Benefits of freelancing as a dev on the side:
- Realize your own ideas according to your values💡
- Leadership experience
- Extra (/passive) income💵
- Collab with friends 👩💻👨💻
- Be your own boss
What do you think? 😊
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Top comments (31)
If you're gonna juggle both a side hustle and a full-time gig double-check all that paperwork you signed when you started your job.
A lot of companies have policies prohibiting side jobs, and also claim ownership of everything you create while employed.
If you're getting some good action on that side-gig, take the right steps to protect what you've started! Also, form an LLC to protect yourself.
Great tips, thanks for sharing! 😊 🙌
Also competing with Wix, Squarespace, WordPress and all those other website builders out there that let the client create their own website thus avoiding a freelancer completely.
I think that most people will not build their sites themselves, even with tools such as Wix, because most people won't go and teach themselves Wix just to build a single site. But instead they will hire a web dev to build their site, and these tools will make it easier and faster for the developer to build the site.
Maybe that might have been true a few years ago I am not sure that is the case anymore. I had a potential client who created her own website using Squarespace. She had no interest in hiring a developer to build a custom website. Because it is unlikely that the client will know anything about javascript frameworks, serverless, Headless CMS or any of those buzz words. They are not developers like us. She just wanted help doing some things on there as she really wanted to do it all herself instead of outsourcing to a developer.
They see an ad for Wix or Squarespace on YouTube for example and that is what they are going to choose. And many top influencers on social media get paid to promote Wix or Squarespace so pretty much everybody knows about them. I have checked out a few popular people on social media and their websites are built with either one of the two or even WordPress.
So I would say that the competition is real especially for freelancers. Thats why in my opinion it is essential to have a varied skill set. Creating complicated websites is still something that a client wont be able to do with those website builders for example. And app development is still something that requires a lot of technical skills so that is something else that can't easily be replicated with an online build tool.
What you said makes sense to me. but I actually had the opposite experience, where a friend asked me to set him up a online shop, but I told him that he should try doing it himself on Shopify, and he should be able to set it himself in no time. A week later he came back to me saying that he is not "technical" and can't set it up himself, and asked me that I should do the job.
Thanks for listening some disadvantages!😊 I think it's nice to have an employee job and a freelance job to cancel out a lot of the possible downsides 😊
basically, a job as a freelancer is definitely a great thing. However, I think that the policy here still has to improve a lot and I lack long-term planning security. Right now, based on the corona pandemic, you have seen very well how fast it can go and you need security.
Well, take in mind, as a freelance dev you will become a multi-task professional, you need to talk with the clients, listen to their requirements, place limits (you don't want to make extra work), unluckily this can be really stressful for some people...
About the passive income, I don't think it could be as easy as sit and earn money, you end doing a lot of work in your free time if you have a full-time job already
Hi Pixo, yes with passive income I was more thinking about things like e.g. Making educational content for youtube or udemy etc. :) this then can be very passive.
I've thought of this as a way to break into the field with not much experience immediately following Bootcamp or coursework. It may be a way to get a few projects under my belt and build a portfolio? I've been a freelance writer for three years. I enjoy the flexibility. It does take some self-control to get yourself to be working instead of wasting time, but I think it's a viable option when resumes aren't resulting in job offers just yet?
Yes sure, it's a great way to collect experience and build your portfolio! 😊 👍
Resumé boosting and learning new things that you would never learn during your full time job!
I’m a freelancer on the side and manage 2 production products which introduce amazing challenges in my life!
I can only recommend doing it! But take into account that saying no is an essential skill for a freelancer! 👊
Hi Joachim, that's great! 😊 Nice that you benefit from it so much 👍
Is more on the entrepreneurial side, isn’t it. When freelancing, you’re a sword for hire on someone else’s project. One will have to compromise. On the other hand a client is not your boss but your customer.
How so? Would you mind elaborating on this a bit?
Hi Jan, to point 2: when you are 100% responsible for a project characteristics of leadership can be helpful. Also you might employ other people if your company grows and then need leadership competencies too
Everything’s a trade off - for me, freelancing was really useful to start off my career and give me some extra cash at the time, but now I’ve got busier and more established I barely do any ‘non-day-job’ work. Definitely worth exploring though if nothing else!
I have been working as a full time freelancer for the last 6+ years, and will never look back to being in a full time job.
I really love the freedom, able to handle my 24hrs a day like i want to. I work approx. 5-6 hours a day and thats one of the most valueable benefits for me.
As for an introvert it's so nice to being freelancer and not having to collab with co-workers all the time.
When at work - please work!
When i stopped being an employee, it quit becuase I want to be my own boss, and i plan what project to work on, not a thing my boss should manage.
The downsides Langenau lists, i cannot relate:
Avoid boring 😂.
Hehe could be. But I think if you change your employer or team from time to time it can also stay exciting as an employee. 😊
Truth!
I’d like to add benefit of making your own decisions and then handling their consequences.
That's a good one too 😊👍