Working as a freelance Web Developer gets you an ocean of advantages since now you become your own boss, neither have you required permission for a day leave, nor any other such common matter that a regular working employee faces more often in web development agencies like Ramotion-web. Freelancing work is thus gaining a lot of popularity nowadays.
If you are wondering which freelance work you can take up, which is more demanding & which one is more profitable then this post will help you find the best. Freelancing is common in Web designing, Web Developer, Content Writing, Digital Marketing and so forth. You can become a freelance accountant, administrator, quality analyst, in short all-in-one. If you are too looking to become a Web developer freelancer then here are some essential things you must consider.
I am Chandan Chakraborty a freelance website designer in Kolkata, India I am also running a web development company. I started my journey with a simple, common man from a small village in Bengal. I had spent more than a decade doing full-time freelance web designing until I decided to come up with his own company. Here, I am sharing how I achieved and How my experience help to others who really dedicated to freelancing, How I make the list of the client from the USA, Europe, and India.
Freelancing To Ease Your Life
Freelancing will definitely going to change your life since now you can get to work whenever you like however you like. Here are 4 major benefits when working as a freelancer:
A better work-life balance: While freelancing you can better manage your other works; be its personal or any other.
Being your own boss: Being a Freelance Web Developer means you are free to accomplish your work any time, also you need not to take any permission for day leave; in short you are your own boss
Freedom to choose your working hours/clients/rate of pay: Freelancing allows you choosing the best rate, working hours & the clients you want to work with.
Web Developer Freelancing Skills You Need
To become a freelance web developer, you must have hands on proficiency on programming PHP, .Net and HTML. Apart from this you must have deep understanding of things listed below:
- Photoshop+ Illustrator: where you can interpret website, product mockups & wireframes from designs.
- Knowledge of HTML: Can create HTML file from scratch, use HTML template, incorporate the latest HTML5 tags.
- FTP: understand server & database communications, knowledge to make a site go live, updating the site.
- GITHUB: Create a Git repository, know push, pull code, branch, fork, clone & merge code, resolve merger conflicts & contribute to open source project on GitHub.
- Bug Testing: The best developers can find & resolve bugs in their code- HTML, CSS, Javascript across mobile devices.
- Java Script: Knowledge to understand DOM, create elements & variables, understand objects, properties & functions, recognize built in fuctions, use logic to create loops etc.
- Front end Framework: Install or download the framework, can use built in elements & create a custom site using the framework.
- WordPress: Read & edit PHP code, Install wordpress, understand wordpress architecture, create & modify pages, posts & menus, create a child theme, add useful plugins.
Why Freelancer Web Developer?
Listed below are 3 things that work to your advantage being a freelance web developer:
- There is lots of demand of Freelance Web Developer. There are currently 14,000 UX designer jobs in the United States alone!
- Web Developing skills are highly sought-after in every industry be its IT, Hospitality or E-commerce.
- There is a huge shortage of web developers worldwide. An estimated 1 million technology jobs will go unfilled by the year 2020.
- Contract salaries in web developing career are frequently high. An average salary in the US of $83,085, Isn’t its cool?
How You can Become Freelance Web Developer? 6 Steps
Step #1: Find your niche, Focus on Your Skills
Firstly you’ll need to find a web development course and upgrade your skills. Then, find yourself a niche and focus your skills. Here are the three most up and coming programming languages you’ll find today:
- Ruby on Rails: an open source web application framework which runs via the Ruby programming language.
- Swift: Apple’s new innovative programming language for Cocoa and Cocoa Touch.
- Node.js: a platform built on Chrome’s JavaScript runtime for easily building fast, scalable network applications.
Step #2: Start building Your Portfolio Website
After you found your niche, it’s time to get building.
You can start with your portfolio website. Keep your website update, edit and continually develop for your entire career since it will display your skills and serves as a reference for your potential clients.
Step #3: Build your personal brand
Now the next step is building your personal brand. This can be done showcasing your work, building a network, teaching and blogging like an expert etc. Make habit of talking to people either Online or offline. Market your work, let people check out your work via: Twitter, Quora, YouTube & other social media sites. You can also teach your skills to get popular & acquire the skills in short span of time.
Step 4#: Get organized, Acquire All Skills
Becoming a freelance web developer is not just knowing about the programming code. You need to acquire skills of a project manager, a sales person and head of customer care. Listed are some time and project management tools you must use:
- Quoteroller is a practical, time-saving way to create and send professional proposals to clients in a matter of minutes.
- Toggl great way to track projects and see how much time you are spending on each one.
- Asana excellent project management system, especially if you are working with others and need to delegate tasks or collaborate.
- Google has an infinite range of calanders and management apps.
- BillingsPro for project management and invoicing.
- FreshBooks organise your projects, invoicing and expenses all with one app.
- HubStaff is an Asana integration that will help you to track your time and productivity, and bill clients accordingly.
Step 5#: Build up your experience, project by project
Working on real projects is a must to showcase yourself to potential client. Elance, oDesk, Glassdoor and Freelancer.com are great online marketplaces that offers freelance jobs.
Also you can initiate doing projects for local charities, schools or small businesses who can’t afford to pay a web developer’s charge. In this way you can actually building up your portfolio as well as experience that will help you further in long term.
Step 6#: Be Brave & Confident
- When you start out you’re not going to be an expert in your field.
- Give your client a realistic idea of delivering their work.
- You can rely on Google finding every query related to programming.
- Don’t hesitate to take bigger projects.
So What’s the Final Conclusion?
“Don’t worry about people stealing your design work. Worry about the day they stop.”
– Jeffrey Zeldman, A List Apart Publisher
Being a Freelance Web Developer isn’t as easy as you think. It’s damned hard work, but once you grasp those skills fully, it rewards your hard work by 100 times. In your journey to Freelancing, you must remember following these 3 guiding principles:
- Don’t take short cuts.
- Don’t rush a project.
- Don’t treat any client better or worse than the next one.
- Get as much experience as you can and always, always do a good job.
Build your reputation as a hard worker, a reliable, honest web developer and we are sure you will achieve the success.
