As the world becomes more interconnected, there are multple opportunities for freelance developers. You may be thinking that striking out on your own is easy. The truth is that there are a number of factors to be aware of, and the modern freelance developer needs to be prepared in order to succeed.
Starting 2016 I left the world of employment to become a full time freelancer. I was fortunate in I had another source of income, but as a husband and father of two, with all the usual bills to pay, I was not prepared for the effect working for myself would have on my mental state, my health or my family.
Towards the end of 2016 I joined Codeable, a freelancing platform for WordPress. Where Codeable was different from all other platforms was that it held quality and customer service/communication as the most important factors of freelance development. Since joining Codeable I was able to turn my work situation around such that I now earn 3x as much as I did when I left employment and I am in the favourable position of being able to turn work away.
While Codeable had a big part in bringing me leads to quality work, it was the lessons I’ve learned since joining Codeable about being a successfull freelancer that are the focus of this topic. Being a part of the Codeable community means I have learned so much from other experienced freelancers about things like work/life balance, how to communicate with clients pre hire, how to prevent scope creep and how to manage time and projects on my own.
My talk will be split into two parts, The first will be around the 1st year of my time as a freelancer, scrounging for whatever work came my way because I wasnt in a position to say no, essentially all the things I was doing wrong. The second will be around my second year, when I learned from Codeable, and other Codeable developers, and how these lessons lead me to where I am today.