This is a quick summary of this enlightening video by Kunal Kushwaha and Eddie Jaoude
About Kunal
- Kunal is working towards empowering communities via Open Source and Education. He finds passion in teaching and has taught thousands of folks online and in person.
- He is the founder of Community Classroom, an organisation focussed on providing training & mentorship, free of cost.
- Kunal is currently a Developer Advocate at Civo , working remotely and empowering community with his knowledge and experiences,
About Eddie
- Eddie is an Open Source fullstack and DevRel expert.
- He started 10 years ago as a full stack developer, He got discovered for some open-source work. And the Rest is history..
- He is the founder of EddieHub , a community focused on open source and collaboration.
- Eddie is a digital Nomad, working from different parts of work encouraging developers to get involved with open source.
Perks of being a freelancer
As a freelancer, You can
- CHOOSE the number of Hours you want to work.
- CHOOSE the technology you want to work on
- CHOOSE projects you want to work on
You have the ability , the power and control over your social and work life.
Freelancing vs regular contract based job:
Freelancing
- You have to constantly keep finding clients.
- You can work from anywhere in the world , that might be a good or a bad thing.
Permanent job
- You have a regular income, stability.
- You can get bored with the same routine after some time.
With both freelancing and permanent job. You need to stand out from the crowd, Whether you want to find new clients or change jobs. For that you need to be active on social platforms such as GitHub ,twitter, linkedIn.
How to build Your portfolio to get clients :
- You need to show that you are capable enough to build real world apps.
- A to-do app is just 'ok', but A full stack, real time chat app, with amazing UI shows that you are familiar with different types of technologies.
- Have a GitHub profile
- Be active , make good pull requests
How to make Good Pull Request:
- They don’t need to be something flashy or big with lots of code changes
- They should clearly indicate what the change is about
- the description, The title , the commits should be good.
- Have good Issues
- a well defined issue really helps convey your message.
The only way you can improve is by getting involved in open source, make mistakes and learn by doing.
Remember always that it is all about adding value , whether it be through open source, twitter threads, blogs. If you keep adding values, You will get recognition and build you online presence . People will be like ‘ This guy shares so much knowledge , let me add him to my feed‘ or you may reach some potential clients.
The key point is
Have a portfolio , have a GitHub profile that is active, twitter, LinkedIn and post about open source and GitHub and share your learnings in public.
Getting paid by hour or paid on deliverable
Hourly rate is a good point to start, You can raise it over time once your demand increases. Your demand can increase exponentially by having a solid online presence. Then you can decide for yourself by experimenting with getting paid by both methods.
One golden rule for freelancing : Under promise, Over deliver.