into nothing but work.

I don't know if this advice is the best or not but this is what I've learned from trying it.