Faster way to make money

Career Advice
#1

im not professional web designer but currently on the path of learning code as a means to make extra income and a freelancer , currently i learnt html/css and i understand i need to learn atleast the basics of JS , so whats your advice ?

1 Like
#3

Not basic… troughout. Learn and then practice. Being a freelancer ususlly means that you are on the cutting edge of every stack.

JS- of course you need. Freelancing is usually goes full- stack…

#5

Heya @freesudani~!

Freelancing is a very large undertaking - there are a lot of extra aspects on top of coding. I’ll split my reply into two sections here.

Development

Having a solid foundation of HTML, CSS, and JavaScript is essential. Depending on the client’s needs, you’ll also want to understand the back end (node.js, as an example) as well as frameworks like React.

A good way to measure your skills is to look at a professional webpage. For our example, let’s use the forum. Could you create a fully functional version of this forum? Could you create a mock-up of this forum (a visual copy, so it looks the same, without the functionality necessarily)? Would you know how to start it?

If I give you a set of client requests (often called user stories), would you be able to use those to build a webpage? The freeCodeCamp challenges are intentionally designed to simulate this, as salaried developers encounter the same nature of request as well.

Business

Being a freelancer does not just entail coding. It also requires the soft and hard skills to run a business. You will need to:

  • Be able to source new clients through networking and marketing
  • Be able to entice those clients into using your services
  • Be able to calculate the costs and bill those clients, most likely negotiating on fees
  • Understand the legalities that come with being self-employed

Freelancing is still a 40+ hour per week type of work. The estimate I often hear is that you spend about 40% coding and 60% managing a business.

This is not meant to discourage you, by any means, but rather to ensure you understand the full scope of this endeavour. Best of luck, and happy coding!

4 Likes
#6