Freelance For Hobbyist Developers

Table of Contents

What Is A Hobbyist Developer?

A hobbyist developer is someone who does freelance work for fun and passion, not for money. They may have a day job and do freelance work on the side. They may be a full-time freelancer. Or they may have a full-time job and freelance on the side.

The difference between hobbyist developers and professional developers is that hobbyist developers don’t need to make money from their passion at all they just love doing it!

How To Get Started As A Freelance Web Developer – YouTube

Takeaways
1. Freelancing offers opportunities for hobbyist developers to
monetize their skills and passion.
2. Balancing freelancing with other commitments can be
challenging but rewarding with proper time management.
3. Building a strong online portfolio is essential for
attracting clients and showcasing expertise.
4. Networking and joining developer communities can lead to
finding exciting freelance projects.
5. Pricing your services appropriately and communicating
effectively with clients are key to success in freelancing.

What Is Freelancing?

The very nature of freelancing is that you’re not working for a single employer. Instead, you work for multiple people and sometimes even yourself. This can mean many things depending on the situation and how you choose to approach it:

You can work from anywhere as long as there’s an Internet connection available.

You can be hired by a client or clients who live in different parts of the world, allowing them to hire someone with the skills they need without needing to relocate or travel themselves.

You can choose how much time per week (or day) you spend on projects based on your availability and other commitments in your life.

This flexibility allows people who may not have time off during certain months but still want to earn some money during those times due to other obligations like taking care of family members or having medical reasons preventing them from working full-time at another job outside their home country.”

Freelancing is an excellent way to make money on the side and can even turn into a full-time job. As a hobbyist developer (or any beginner really), you might feel that you have nothing of value to offer. That’s not true.

A lot of companies/people pay for help for things that seem trivial to us as developers but are huge issues for them. It helps them grow better in their business and their life, that’s how freelancers make an impact on their clients’ lives through our work.

In this article, I will share some tips and tricks that I’ve learned while freelancing as a hobbyist developer. These will come in handy if you’re thinking about going into it but don’t know where to start, or you already freelance but need some guidance in areas like finding clients, closing more deals, etc.

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Find The Sweet Spot Of Your Interest And Need

If you’re a hobbyist developer, then your best bet at finding work is by reaching out to companies in your area that need a website.

You can do this by Googling “web dev in your city” and seeing who comes up but there are also a lot of local meet-ups and networking events happening throughout the year. Going to these events is one of the easiest ways for newbies to find clients.

Although it might seem like an oversimplification, I believe there are two ways for developers to find work: either be good at what they do or enjoy doing what they do.

For example, if someone enjoys building websites but isn’t very good at it (like me), then maybe they should consult instead of starting their own business. Or maybe they should just become an expert in something else entirely!

Communication Is The Key

Communication is the key to any successful relationship, business, or freelance career. Communication is the only way that you can understand what your client wants from you and how they want their project built.

The good news is that communication doesn’t have to be difficult or stressful; there are many simple and effective ways for you and your clients to communicate about projects in real-time.

Learn To Say No

When it comes to accepting projects, there are three things you should always ask yourself:

Are you sure about the project? If a client wants to hire you for something that doesn’t fit your profile or skill set, don’t take it on.

There is absolutely nothing wrong with being honest and saying “no”. If they want something done but they don’t know how to do it themselves, then they shouldn’t expect an expert like yourself to take on their project either.

Is this a one-time gig or will there be more work down the line? Before agreeing to any job, make sure there are no strings attached and know if this is just a quick task or if there is more work coming from them later on (and how much).
How long do I need to commit? Consider allocating hours per week based on what type of contract/project management system works best for each client before committing full-time hours in one place.

Looking at other freelancers working in similar fields can give insight into how many hours others access during their day at work – but remember that not everyone works 9-5!

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Always Backup Your Work

Backup is not the same as saving. When you save your work, you’re making a copy of it on your computer.

When you back up, you’re making a copy of it somewhere else so that if your hard drive crashes, or if a power surge fried all the electronics in your house (and maybe even some outside), then and only then will you be able to recover what was lost.

Backups are important for two main reasons:

To make sure that no matter what happens to the original files, they’ll still exist somewhere (meaning they can be used again).

When you do something wrong with code and accidentally erase hours of work in one fell swoop by clicking “delete” on accident (I’m looking at myself here), backups will make sure that’s not all gone forever.

Let Them Know You Are A Beginner

The best way to learn how to code is by asking questions and getting feedback from others, especially more experienced developers who can point out mistakes and explain why something is working or not working as expected.

When a beginner developer asks questions or admits they don’t know something, it’s usually not because they are trying to make themselves feel better – it’s because there is some part of coding that isn’t clear for them, and they want people with more experience in the field than themselves so that someone else can help fill in those gaps in knowledge for them!

Create A Portfolio Of Your Work

A portfolio is one of the single most important things you can have in your job hunt, especially if you’re a hobbyist developer.

It should contain all the projects that you’ve worked on, regardless of whether they were paid or not. The portfolio will help convince potential employers that you are skilled enough to complete tasks for them, even if it’s informal or low-paying work like freelancing or internships.

It’s important that your portfolio is up-to-date so potential employers know what kind of skillsets and projects you currently have in mind for future jobs. If there are any gaps in between work experiences due to lack of funding or time constraints then make sure those are addressed as well (especially if it means taking on a part-time job).

It’s also important that your portfolio is easy for others to navigate through – including both visitors who may be unfamiliar with code languages as well as tech-savvy users who may want detailed explanations on how particular features were developed.

Embracing a freelance career means embracing a new way of working. Learn more about how freelancing is revolutionizing the traditional work environment in our in-depth post on How Freelance Work Is Redefining the Way We Work.

Have A Contract Ready Before Starting The Project

You should always have a contract ready before starting the project. Contracts help define the scope of work, payment terms, ownership of the work, and deliverables.

It’s important to remember that you’re a freelancer and not an employee so you should be able to negotiate your fees based on experience and expertise with this client.

You, Will, Have To Write A Lot Of Emails

You will have to write a lot of emails. As a developer, you might not be particularly good at writing or caring about grammar, but this is something you will most likely have to work on.

In case you’re wondering: I learned English in school (I’m German), and I’ve never been much into reading books or watching films in English. Before I started freelancing full-time, my writing skills were very basic (at best). Nowadays, when I look back and see how many emails I wrote over the last few years it’s quite impressive.

The truth is that over time you’ll develop your style of writing and create templates that suit your needs perfectly

However, as soon as you start sending out initial proposals to clients or sending cold emails after applying for remote jobs online (which we will cover later), it’s essential for your message not only to convey its purpose clearly but also to make a good first impression on whoever receives it.

Put Your Best Foot Forward Always

Always be on time.
Always be ready to learn.
Always be ready to help others and mentor those who are less experienced than you.
Always be willing to work hard, even when it’s not your job description.

Never give up on learning new things, even if you think they’re hard or boring at first glance; in fact, I encourage everyone who is reading this right now: go out there today and learn something new.

Maybe it’s programming languages or maybe it’s how to use a certain tool more effectively… whatever it is that interests you most as a developer (or whatever problems your clients have), go get yourself some knowledge about that topic right now!

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Don’t Over Commit And Make It Hard For Yourself To Deliver On Time

One of the biggest mistakes you can make as a freelancer is overcommitting yourself. This makes it difficult for you to keep up with your deadlines, and it’s not fair for either party involved.

If clients are paying you for a service, they expect to receive that service promptly, even if things come up on their end that cause delays.

One way around this is to know who your niche is and stick with them (for example web developers). This will help keep your workload manageable so you have time left over after completing projects or tasks assigned by clients.

Another way is simply avoiding taking on work that isn’t within your skill set if there are certain areas within web development where you aren’t comfortable or don’t know much about yet then leave those out! It’s okay. The client doesn’t need them anyway.

Read Emails Multiple Times Before Replying

You should read each email at least three times before replying, and not just to understand it better.

The first time you read an email, try to get the idea of what was asked.

The second time, try to understand what was asked in detail.

And the third time, make sure you didn’t miss anything important or make any misunderstandings with your reply.

Remember: it’s easy for us developers because we’re used to reading technical documents! A lot of people don’t know how much effort goes into translating these emails into something understandable by both parties (the person sending them and those receiving them).

Understand The NDA (Non-Disclosure Agreement) To Protect Yourself And Your Client As Well

When you are working on a project, the client may ask you to sign an NDA (Non-Disclosure Agreement). This is a legal agreement between two parties. It protects the client’s confidential information and also ensures that the freelancer does not use or disclose any of their confidential information or trade secrets without proper authorization.

Freelance developers should always be concerned about protecting their reputation as well as their work and intellectual property when engaging with clients.

NDA’s provide an extra layer of protection by ensuring that all parties involved understand the terms under which they will work together so there are no misunderstandings later on down the road when they have to deal with any potential issues arising from these agreements being breached by either party involved in them signing them initially.

Freelancing Comes With Responsibility, Treat It Like A Job

Freelancing is a fun career, but it also comes with responsibility. You are responsible for your work, your clients and their happiness, your money, and even your health and success.

This means that you need to treat freelancing like a job: If you don’t do the work then no one will pay you (and then why would anyone want to hire you again?), if clients are unhappy with the product then they won’t pay (and how can they trust you with future projects?), if there’s no cash coming in then how will you pay bills or afford food?

Don’t Take Success For Granted

You might think that once you start getting paid for projects, the learning curve is over. Something like “Okay, I made it”.

Maybe you even think that as long as your bills are paid, there’s no reason to keep improving yourself and your skillset. But you would be wrong. Everyone knows that life doesn’t stop after high school or college graduation; it just changes direction a little bit.

In this case, freelancing will be your key to freedom and financial stability in the future but only if you keep improving yourself every step of the way. So don’t take success for granted; always keep improving your skillset even after getting paid for projects.

Be Honest About How You Learn New Things

Be honest about how you learn new things and if you need help from others on some stuff, let them know! This will result in a healthier relationship between you and your clients.

One common mistake that I see freelance developers make is that they assume that their clients are not technical enough to understand the issues when there is a problem with the code.

The reality is that most of us have a reasonable understanding of what we need to achieve and can often explain our vision in simple terms without needing too much technical knowledge.

In fact if anything, many clients are more likely to have an easier time explaining exactly what requirements they have than a developer because they don’t have all the jargon associated with programming languages or complex processes which makes it difficult for even experienced developers sometimes but let’s not get into that now.

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Final Thoughts

As you can see, there are many different ways to go about finding a way to freelance for a hobbyist developer. If you’ve already got the skills needed, then go ahead and start right away.

Just make sure to take care of yourself as well – if this means taking breaks every so often when working on projects, then do that instead. Otherwise, you’ll end up burning out before long which isn’t good either!