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I got my last job in 2018, so treat this as outdated advice. I git my start making websites for small businesses. Then I got more complex projects, and eventua

by nicbou 1y ago

I got my last job in 2018, so treat this as outdated advice. I git my start making websites for small businesses. Then I got more complex projects, and eventually contracts as a web developer. Then I started university and had to pause all that. My internship in Germany was a typical one. I found it through a job board. At the end, I dropped out of school and stayed, albeit with a proper salary. I think that the small business world is massively underserved. You have the skills to solve a lot of real problems, and to learn good practices the hard way, as well as a host of soft skills. It's a lot of fun because the impact is immediately visible, and you can't bullshit your way through like in a large corporation. So I think the problem is that you are looking for a well-marked path. There are so many people who have unmet needs, and they don't advertise it as an internship on a job board. Now this is where I will sound like a boomer. Go around and ask. Literally just introduce yourself and ask if there's anything you can help people with. Maybe you can throw a quick form together or write a script or two. You might have to fix someone's printer every once in a while, out there in the real world, not sheltered by an org chart. That's what I used to do, and it was a fantastic learning experience. I remember those days fondly.

koakuma-chan 1y ago
> So I think the problem is that you are looking for a well-marked path. There are so many people who have unmet needs, and they don't advertise it as an internship on a job board. I agree with you 100%. One thing I am unsure about though, and which I believe is very important, is, how much should I ask for? I had an experience where somebody reached out to me through relatives to make a website, so I quoted them $1000, but they just never responded. I believe two primary ways of pricing are per hour and per project, but there are issues with both. If you choose to price per hour, the client doesn't know in advance exactly how much your services will cost, and I believe the client has no way to verify that you actually spent those hours working on their project? And the number of hours you spend largely depends on how you choose to approach the problem, so I would expect people to feel reluctant towards this kind of model. On the other hand, if you price per project, you might end up doing way more work than you expected at first, and isn't it also very common for client needs to change all the time? How did you approach this? Thanks.
- nicbou 1y ago
  That's a tough question. My policy was to never compete on price. The cheapest clients are also the most demanding. I priced per project because the scope was small and it let me charge much more per hour. It was fun earning 50-100 CAD per hour right out of high school. It's not greedy; not every hour is billable. That being said, you're also learning, so there's a discount there. If you work for free or cheap, you should do it for people who deserve it. My first clients were non-profits and companies that were just getting started. A much smarter way to work is to approach people who need websites or dev work for their clients. After pairing up with a graphic designer, work just kept coming. You only need to be trusted once, not for every project. If it's not immediately obvious, you will learn a lot about salesmanship and customer service. These are valuable lessons.

by nicbou 1y ago

koakuma-chan 1y ago

> So I think the problem is that you are looking for a well-marked path. There are so many people who have unmet needs, and they don't advertise it as an internship on a job board. I agree with you 100%. One thing I am unsure about though, and which I believe is very important, is, how much should I ask for? I had an experience where somebody reached out to me through relatives to make a website, so I quoted them $1000, but they just never responded. I believe two primary ways of pricing are per hour and per project, but there are issues with both. If you choose to price per hour, the client doesn't know in advance exactly how much your services will cost, and I believe the client has no way to verify that you actually spent those hours working on their project? And the number of hours you spend largely depends on how you choose to approach the problem, so I would expect people to feel reluctant towards this kind of model. On the other hand, if you price per project, you might end up doing way more work than you expected at first, and isn't it also very common for client needs to change all the time? How did you approach this? Thanks.

nicbou 1y ago
That's a tough question. My policy was to never compete on price. The cheapest clients are also the most demanding. I priced per project because the scope was small and it let me charge much more per hour. It was fun earning 50-100 CAD per hour right out of high school. It's not greedy; not every hour is billable. That being said, you're also learning, so there's a discount there. If you work for free or cheap, you should do it for people who deserve it. My first clients were non-profits and companies that were just getting started. A much smarter way to work is to approach people who need websites or dev work for their clients. After pairing up with a graphic designer, work just kept coming. You only need to be trusted once, not for every project. If it's not immediately obvious, you will learn a lot about salesmanship and customer service. These are valuable lessons.