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Freelance work

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  • 02-09-2012 1:54am
    #1
    tolosenc
    Registered Users Posts: 6,889 ✭✭✭


    Hi all,

    Been working as a salaried web dev for a while, but I'm heading back to do my masters in a couple of weeks. I'm looking to get a few "set up my website for me" kinda jobs throughout the year to tide me over monetarily. Thing is, I have no idea where to even begin to look. Can anyone give me tips on where to go looking?

    I'll be at DCU, but anywhere in Dublin is decent, if it makes a difference (though I hear they have the internet everywhere now).


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    #2
    BobbyPropane
    Registered Users Posts: 1,306 ✭✭✭BobbyPropane


    https://www.elance.com/

    Newspapers.


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    #3
    maxmarmalade
    Registered Users Posts: 86 ✭✭maxmarmalade


    BobbyPropane wrote: »
    https://www.elance.com/

    Newspapers.

    Does anyone here actually think Elance is worth it? Its almost impossible to compete with the Indian and South American companies. You're taking about working for 5 euro per hour to compete. Also, when you start on freelance, you have no reference to work you have done outside Elance. You've got an empty portfolio compared with companies who have been on it for years. Elance and Guru used to be for individual freelancers but is now dominated by large Indian and South American companies. I made 200 euro tops a month when I was on it.

    It's a strange phenomenon - there is general emphasis in Ireland on buying local goods. But when it comes to getting a website or logo done, companies have no problem out-sourcing overseas.

    @BobbyPropane - You mention newspapers as a source of freelance work...which ones? I've set up my own web design company with my friend so we're also looking for freelance work. I've never actually checked newspapers because I doubted there would be any "website needed" ads there.

    @OP - What dev work did you do and what framework did you use? We find getting involved in the framework community is the best way to source freelance work. Helping people for free on forums has lead to work for us. Also twitter is a great way too, as long as you have a good site to direct people to.


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    #4
    The Corinthian
    Closed Accounts Posts: 19,777 ✭✭✭✭The Corinthian


    tolosenc wrote: »
    Been working as a salaried web dev for a while, but I'm heading back to do my masters in a couple of weeks. I'm looking to get a few "set up my website for me" kinda jobs throughout the year to tide me over monetarily. Thing is, I have no idea where to even begin to look. Can anyone give me tips on where to go looking?
    The first thing I would advise is that you have to constantly keep lots of irons in the fire; this is because for every twenty prospects you may only have one convert to a gig, so you constantly need to keep the momentum going to keep those gigs coming in.

    This naturally will mean that it can take months for the first gig to come in at the start, let alone a steady stream of them - so cash flow can be an issue.

    As to where to find those prospects - everywhere and anywhere. It might be something that crops up in conversation in a pub or a family gathering. It might be directly applying for a gig through the newspapers or a procurement site. It might be simply someone from a mailing list or even here approaching you because they like the cut of your jib, as it were.

    So sign up to mailing lists, or fora where you're likely to either find potential customers and/or other companies in your area and make yourself known and respected for your helpfulness and knowledge. Go to industry or business events and get to know people. You may never hear from any of them again, but you'll be surprised how, six months down the road, you'll get an email appear in your inbox looking for a quote.

    And identify your market. It's not just SME's who might want a Web site; it can also be other Web designers who may either have an overspill of work they have to farm out or require specific skills in-house for a project that they'll need to outsource.

    And finally try to give a basic appearance of professionalism. Get a Web site, even if it's just a one-pager (nothing worse than a Web professional without a professional Web site), develop some branding and get business cards.
    maxmarmalade wrote: »
    It's a strange phenomenon - there is general emphasis in Ireland on buying local goods. But when it comes to getting a website or logo done, companies have no problem out-sourcing overseas.
    Then evolve rather than mourn the past.

    One thing that cannot (at least for the foreseeable future) be outsourced is anything that requires or has an advantage when customer facing. Project management, analysis and other forms of consultancy, are nigh on impossible to do solely via Skype and so you've increasingly seen some freelancers successfully move in the direction of doing this, while outsourcing to these eLance type companies.

    In theory you don't need to write a line of code and alone can simultaneously run five projects at the same time because of this, without breaking a sweat, adding a 10% - 50% mark-up on each.

    Caveat: it is a volume game though, as you do need multiple gigs for it to make you enough money to make it worthwhile.


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