Why couldn't you get a job as a freelancer?

Introduction:

I think that no one really believes that he will get a job after a month, but within every programmer, there is hope to achieve this that makes him want to continue.

I am still working with this hope to get a job after six months despite the passage of a year.

But now I'm not dreaming, I actually reached the level required to get a job, I learned most of the skills in any roadmap and even more.

I am ready now to get the job I worked for, not any ordinary job, but the most luxurious thing that any ordinary programmer can dream of!!!

freelancer, the freest of all, the smartest, the best of the best, a king who works only for himself, gets up at 11 pm, works 3 hours from his bed.

But after many attempts to be that person, I failed.

But why?

In this article, I will try to reveal the reasons why most devs can not get a freelancer job easily, and we also try to find solutions.

We will divide the reasons as follows:

• Lack of necessary skills

• market demands

I will discuss with you the things that prevent people from getting a job and also some suggested solutions.

Nots:

• Since I also haven't got a job yet, it would be hypocritical to talk like an expert on this, so I won't go into depth and I'll just attach the learning resources.

• Please go check my account, as I will definitely talk about my first job experience if the situation changes.

Without further ado, Let's talk about Why couldn't I get a job as a freelancer?

Lack of necessary skills!!

We will talk in this article from the perspective of a front-end dev But what I say apply to other fields.

I have a question for you, do you think you can get a job using Only HTML and CSS?

The short answer is yes you can, as I have seen jobs that only ask for HTML and CSS!!!

The long answer is yes you can, and millions of other developers can, I want you to go and see the number of views on HTML and CSS courses; Millions right!!!

Like I said I've seen many jobs asking for only HTML and CSS; But I have not seen one of these jobs have less than 50 job applications.

There is always someone better than you applying for the job, as the percentage of you being the best one among hundreds of applications is closer to zero than to one.

Where even though the job only needs HTML and CSS If this is only what you know, then you often lack the ability to provide a good job, as the average developer does not reach an advanced level in HTML and CSS without learning other things.

So what is the minimum?

Honestly, I don't know where every time I think I found the gold standard, another one comes up.

I think there is a scientific phenomenon for that, for example when you say that bad luck is always with you, you often focus on the times of bad luck and forget the rest, even if it is a small amount.

Same thing with Freelance; Where you may find that the whole market asks for js devs, but after you learn it, suddenly the market asks React devs!!!

For me it was js then wordpress then threeJS then Gsap then React; Every time I learn something, I feel like the market is asking for something else.

But to answer my question, I think that the minimum level for you to have a good chance of getting a job is the following:

• HTML

• CSS

• JavaScript

• Wordpress

wait a minute wordpress; I thought you were talking about front-end devs!!!

Wait for the solution part and you will know why.

market demands?

Perhaps if we know what the market demands, we may be able to get a job by providing that?

So let me tell you briefly what kind of projects you will face when looking for a jop, And what kind of clients will you meet?

A million dollar idea with a $10 budget

You will find this type of project everywhere where everyone has a million-dollar idea; make a site similar to Tiktok or I want another Facebook, the simplest projects of them may take you months to make it, if you are even able to make it on your own.

I do not know what the owners of these projects think, but I have a life and will not work for 3 months for 15 dollars.

super dev

I don't really blame the customer for this, but it's just a topic that annoys me.

I am a Front-End dev not a Back-End And definitely not a designer But do you think the customer cares.

The average person does not know that creating a website usually requires 3 professions at least.

Usually you will be required to design and take care of the server side.

In fact, in terms of demand front-end dev are least in demand!!!

The competition

Of course I don't need to mention to you the high competition from people whose currency difference makes 15 dollars a fortune for them.

As the current environment of most Freelance sites is designed in the interest of the customer, not the freelacner; It helps the customer to get the best price and the best service.

The solution

After briefly showing you most of the problems you may encounter, let me show you some solutions:

First the basics:

You must remember that you are the one who chose to work as a freelancer; Therefore, you must take responsibility and realize that you are now a one-man company!!!

So you should diversify your skills, I'm not telling you to specialize in something else, but at least master the basics of other skills.

if you are a front-end like me I advise you to learn the following:

• Web Design basics

At least, know how to choose suitable colors, as it will instantly increase the number of jobs available to you

• Learn to use any CMS

WordPress is still dominant in this field and although you as a programmer may hate this, but this is the only solution to be suitable for the market

You have to make sure that the only thing standing between you and your first job is luck, I can't change your luck so we'll do what we can.

your personal accounts:

You must make sure that all of your personal accounts look professional; Where believe me, no one will work with you with a Twitter account that was created yesterday.

So make sure that your social media account is good, your GitHub LinkedIn, And, of course, your account on freelance sites.

These are some of the best learning resources:

• Twitter

• Linkedin

• GitHub

• Upwork

After you have confirmed that the problem is not with your suspicious account, it is time to apply for jobs with confidence now, but how?

You have to master how to apply for a job; as it may be the only way to attract customer attention.

• 8 Golden Rules for Writing Upwork Cover Letters

If you are lucky and someone is interested in visiting your account, you should draw his attention to your previous projects (projects from random courses).

You do not have previous projects at all, nor why did you reach this stage in the article.

Therefore, as long as you wait to get a job, you should always create projects where you will increase your skill first and draw people's attention to your skill second.

I advise you to try to create something original of your own to showcase your skills

Here are some sources for front-end dev:

• FrontEndMentor

• frontendpractice

• codewell

It's hard to ask my lazy brain to try to find a job every day after all this frustration and even if it did I wouldn't have the energy most of the time to submit a high-quality job application.

Where I admit I didn't search all the time continuously, but there are interruptions, if I gather the serious time, I will find that in 3 months I got only 3 opportunities, and of course I failed in them, so on average there is an opportunity per month.

You may be more skilled or luckier than me, but at first it will seem impossible to hunt in the whale area.

So if you reach this stage like me where you have mastered the above, your personal accounts are good and you have skills, but you lack continuity and luck, I have a suggestion!

The solution:

Instead of waiting for the customer to come to me, why don't I go to him?

Have you ever been surfing the Internet and found something sold for money and said to yourself, I sure can do better, but I'm lazy at the end.

for me as a front-end I always see poorly made website, whether outdated in design or not working well.

Government websites, personal stores, million dollar ideas on a $15 budget, All of these opportunities are waiting for someone to take them.

you don't even need to find something bad to fix, there are many business owners You can convince them that they need your services.

Instagram and Facebook pages, your neighborhood stores, small businesses, all of these You can convince them that they need your services.

Here's how to do it:

Creating a semi-complete product, perhaps within 40% complete; Go to the customer and show him this unfinished product as an example of what you can offer.

Tell him this product is missing your personal preference to complete, So you won't take any time to finish either. You give him a glimpse of what he can have.

As for the price in general, you have to accept a little price at first, But you can always offer him more features for more money.

Of course, you have to master the message that you will send, if you fail It doesn't matter, as this method will work with many people, so at first send your offer to 20 people, for example, to see the results.

I am writing this article before trying this method, so immediately after I try it, whether it failed or succeeded. Wait for an article that talks about the experience

Conclusion

I was hoping to talk more about how to improve your personal account or about the best way to send a job application and so on, but as I said I did not get a job yet.

But I promise to anyone who reads this article that I will complete the entire journey, but the speed will depend on the amount of interaction.

In the end, I would like to hear your opinions about the article?

• What was missing?
• Did you like the use of the meme in the article?
• Should I add more or fewer details?
• Do I add more explanation or cut it out and only talk about the experience?

Author

• professional links:

  • twitter
  • LinkedIn
  • GitHub

• Hire me:

  • UpWork
  • Freelancer

• Blog:

  • hashNode
  • dev.to