How did you get started as a freelance web dev?

rain in july · March 2

Pretty much what the title says, how did you get started, what was your first job? any tips on how to get your first client, I would love to know!

Eigenvektor · March 2

Not a freelancer myself, but it should help if you have a portfolio/a public GitHub repository that shows off your existing work

jaslion · March 2

A portfolio for a start.

Then a good way of getting a foot in the market and get contacts is to work for a consultancy firm and go be a consultant for a known name either globally or regionally. Do that a couple times and you'll have plenty o contacts. Also safwr since you have a set income and a easy way to get cheap/free training. Then dip once you feel like you can go freelance or do the "I am gonna go freelance hete is a contract for you boss" move where you become a core part and offer your consult firm contract with good terms whilst you are deep in a project and then use that as a jumpign off point.

wasab · March 2

You should be aware that freelance online gig platforms like fiverr and upwork are full of English speaking developers from India or China and these guys can charge as low as $5 down to $3(for students) an hour for a project. I literally had a CEO from Germany who offered me work on his website, a week long full time project, for the low price of $100ish USD.

You might have better luck and more fair price if you can find some local clients who would actually need to bring in an outside contractor into their in house team or some local bussiness who need to purchase these services from you. You will need to seek these out yourself and cut the middleman. It is no different than just regular job search if you go this route. You will really need to reach out and network if you want to be successful.

QuantumRand · March 3

Years ago, I was a backend dev for a platform/service that was essentially a WYSIWYG for mobile apps. Think SquareSpace, but for apps. Our clients were tech savvy-ish, business minded people who had no programming experience.

The intended use of our service was for our clients to go to local businesses that didn't have much of an online or mobile presence, basically present themselves as app developers, and show them a template of what they could make for the business. Our clients would pay us ~$1000 for access to our app builder plus ~$50/month/app for access to backend features (like a push notification interface, etc). Our clients would charge their clients ~$5000 for the app plus $150/month for upkeep and access to the backend management.

I imagine you could do something similar. Go to local businesses, offer them an online platform for advertising their business. Charge a one time fee for the creation of the web pages and offer a recurring maintenance/upkeep fee. Upsell engagement features like online ordering, Google Maps/Yelp listings, etc. As you build out these features for first time clients, make sure to start with a generic template that can be used for future clients.

Most business owners will be looking for a return on investment, so come prepared with stats and figures on how online presence increases sales for businesses like theirs. The more specific you can get to their business the better. That's often what worked best for the few who were successful with that platform I worked on.