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Ask HN: How the heck do you go from freelance dev to mid-senior level dev?

5 points by gremlinsinc ↗ HN
I'm struggling to get back on my feet following divorce (18 years), depression, losing 2 parents my mom and the grandma who actually raised me - all in a 3 month period, well mom died the first month after separation in March, Grandma died a week after the divorce was final in June... (see: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=40714641).

I've revamped my resume 100 different ways, and it actually seems since i broke off my clients into their own jobs basically it is worse, but it looks more professional according to mine and Claude's opinion lol.

I'm 44, I've been using Laravel for 11 years, I'm full-stack. I've played with go, rust, and built small projects in python for clients. Of course JS ecosystem (react, vue, svelte, nextjs, prisma, etc).

I'd like a job that actually pays me what I'm worth, or well better than I get freelancing ($40). I haven't raised my rates since 2017, probably my first problem there. I was afraid I wouldn't find clients, but I'm not finding any now either... So might as well not find ones that pay me $80 an hour, right? Or maybe I actually find one..

Anyways, how do I get into a decent company -- startup, FAANG, w/e... I'd be super happy with $120k+.

If anyone has tips or suggestions, I'm all ears. I'm sure I'm not the only one in this boat either.

3 comments

[ 2.7 ms ] story [ 21.9 ms ] thread
talldayo
Most people take a track where they start at junior engineer and reach mid-senior level through seniority. I don't really know of a more surefire career path to the six-figure positions.
the__alchemist
I have no reliable recipe, and I suspect you may not find one, but anecdote:

  - Military for 12 years.

  - Programmed some software that become widely adopted in the community in a "bro-level" fashion.

  - Got hired by someone else in the community who started a government contracting company. Have the sort of job responsibilities and salary you describe, with no prior formal experience, but lots of independent programming/software design work.
FlyingAvatar
How many jobs have you actually applied for? Do you not get any response at all? If you've applied for more than 20 jobs or so and have had no response, I would ask folks to review your resume here.