Life in freelance through the eyes of a programmer
For two and a half months now I have been doing freelance work, during this time I have gained experience that I want to share with the public.
First, you need to let you know in as many ways as possible that you are looking for orders: talk to acquaintances, relatives, former colleagues, customers of former colleagues, publish on social networks, specialized websites. I submitted more than twenty applications on such sites before at least one worked. It will take you a couple of weeks.
One of the plugs, oddly enough, is the excessive number of orders taken. At the beginning, such a problem will not be close, but then it is quite possible. For me, 4 orders, which I am working on in parallel, is the limit. Even so, I try, for example, to deal with two orders on the same day, and two more on the other.
The difficulty here is that if you work on one order for less than two hours in a row, time is wasted inefficiently. Half an hour will pass before you enter the task and achieve a good pace. Hence the figure of 4 orders, cyborgs can take more. :)
Get ready for the fact that at first you will incorrectly assess the amount of time, and therefore the money needed to complete the order. For a more accurate assessment, it is useful to divide the task into sub-tasks, each of which will require no more than a day to complete. And even in this case, it’s worth multiplying the resulting number by X, probably unaccounted features will pop up, you will have to spend additional time on fine-tuning and fixing bugs, etc. Communication with the customer takes time.
Unlike regular work, where you are paid a fixed salary, where you can swing slowly in the morning, read LJ, drink coffee, get to work, the freelancer will receive only for the real result. For me, a great time is five out of eight hours spent only on fulfilling orders (minus snacks, chatting, reading mail, ICQ, Skype, etc.).
If some kind of sausage begins, soul-throwing - all this must be postponed until the evening when you can sway with all your heart with a pure heart. :)
Yes, you need to rest too, just don’t have to lie to yourself that I’ll read the news a little more and then I’ll work, there’s still time for a car. Say that I am resting and rest. :)
If you work hard on weekdays, you should not work on weekends as well, it is better to spend this time actively - go rollerblading there, and other skates ...
It can be difficult to quickly switch between projects; it happens that you delay the start of work on an unpleasant task for some reason. Everyone decides this in their own way, a great incentive is the need to regularly receive money. When there is no money, it helps a lot of performance, unless a really cool sausage starts. But then see above.
Still - it's dangerous to be lazy. It is better to spend time, do everything honestly, do not leave a single crooked piece that can be done in sane time. Otherwise, it will work only for the sake of money. :)))
I work only with foreign freelancer sites (it doesn’t mean that I call for it), from the money transfer options I found two options - MoneyBookers (the European equivalent of PayPal ), from where the money is transferred to a bank card or account, and a SWIFT transfer to a bank score. In the end, it all comes down to the transfer, because MoneyBookers has too little quarterly limit on the amount of money displayed on the card. Accordingly, you need an account in dollars or euros - in the currency that is used to withdraw money.
It is also very important to determine how much you want to earn per day, taking into account average market prices and your qualifications. And feel free to call the desired number when evaluating the order. At first, this part caused the greatest awkwardness, they say, I’m doing such simple things, it’s awkward to take money for it ... The melting incomes convinced me otherwise, especially for other people our craft looks completely different.
You need to smile and plow. :)
entrance
First, you need to let you know in as many ways as possible that you are looking for orders: talk to acquaintances, relatives, former colleagues, customers of former colleagues, publish on social networks, specialized websites. I submitted more than twenty applications on such sites before at least one worked. It will take you a couple of weeks.
Difficulties
Brute force
One of the plugs, oddly enough, is the excessive number of orders taken. At the beginning, such a problem will not be close, but then it is quite possible. For me, 4 orders, which I am working on in parallel, is the limit. Even so, I try, for example, to deal with two orders on the same day, and two more on the other.
The difficulty here is that if you work on one order for less than two hours in a row, time is wasted inefficiently. Half an hour will pass before you enter the task and achieve a good pace. Hence the figure of 4 orders, cyborgs can take more. :)
Rating
Get ready for the fact that at first you will incorrectly assess the amount of time, and therefore the money needed to complete the order. For a more accurate assessment, it is useful to divide the task into sub-tasks, each of which will require no more than a day to complete. And even in this case, it’s worth multiplying the resulting number by X, probably unaccounted features will pop up, you will have to spend additional time on fine-tuning and fixing bugs, etc. Communication with the customer takes time.
Act
Unlike regular work, where you are paid a fixed salary, where you can swing slowly in the morning, read LJ, drink coffee, get to work, the freelancer will receive only for the real result. For me, a great time is five out of eight hours spent only on fulfilling orders (minus snacks, chatting, reading mail, ICQ, Skype, etc.).
If some kind of sausage begins, soul-throwing - all this must be postponed until the evening when you can sway with all your heart with a pure heart. :)
Yes, you need to rest too, just don’t have to lie to yourself that I’ll read the news a little more and then I’ll work, there’s still time for a car. Say that I am resting and rest. :)
If you work hard on weekdays, you should not work on weekends as well, it is better to spend this time actively - go rollerblading there, and other skates ...
It can be difficult to quickly switch between projects; it happens that you delay the start of work on an unpleasant task for some reason. Everyone decides this in their own way, a great incentive is the need to regularly receive money. When there is no money, it helps a lot of performance, unless a really cool sausage starts. But then see above.
Still - it's dangerous to be lazy. It is better to spend time, do everything honestly, do not leave a single crooked piece that can be done in sane time. Otherwise, it will work only for the sake of money. :)))
Money
I work only with foreign freelancer sites (it doesn’t mean that I call for it), from the money transfer options I found two options - MoneyBookers (the European equivalent of PayPal ), from where the money is transferred to a bank card or account, and a SWIFT transfer to a bank score. In the end, it all comes down to the transfer, because MoneyBookers has too little quarterly limit on the amount of money displayed on the card. Accordingly, you need an account in dollars or euros - in the currency that is used to withdraw money.
It is also very important to determine how much you want to earn per day, taking into account average market prices and your qualifications. And feel free to call the desired number when evaluating the order. At first, this part caused the greatest awkwardness, they say, I’m doing such simple things, it’s awkward to take money for it ... The melting incomes convinced me otherwise, especially for other people our craft looks completely different.
Conclusion
You need to smile and plow. :)