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I put myself through college about 6 years ago contracting. I found most of my clients through similar sites (Rentacoder and scriptlance). I was making about

I put myself through college about 6 years ago contracting. I found most of my clients through similar sites (Rentacoder and scriptlance). I was making about $30k a year working part time during the school year, and mostly full time in the summers. Not a spectacular wage when you compare it to full time Silicon Valley wages, but I'd definitely call it a "living wage" for the US. The key to being successful on these sites is to view them as a way to meet and get to know longterm clients. It's much easier to charge higher rates once someone has gotten to know you and the quality of your work. I often did one or two projects through the site on a fixed rate while we got to know each other, and then would work directly with them on an hourly basis after that.

oneiroscopist 15y ago
Thanks for reply, Scotty. What technologies were you using?
- scottyallen 15y ago
  Most of my work was basic LAMP stack (perl and php). I developed a set of long term clients that relied on me to run the web infrastructure for their small online business, whatever that happened to entail. Usually a mixture of system administration, new development, and maintenance programming. One of the things I loved about freelancing was that it was really easy to find an excuse to learn a new piece of technology - I just used it on the next project I worked on.
csomar 15y ago
If I'm not being mistaken, you are the one who answered my question two years ago on StackOverFlow (http://stackoverflow.com/questions/763883/options-for-a-developer http://stackoverflow.com/questions/763883/options-for-a-deve...) It was a long road. I have had lot of non-related issues and difficulties but I almost got there. I made $10K doing it last year and I may make 3 or 4 times that number this year. You are one of the persons who changed my life, although it was a simple response. Thank you.
- oneiroscopist 15y ago
  Wow.
- GFischer 15y ago
  Thanks for linking and for sharing as well :) . I'm in Uruguay, we have a decent developer culture here, but I want to go the freelance route as well (I'm sick of my current job - it's safe and pays a reasonable local wage but is Dilbert-esque). My programming skills are similar to what you had at the beginning. Did you blog about what you went through?
  - csomar 15y ago
    No. I'm not sure if I'm the best person to talk about it. But if I can give you an advice, it's: Go and do it. I didn't know that my skills at that time weren't high enough, so I went and I did it. I learned everything (programming, marketing, writing, handling clients, running a business...) in the road. And yes, I was alone. There are no developer/freelance culture in my small city.
    - GFischer 15y ago
      Thanks :) . I will do it (and hopefully blog about it if I'm not too tired !). My goal is to quit my job on April (I get a small bonus at the end of March which, coupled with some little savings, will help me through the first few months), but to start my first freelance job in January to test the waters.
      - scottyallen 15y ago
        I think starting freelancing before you quit is very wise. One of the things about switching from full-time employment to freelancing is that it often takes much longer to get paid, and cash flow is much less steady. It also takes a while to build up enough of a pipeline of work that you stay busy all the time. This all boils down to it being nice to have a paycheck while you're ramping up.
- 15y ago
bryanlarsen 15y ago
Seconded. I have a couple of friends who did the same thing. They did contracts on eLance for about 6 months until they had enough clients coming directly to them. I'm sure their current rates are an order of magnitude higher now than they were during the eLance days.

oneiroscopist 15y ago

Thanks for reply, Scotty. What technologies were you using?

scottyallen 15y ago
Most of my work was basic LAMP stack (perl and php). I developed a set of long term clients that relied on me to run the web infrastructure for their small online business, whatever that happened to entail. Usually a mixture of system administration, new development, and maintenance programming. One of the things I loved about freelancing was that it was really easy to find an excuse to learn a new piece of technology - I just used it on the next project I worked on.

csomar 15y ago

If I'm not being mistaken, you are the one who answered my question two years ago on StackOverFlow (http://stackoverflow.com/questions/763883/options-for-a-developer http://stackoverflow.com/questions/763883/options-for-a-deve...) It was a long road. I have had lot of non-related issues and difficulties but I almost got there. I made $10K doing it last year and I may make 3 or 4 times that number this year. You are one of the persons who changed my life, although it was a simple response. Thank you.

oneiroscopist 15y ago
Wow.
GFischer 15y ago
Thanks for linking and for sharing as well :) . I'm in Uruguay, we have a decent developer culture here, but I want to go the freelance route as well (I'm sick of my current job - it's safe and pays a reasonable local wage but is Dilbert-esque). My programming skills are similar to what you had at the beginning. Did you blog about what you went through?
- csomar 15y ago
  No. I'm not sure if I'm the best person to talk about it. But if I can give you an advice, it's: Go and do it. I didn't know that my skills at that time weren't high enough, so I went and I did it. I learned everything (programming, marketing, writing, handling clients, running a business...) in the road. And yes, I was alone. There are no developer/freelance culture in my small city.
  - GFischer 15y ago
    Thanks :) . I will do it (and hopefully blog about it if I'm not too tired !). My goal is to quit my job on April (I get a small bonus at the end of March which, coupled with some little savings, will help me through the first few months), but to start my first freelance job in January to test the waters.
    - scottyallen 15y ago
      I think starting freelancing before you quit is very wise. One of the things about switching from full-time employment to freelancing is that it often takes much longer to get paid, and cash flow is much less steady. It also takes a while to build up enough of a pipeline of work that you stay busy all the time. This all boils down to it being nice to have a paycheck while you're ramping up.
15y ago

bryanlarsen 15y ago

Seconded. I have a couple of friends who did the same thing. They did contracts on eLance for about 6 months until they had enough clients coming directly to them. I'm sure their current rates are an order of magnitude higher now than they were during the eLance days.