Hey there. 27 y/o front end developer (getting into fullstack) from Colorado here.
Several years ago I decided to quit my job in marketing to travel for several months in Southeast Asia. I ended up doing that for sixth months and returning to the job that sustained me through high school and an economics degree (server at a restaurant). After getting fired from that (didn't ID a secret shopper), I decided to make some career moves and get into software development. I attended a bootcamp, came out and got a pretty decent first job as a developer, and left 15 months later to what I thought would be my dream job (engineering-centric company with a commitment to learning and a fantastic salary).
Despite attaining what my end goal was just a few years back - a great position at an awesome company with a higher salary than I ever thought I'd have, I find myself desiring more out of life. As I'm sure happened with many here, I read the Fastlane and Unscripted , and finally had a clear idea of what I wanted.
Where I'm at now: my 9-5 provides me with the income I need to get my ideas off the ground, but I'm happy to put 20-40 hours into said business opportunity on top of the job. I'm hoping to purchase a multi-family unit with an FHA (thanks @G_Alexander) when my lease is up in August with the hopes of living rent free, and in the meantime, and exploring starting a business doing development work, even if it means rolling solo for a while (freelancing I guess).
Some issues / questions I have:
1. How can one differentiate themselves in the freelance development marketplace when there is an abundance of wordpress / premade template shortcuts that achieve what most customers are looking for? I'd be lying if I said I wasn't tempted to get into the wordpress / shopify game, but part of me feels that there must be a need for custom solutions built from scratch that I may be missing. Also the low barrier to entry scares me a bit on the Wordpress / Shopify front.
2. How do you approach getting clients having never freelanced before? Do you populate your portfolio with personal projects, offer free services, or other?
3. How do you approach getting clients that need custom needs that necessitate the building of a project from scratch? I'm guessing the answer is to provide value, but this can be hard without knowing the ins and outs of the business that you are targeting, which often is not available.
I'm hoping to start out with some solo freelancing, and scale appropriately once that starts being successful.
I believe I saw that there was a good thread on a web application business somewhere in the INSIDERS (not Fox's though that one was a really great read), if anyone could point me to that, or any other threads that might be beneficial with regards to development, it'd be greatly appreciated.
I'm excited to be here and benefit from the knowledge to be gained from the community. I appreciate any input / feedback and look forward to further interactions.
Several years ago I decided to quit my job in marketing to travel for several months in Southeast Asia. I ended up doing that for sixth months and returning to the job that sustained me through high school and an economics degree (server at a restaurant). After getting fired from that (didn't ID a secret shopper), I decided to make some career moves and get into software development. I attended a bootcamp, came out and got a pretty decent first job as a developer, and left 15 months later to what I thought would be my dream job (engineering-centric company with a commitment to learning and a fantastic salary).
Despite attaining what my end goal was just a few years back - a great position at an awesome company with a higher salary than I ever thought I'd have, I find myself desiring more out of life. As I'm sure happened with many here, I read the Fastlane and Unscripted , and finally had a clear idea of what I wanted.
Where I'm at now: my 9-5 provides me with the income I need to get my ideas off the ground, but I'm happy to put 20-40 hours into said business opportunity on top of the job. I'm hoping to purchase a multi-family unit with an FHA (thanks @G_Alexander) when my lease is up in August with the hopes of living rent free, and in the meantime, and exploring starting a business doing development work, even if it means rolling solo for a while (freelancing I guess).
Some issues / questions I have:
1. How can one differentiate themselves in the freelance development marketplace when there is an abundance of wordpress / premade template shortcuts that achieve what most customers are looking for? I'd be lying if I said I wasn't tempted to get into the wordpress / shopify game, but part of me feels that there must be a need for custom solutions built from scratch that I may be missing. Also the low barrier to entry scares me a bit on the Wordpress / Shopify front.
2. How do you approach getting clients having never freelanced before? Do you populate your portfolio with personal projects, offer free services, or other?
3. How do you approach getting clients that need custom needs that necessitate the building of a project from scratch? I'm guessing the answer is to provide value, but this can be hard without knowing the ins and outs of the business that you are targeting, which often is not available.
I'm hoping to start out with some solo freelancing, and scale appropriately once that starts being successful.
I believe I saw that there was a good thread on a web application business somewhere in the INSIDERS (not Fox's though that one was a really great read), if anyone could point me to that, or any other threads that might be beneficial with regards to development, it'd be greatly appreciated.
I'm excited to be here and benefit from the knowledge to be gained from the community. I appreciate any input / feedback and look forward to further interactions.
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