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Ask HN: How to become a freelancer?
Is it possible to become a Web developer without a college degree or previous job experience?
What does it take to become a freelance programmer making decent amount of good money? 50k+ ?
What do I need to learn? what language? what stack and technology? To get started? Is PHP the right choice for a beginner Web developer who has never worked as a developer?
- fbpcm 13y agoFind a business owner that needs web development done that doesn't have time to do it herself or knows a little bit less about it than you. You can charge that business owner now. Any language will work and there are trade offs for each language.
- cylinder 13y agoDon't quote them an hourly rate. That means nothing to them. Tell them they will get X for price $Y (flat fee all inclusive) and they are more likely to go forward.
- brandonhsiao 13y agoLearn Python/web.py. Powerful framework with no learning curve. More importantly, proportionate to how easy it is to learn, it gets the job done, fast. Anything that saves you time is good, because there will be a lot of repetition. If you're doing web development, use single quotes instead of double quotes (to save shift keystrokes). Use Jade/Coffeescript/SASS instead of HTML/JS/CSS. Learn jQuery. Use Bootstrap instead of doing your own design, unless you also want to sell yourself as a designer, but tell clients you'll also provide design (they can't tell the difference). Build up a library of code that you can reuse (basically anything you find yourself copy/pasting or rewriting between projects). Use quick-and-dirty solutions instead of long, conventional ones as long as (a) it results in a net decrease in time spent, (b) the product quality stays the same, and (c) the client doesn't know or doesn't care. Build MVPs for clients from start-to-finish by yourself instead of working with others unless the overhead is compensated by money. Learn how to write, because being fluent in English will get you surprisingly far in a market where a lot of your competitors can't use punctuation. Charge per-project, not per-hour. This way you're rewarded, not penalized, for being a fast worker. Experience: freelance programmer here who dropped out of college and never had a job; making enough to survive and spend the rest of my time on other things.
- dougbarrett 13y agoI just want you to know that after reading your comment, I've began to start learning web.py, and can't believe how easy it is to get a basic CRUD app up and running and I'm sure I haven't scratched the surface. Can you recommend any good resources on deploying to a VPS, compiling the jade/coffeescript/sass?
- shire 13y agoThank you for this, I'm familiar with Python and basic Django but honestly comparing Python and Django vs PHP/MySQL the later seems more easier the former seems a little bit to magical especially when MVC comes into play how does one understand Routes or Models, View and Controller?. Using PHP/MySQL seems like would be more easier to understand with MVC.
- smartwater 13y agoPractice with CodeIgniter or Laravel. It won't take long to learn. Once you learn MVC, it's all you will ever use. It helps keep things organized, portable, and efficient.
- JonoBB 13y agoDo not, under any circumstances, use CodeIgniter. It will teach you all sorts of rubbish, and the framework is dieing (or dead). Laravel is light years ahead.
- TheLML 13y ago"use single quotes instead of double quotes (to save shift keystrokes)" as in pressing the shift key on your keyboard? That may apply to the english keyboard layout, but not other country's keyboard layouts.