
Ask HN: Developer going freelance, how to get started? - Rjevski
How would you begin marketing yourself as a freelance developer starting from scratch, zero, nada? I mean no significant web presence, no 10k Twitter followers, not wasting time with LinkedIn and not having launched an ICO.<p>I&#x27;ve been quietly employed as a Python developer for a few years now and so as a result I&#x27;ve never bothered making a &quot;portfolio&quot; (not that I know what a developer portfolio should look like - I&#x27;m not a designer with tons of beautiful things to show off unfortunately) nor really spent the time building a web presence (I quite enjoy my &quot;offline&quot; life). So pretty much the only thing I&#x27;ve got to show off is a resumé and references from previous employers, which doesn&#x27;t really look groundbreaking.<p>Anyone who&#x27;s been through this before, would you mind giving me some advice on how to get started? Thanks!
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justdebb
I had came across a post ([https://www.codementor.io/blog/land-clients-
freelance-develo...](https://www.codementor.io/blog/land-clients-freelance-
developer-39w3i166wy)) that does a good job going into the details about how
to get started on your freelancing career as a developer — I think you might
be helpful?

In any case, best of luck to you!

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grawprog
I've never really done it with the idea of making a long term business out of
it I found Craigslist and other local classifieds was a pretty good way to get
jobs at least in the short term. I got one long term project, several one time
jobs and several repeat customers in a period of a few months. I also looked
through the wanted ads for people looking for small projects they needed done.

I did some research before I started about the kinds or rates to charge based
on my skills. I kept my prices lower than the highest or even mid range but
didn't go to low. I found I actually got a few clients that chose me because I
wasn't offering the lowest price.

They had all had bad experiences with people offering deals. I always laid out
the terms of our agreement beforehand and made sure we both agreed on the
scope of the work and the fees I was charging. I wouldn't do any work before
that, even for small quicl things. One or two clients questioned it but
usually after a quick explanation about how it was to make sure I did the work
that was agreed upon and that we both ended up happy afterwards they usually
had no problems.

If I had continued doing that I likely would have found more places, either
online or around my community to advertise. I never really tried to look for
any remote work so I don't have much to ad for that. A lot of the above I
imagine still applies.

The only thing I can really add is that until you get to the point where
you're overwhelmed, always be looking for more clients however you can. But,
don't take on too much at once so you can't finish things on time and don't
agree to do something above your skill level. As tempting as it is to take a
job and try to learn what you nees while doing it, your work will likely end
up poor and your client may end up unhappy. If you want to learn something
new, do it on your own time then take jobs that require those skills.

Always track your time spent working, even if you don't bill by the hour. It's
easy to get caught up working on something too long and end up not making as
much as you wamt out of it. Give your self clear time frames to work on
something and track the actual time spent working on it using some kind of
time tracking app.

If you can, also try and give yourself working hours. Even if they're long, 12
hours or longer, still make a cutoff between work and the rest of your life so
you don't become trapped into nothing but work.

I don't know if this advice is the best or not but this is what I've learned
from trying it.

