Ask HN: Does anybody need 16 years old front-end web designer? Hire me

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Hey,

I know what it's like to be a young web developer / designer looking for work. I think the best thing you can do during this time is work constantly to improve what you're doing.

In terms of general improvement, I suggest looking more at your typography, line-height, sizes, fonts etc. It'll really make your designs better.

Also, look into the use of negative space (whitespace) to give your designs room to improve.

In the beginning especially, break away from the grids and frameworks. Get the basics down and really learn the nuances of HTML and CSS. Work at it and you'll improve.

I suggest requesting an invite to Forrst, they've got some great people over there to give feedback.

I know it's tough to try to find work, and I hope you can get some good gigs.

A few tips - As Amarco suggests, Forrst might be a good place to post.

Did you post on the https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5472748 thread? That's where people might look.

Finally, I know you're trying to branch out, but try to avoid spamming the forum, or the moderators might ban you. You've posted twice in the last week advertising your services - And while I admire the drive - It's kinda annoying.

Good Luck!

Giving your age probably isn't helping with getting hired...although I'm sure it helps with the vanity.

One tip from experience, make disclosing your age part of follow up info when someone is interested.

I started freelancing when I was 15, I found that when told upfront, potential clients would bail very quickly. When I tried not disclosing my age straight away but only after talking over projects, giving suggestions and pricing (the things that make clients feel taken care of / comfortable), no one cared...

I think there was only one person who was a little annoyed by this tactic.

I'm a coder so YMMV with the different client requirements.

It is really tough as a young person, especially as a front-end designer. I'm 18 now, but I started dabbling when I was about your age. A couple things I'd really recommend doing. - Do NOT use a framework. They're really easy, and you learn nothing. Once you have enough experience in HTML5/CSS3 to code a responsive site from scratch without looking stuff up, then frameworks are beneficial. -Build yourself a portfolio site. Building my portfolio (http://robs.im) has taught me so much. If you want more on this, let me know. I have some snippets of JS/CSS/HTML from the first version of my portfolio site that you might be able to use, they're quite unique, but they didn't suit my purposes. -Forrst and Dribbble. My very first piece of work came in the day after I got into Dribbble. I'm going to be really honest with you right now. What you have is probably not good enough to get you into Dribbble. For tips on how to improve, email me. Link on my site. If you improve a lot, I have a Dribbble invite. -GitHub: Work on something on GitHub. If you're looking for a Project, I have a couple of side projects you could work on. Again, email me. - Last tip: Don't lie about your age. The general opinion seems to be "If you do good work, I don't care how old you are." Take Jared Erondu for example. If you don't know who he is, look him up. He's 18, and awesome. Lying about your age doesn't work, I did it once, and that was the end of that project.

Hope this helps, Rob Sim

Smaller businesses are easier to target and get the ball rolling. I started doing sites for as cheap as $500 just to be able to practice and build a portfolio.

Maybe there is a local business you like, build them out a site and show them. You get to sharpen your skills like wire framing and front end development. It's not sexy, but you learn a lot. What's great also is, you can use Twitter Bootstrap without being judged. Most of them could care less what you use.

Unsolicited Advice:

I started my first business at 16 and age should never come into the equation. Once you are looking to freelance, which is still running a business - you are judged as a businessman. No one gives you a break for being 16 nor should you give them a break. I am always impressed now at the age of 28 at how younger freelancers are unapologetic about their talent and age.

I wish I was trying to get hired as a front-end designer when I was 16. Stay with it!! Everybody starts somewhere!

Not to nit pick, but I was able to get the only image I looked at down to 1/3 of the size with no noticeable loss of image quality. I understand you're showcasing your work, but image optimization is a big part of the job. Just something to keep in mind. It was the first thing I looked at, even before the actual image. And if you're advertising yourself as someone who can code it all out, it'd be beneficial to be able to see your code. I know this might seem trivial, but it's something potential employers will look at.