Ask HN: Freelance work for a "semi-skilled" designer/coder.
I'm interested in doing some freelance work for a few extra bucks, but I'm not really sure what my "skill" level is in terms of freelancing. I have 2-3 years experience with PHP (and CakePHP), CSS, Javascript, jQuery, and I'm pretty good with Photoshop. I'm also pretty good with C++ and Java, but I don't think that would be of much use for freelance-sized projects. For the most part, if I'm given some desired web project, I'll be able to put it together with a little Googling if I don't already know exactly what to do.
In terms of my level of design skill, it's tough to say... I don't have any live projects at the moment to show off, but I'd definitely say I'm an above average designer.
What are some of your recommendations?
8 comments
[ 3.7 ms ] story [ 33.6 ms ] threadYou know a lot more than you think you do. Whatever skill level you have, there are people who are worse who are winning the same sort of projects you would be bidding on. The absolute worst are those who never even start on the project (and possibly run with a down payment,) so you can't be worse than those people if you at least give it an honest effort. ;)
Outside of that. It sounds like this is mostly going to be a side thing for you. I would try not to deal directly with the "end clients" if possible. That's the true "business end" of web development and just because you have skills doesn't mean that you are going to be good at that side of things without putting in your dues. What I would do is look for other developers to help out. Look at developers / designers sites and see if they post jobs. Look at job aggregators. Another awesome source is Twitter, developers post there all the time looking for help.
Main thing. Have excellent communication. Let your clients know what's going on, even if it's bad. Bad news is far better than no news at all. They just need to know how to plan things.
Good luck!
luck!