Thoughts on freelance

OVERTONE69

This has been a bit of a battle for me trying too deicde.

Before I begin let me just say this is a question of opinion on my circumstance. There's no real definitive answer. I just want a little advice.


Right now I'm going into 3rd year computer science and I'm loving it. I prefer software development even though I'm better at web. Anyways. I'm working part time in dunnes stores to pay for my car, college and rent. I average about 200 a week. I make it work. But god help me I despise that place. It's miserable.

So my idea was too maybe give freelance a shot over summer.
From what I understand. I need a portfolio site which I could upload two examples of what I've done so far.

I've seen some of the projects on Elance,rentacoder and such. Some of them look rightly easy, others impossibly hard. But since my budget would only need to be 200 a week, I didn't mind. Personally I think my skill level is high enough too do these projects, but here's the thing.

I'm always gonna have doubts as to whether it's the right thing to do or not. Iv decided I'm gonna try one or two low risk jobs over summer and make a judgement call then. But I just want too know does anyone have any thoughts on it?

Is freelance a strictly no student Zone?!
Or is it a good solution.

Should I be give it a swing or stay in my secure but suffocating job?

Thanks too anyone who has an interesting fact or view to make.

ronivek

Couldn't you do both? Surely at €200 a week you're only working 20ish hours maximum? I would imagine you'll struggle to make €200 a week freelancing with very little experience; but it will be experience which will stand to you going forward.

OVERTONE69

Easier said. I work 4 -5 nights a week and the others are needed for study mainly. But it's not impossible.

p

If you're a developer you don't need a portfolio so much, that's more for designers. It's more important to list specific skills.

If you're goint to try freelance i'd advise talking to thr revenue. It's really easy to set up as a sole trader and have everything above board.


Though, at this stage, i'd suggest trying to get work experience in a web development company. You'd learn more that way.

OVERTONE69

id love the idea of doing software development as a freelance skill. but im much better at web than sdev.

so i guess itd be better too work at what im good at rather than what i like. thats why i was going to put up a portfolio.

itd be near impossible too do both during college. freelance college and part time work would kill me.

dont understand what you mean by talking to the revenue. i wasnt aware you needed too be classified as a sole trader to do it.

then again thats why im asking these questions. thanks for the response.

an internship with a company would be pretty handy over summer. definitely considering it now.

nellyshark

If you are a developer without much of a portfolio, could you jump on some open source projects and contribute to them, maybe some plugins etc to showcase some of your skills. I'm involved in an open source project and I know we are always looking for some extra talent

John_Mc

You'd be doing very well to support yourself each week by freelancing considering you've no qualifications or commercial experience yet.

You only get paid in instalments so there's no regular income from it, and acquiring work is a job in itself.

As said above I'd stick with your job and do a bit of freelancing on the side.

p

OVERTONE69 wrote: »

id love the idea of doing software development as a freelance skill. but im much better at web than sdev.

so i guess itd be better too work at what im good at rather than what i like. thats why i was going to put up a portfolio.

So, apply to a web design companies, saying that you're young, know X, Y and Z and will work for cheap. Plenty of companies looking for cheap labour right now. If you do it now you might get a few weeks work over the summer, if not a few months.

OVERTONE69

wow. thats a great idea. why didnt i think of that. thanks man.

Antrim Hotels

Well the joy with freelancing is that you could keep working at Dunnes and see how the web design goes for you. If it looks promising quit Dunnes.

p

Also, whatever you do, get the hell out of Dunnes. Do tech support, IR support or even anything vaguely IT related. It'll stand to you much better than stacking shelves.

OVERTONE69

p wrote: »

Also, whatever you do, get the hell out of Dunnes. Do tech support, IR support or even anything vaguely IT related. It'll stand to you much better than stacking shelves.

Believe me i owuld absolutely love to. but i just dont see any jobs out there. but if you happen to find any, be sure to think of me.

thanks

Placebo

p wrote: »

Also, whatever you do, get the hell out of Dunnes. Do tech support, IR support or even anything vaguely IT related. It'll stand to you much better than stacking shelves.

to be honest working in a 9-5 job, kills you, i work as a web designer, id love to do extra things outside of work hours but hell no, exhausted, drained

p

OVERTONE69 wrote: »

Believe me i would absolutely love to. but i just dont see any jobs out there. but if you happen to find any, be sure to think of me.

There's always tech support jobs out there, I doubt you've done any serious looking if you can't find any.
Any large company with a call centre in Ireland always needs techies who can talk on the phone, Esat, Eircom, Dell, Microsoft, Vodafone etc... all have constant need to tech support staff.

Hell, just sign up with a recruitment agency and tell them you want to do tech support and they'll help you find one.

OVERTONE69

http://www.jobs.ie/tech_support_services_jobs.aspx


this is kinda whats out there. everywhere wants languages or managers. an agency isnt a bad idea though. long as they dont rip me off.

Huskora

With some companys you dont need a portfolio just list your what your skills are, just be carefull before you jump in, alot of clients on that are very picky and they might try and take you for a ride so just beware, but best of luck, i also studied software development in University Limerick. Though course:D

OVERTONE69

Huskora wrote: »

With some companys you dont need a portfolio just list your what your skills are, just be carefull before you jump in, alot of clients on that are very picky and they might try and take you for a ride so just beware, but best of luck, i also studied software development in University Limerick. Though course:D

tough yeah but i still love it.
any regrets?

Placebo wrote: »

to be honest working in a 9-5 job, kills you, i work as a web designer, id love to do extra things outside of work hours but hell no, exhausted, drained

i dont want to work full time. i still plan to go to college. sorry if i confused you,

Huskora

Nope no regrets, i decided to go more into the web design, seo and hosting. It really is a good course but from year 1 to our final year there was a massive fall out, they were dropping like flys.lol. Where are you currently studying? If you want to make some serious cash and if you can meet the standards of whats there already >> have a look at activeden.net or themeforest.net, you can sell your software or designs here, its one of the best sites i have ever seen, the highest income in one year topped a staggering $750,000, let me know what you think.

Placebo

themeforest.net, dont think you would make much off that, they take alot of comission and the top rated designs have stayed consistant on that for ages, no changes. I know pixel craft? have one on that and its nice and top rated...

OVERTONE69

Huskora wrote: »

Nope no regrets, i decided to go more into the web design, seo and hosting. It really is a good course but from year 1 to our final year there was a massive fall out, they were dropping like flys.lol. Where are you currently studying? If you want to make some serious cash and if you can meet the standards of whats there already >> have a look at activeden.net or themeforest.net, you can sell your software or designs here, its one of the best sites i have ever seen, the highest income in one year topped a staggering $750,000, let me know what you think.

im studying in itt. just finished second year.
those sites look pretty good, incomes a little low but thats to be expected.

i was thinking more along the lines of www.elance.com

i was very impressed with it. i want to be a programmer more than a web developer. dont know why since im better at web design, just want to i guess.

ive decided to try my hand at an open source project and im also doing an ecommerce site for a guy in scotland for free. something to out in a portfolio i guess.

Huskora

Thats a great way to get started out and to get your name out there, if you wanted to take it a step futher go to vistaprint.ie you can get flyers and business cards done on the cheap!! Well just wishing you the best of luck, the future of the internet and software is with people like you, well done keep up the good work.

If you ever need a hand drop by our support page, :rolleyes:

OVERTONE69

dont worry. ill take good care of the internet when your gone

i think ill keep going open source and doing stuff for free. in the meantime, tech suport seems like a good idea. maybe i can kill two birds with one stone. develop my skills and have a job i actually like. and leave web freelance until my skills are sellable.

Huskora wrote: »

Thats a great way to get started out and to get your name out there, if you wanted to take it a step futher go to vistaprint.ie you can get flyers and business cards done on the cheap!! Well just wishing you the best of luck, the future of the internet and software is with people like you, well done keep up the good work.

If you ever need a hand drop by our support page, :rolleyes:

thanks for the help and encouragement. its so much better than the usual your not good enough now stack shelves.