Hi all, long time lurker, first post.
I’m intermediate level Python, self taught (100 Days of Code course first, then a backend bootcamp that covered ORMs, SQL, a bit of Docker and general devops). Since then I’ve been doing roadmap.sh projects to force myself to actually build stuff without leaning on AI so much.
A bit of context before the actual questions, sorry in advance for the wall of text. I know the usual answer here is probably going to be just get a normal job for a few years first, and I get why, but that’s not really what I’m looking for right now. Staying remote and being able to travel matters more to me than the money a corporate job would bring, so I’d rather not go down that road if that’s alright.
Same with languages, I know picking up JS or frontend stuff would open more doors eventually, but right now I feel like if I start learning a new language before my Python and backend fundamentals are actually solid, I’ll just end up mediocre at both instead of decent at one. So I’m trying to stay focused on that for now and branch out later.
What I’m actually hoping to get from this post is some direction on two things. First, what should I be learning specifically to get freelance backend work, as opposed to what you’d need for a normal in house job? And second, where do people actually find backend clients? Upwork feels rough, not just because it’s saturated but because there doesn’t seem to be much backend work at my level to begin with, and what little there is gets buried in proposals within minutes. Fiverr’s not much better. And Linkedin I genuinely don’t know how to use for this, like who would I even reach out to?
Would really appreciate any pointers, even small ones.