Thread: Any of you guys freelance?

I'm curious about freelancing as a programmer. Right now, I'm just starting to learn writing code out of boredom, and I came across the topic of freelancing. I'm interested in it just for a bit of extra cash since I'm a student.



If any of you guys do freelance, how much time do you spend on it and how much money do you make in a month?

I'm freelancing from time to time, when I got some spare time. I spend about 2-8hrs on each project, since I'm only signing up for "small" or "medium" projects. My profit each month depens on how many projects I'm having. So I can't tell you how much I'm making each month, since It's depends on other facts.

I have done it in the past, if you are looking at auction type sites to find work you will often find that the amount of money offered is not very high as there will be many bids from coders who can afford to charge low rates due to the economy of the country that they live in. Depends on where you live of course though :) However if you pick well you can find some good stuff this way, if someone finds you good they will often offer you more work in future - always do your best. At the same time don't bother bidding on something if you know it's really badly paid, unless you reckon it's going to lead to better stuff.

You're still a student so I doubt you will get offered more serious contract type stuff but you might get work from friends of friends etc. Again always do your best and you might get more work or be recommended to other people.

The amount of money you make really depends on how long you want to spend on looking for work and doing the work. Often looking for work is harder than the doing bit, which is why it's good to get a couple of regulars if at all possible - often people have been burnt in the past especially with smaller jobs, so once they find someone they can trust they will come back.

Originally Posted by pH4ze

I have done it in the past, if you are looking at auction type sites to find work you will often find that the amount of money offered is not very high as there will be many bids from coders who can afford to charge low rates due to the economy of the country that they live in. Depends on where you live of course though :) However if you pick well you can find some good stuff this way, if someone finds you good they will often offer you more work in future - always do your best. At the same time don't bother bidding on something if you know it's really badly paid, unless you reckon it's going to lead to better stuff.

You're still a student so I doubt you will get offered more serious contract type stuff but you might get work from friends of friends etc. Again always do your best and you might get more work or be recommended to other people.

The amount of money you make really depends on how long you want to spend on looking for work and doing the work. Often looking for work is harder than the doing bit, which is why it's good to get a couple of regulars if at all possible - often people have been burnt in the past especially with smaller jobs, so once they find someone they can trust they will come back.

This is probable the best advise and something similar to what I was going to say. Due to such a wide market you will struggle to compete with other coders across the world that will do it for a lot less. I do still code but I do it under a business name that is incorporated which pulls in a ton more income than what I've done on the internet for someone.

I freelance from time to time, but the prices are veery low everywhere.

I do freelancing locally whenever it is possible to take time off from the day job.

I agree to the fact that the rates are low but we need to see the rates in perspective too. I elaborate -
Most of the jobs available for freelancing offer only "coding" jobs i.e. they would like code written that just satisfies a requirement. The onus is not at all on how the job was done i.e. Best practices, patterns followed, testability of the code, loose coupling, extensibility, scalability, maintainability etc. Hence the low rates.

Now when corporate entities bid for work, they bid for projects, not "coding" jobs since they can add more value to the requirement by implementing the missing pieces as outlined above. Hence the rates for them are much higher.
Ex. "Coding" jobs attract $10 or less/hour while corporates charge anything from $15 - $25 for the hour.

I currently have been freelancing for nearly 2 years.

It is good but it all depends on yourself and how much you want it to work out.

If you just want to do it now and again it's not too bad doing a couple of hours a week but if you want to make decent money you need to be on your computer for a good 8 hours a day.

What I've learned is you need to treat it just like a normal job, wake up early be strict with yourself and keep learning new ideas.

Also sell yourself, make a twitter account, business cards advertise in the local paper etc.

It all depends on that, if you get the customers you'll easily make money but never expect to have non stop customers, even now I still go a couple of weeks of not doing anything and then other times where I have 6 jobs to do.

It seems nice working from home but it does have it's disadvantages too, for example some people just can't work at home because of distractions.

But give it a go, there's no harm in trying.

Do what you love.

Theres nothing I can add that hasnt been already said above.

That said, programming isnt the only freelancing work. There is a enough money to be earned freelancing with Adobe Applications. (Photoshop, flash etc). Learn them and you dont have to learn programming. Its also awesome fun. Plus learning photoshop will help you in web designing.

Originally Posted by _ASH_

I currently have been freelancing for nearly 2 years. It is good but it all depends on yourself and how much you want it to work out. If you just want to do it now and again it's not too bad doing a couple of hours a week but if you want to make decent money you need to be on your computer for a good 8 hours a day. What I've learned is you need to treat it just like a normal job, wake up early be strict with yourself and keep learning new ideas. Also sell yourself, make a twitter account, business cards advertise in the local paper etc. It all depends on that, if you get the customers you'll easily make money but never expect to have non stop customers, even now I still go a couple of weeks of not doing anything and then other times where I have 6 jobs to do. It seems nice working from home but it does have it's disadvantages too, for example some people just can't work at home because of distractions. But give it a go, there's no harm in trying. Do what you love.

it`s like it`s time for me to stop hunting down a good "Freelance Coder" as i found one, can i add contact you in near future, when am ready?