Getting a freelance job might sound difficult as there are millions of developers who are your competition and rooting for the same project as you are. However, it’s not as difficult as it sounds. There are a few guidelines that any freelancer can follow to be successful and land as many freelancing coding jobs as you want to. In this segment, we share some tips that you can follow and make a good name for yourself as a freelancer.
An Online Portfolio
Be it conventional jobs in multinational companies or freelancers, a resume or a portfolio is the most important. When it comes to freelancing, portfolios are especially the most important. The reason is that every client looks whether the freelancer would be able to deliver or not. Portfolios are the best and probably the only way to tell your worth to clients. Especially, if you are a beginner without any past experience of projects, portfolios are you’re a great way to convince the client that you are worth a try. However, you need to have a very convincing portfolio in order to make a great impression on the client.
Your portfolio doesn’t need to be have a lot of over- the- top graphics or design. Your portfolio should ideally use a simple design where it shows some off the best work that you have done on various platforms and occasions. Make sure your portfolio contains screenshots and descriptions of all your big and small projects but keep in mind to not brag too much and to be crisp, clear, concise and to the point. You should also add other technical as well as non-technical skills in your portfolio. In the end, your portfolio should look attractive to your future clients.
Gather Experience
Before gaining real- time projects, you first have to work for free to build your credibility. In the world of freelancing, you get projects according to the reputation based on projects that you have already completed. If you are a beginner and have no projects and hence no reputation, it’s important that you start to build your reputation by ding some free work first. When you are beginning your career as a freelancer, your main aim should be building your reputation, instead of getting paid. Apart from building a strong credibility, these projects will also help you inculcate some useful experience.
You should get in touch with start- ups or budding companies and offer to work from them. You can help them in building a website or some software. You can also contact your local organizations and render software development services to them. Apart from start- ups or local businesses, you should talk to your friends and family and see if they or anybody they know are looking for technical services that you can offer. Last, you should also create a professional looking business e-card and make sure you circulate it to all your contacts.
Testimonials
Once you get your first few projects, make sure you don’t forget asking for testimonials. They are important because these recommendations play a major role in getting more business in future. Clients are more likely to hire a developer with strong recommendations. Freelancers build a strong reputation with the help of these testimonials.
Your profile in any freelancing platforms is not complete until unless there are testimonials in it. Also, the testimonials should include the client’s name as well as the company. You can also request your clients to be detailed, result- oriented and statistical while writing testimonials as they leave a lasting impression. Testimonials are crucial for freelancers so make sure to gather as many testimonials as you can from various projects.
Marketing
Marketing is the most important in any field and freelancing is no different. If you want more projects, you should market yourself. In this world of technology, online marketing works well, however, you should choose offline ways of marketing also. Other than marketing, you should also maintain a casual and friendly tone when meeting a potential client. You should also follow up with your clients and keep them in loop so that it is easy to contact you if they require your expertise in future.
When it comes to marketing, there are a lot of ways which freelancers prefer. However, blogging or engagement on popular forums are some methods that establishes a strong presence online.
Meetups
Building a strong social connection is also a part of marketing which has a positive impact on your career growth. If you are a freelancer, you should be well connected you are because that is how you are going to get projects. Interaction on social networking sites as well as offline networking with your acquaintances can be a great way to interact with people and make new connections in order to understand the project better and leave a lasting impression on your potential employer.
Other than this, you should also attend technical meetups in order to interact with people and promote yourself as an upcoming developer. Meetups are a great way to market yourself but other than that, while you are attending these meetups, you are also sharing your knowledge along with learning new things from other contemporary developers and technocrats.
Open-Source Projects
We already mentioned that more often that not, clients prefer freelancers with sufficient quality experience. If you are a beginner, one of the major roadblocks or negatives in your profile is the evident lack of experience. However, there is a fix, you can contribute to an open- source project and establish your credibility with clients and land the projects you deserve. Remember to add all your open- source contributions in your portfolio to create a strong profile.
You should actively look for opportunities where you can contribute to open- source projects. If you are a beginner or not confident with your coding skills, you should look for projects that are new and hence require fewer lines of code and are less complex than others. Also, when you begin with any project, it is a good practice to look through the project’s issues list, pick a small bug and try to fix it. However, if you don’t find any worthy open- source project, you can always start one of your own. You can start building your own project and publish it as an open- source project at a platform preferably GitHub. This way your project would grow when other developers request for new features or updates.
Get Started
Once you follow all these tips mentioned above, the best advise is to get started! Also, you don’t need to have it all to get started, you can start and then gain expertise, make a good portfolio and build a strong network over a period of time.
Make sure you are dedicated towards your work and once you do that, clients would automatically get attracted to your profile and you would start to grow! We wish you all the luck for your journey as a freelance coder.
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