HN user
I do freelance/custom dev work. I continue to bid projects as if AI didn't exist. Recently (particularly since Cursor came onto the scene) I'm finding I finish projects 50-60% faster than my estimates.
It has been utterly game-changing and time-saving. I question each new bid I do: Should I assume AI will continue to help this much, and adjust my pricing?
This does not match my experience. I live in an average cost-of-living area and know lots of large families (3+ kids) living off a single income, sometimes in the $12-15/hour range. Life is challenging for them but not impossible.
What does "In order to keep up" mean, exactly?
But the granularity isn't arbitrary!
If you're billing hourly, and the client chooses not to use your time, you don't work any hours and you don't get paid. If you then billed them for 100 hours without working, you've committed fraud.
If you're billing monthly, you've set aside the month for the client. If they choose not to use your time, you still get paid, because in your agreement you specified "use my time it or lose it".
Sure, it's possible to focus on a tech-specific niche (security consultants come to mind) - but if you do so, you should be sure you know _exactly_ who your potential clients are.
The trap I fell into: I specialized in WordPress performance. I was really good at solving complex performance problems. But...who is my client? Maybe eCommerce stores, but which of them have performance problems? Typically, when they did have performance problems they felt it was a temporary problem and didn't _really_ want to spend the budget to fix it.
So that's my warning: If you tout yourself as a tech-specific problem solver, you should have a clear picture of how you're going to find clients with that specific problem. I find this harder to do than the reverse process of picking a type of client and THEN identifying their problems.
Oh, and I'd shy away from marketing yourself as a generic "problem solver". Try to find a more specific problem to solve (i.e. "I boost sales for eLearning websites by improving website speed"), and focus on that instead.
I see mostly WordPress, Shopify, and a smattering of Rails (but Rails may be because that's one of my favorite tools). I've never seen ASP or Java out in the wild, but I'm 1 man who doesn't focus on those techs.
PHP dominates the web, but I'm sure there is plenty of business elsewhere. The internet is pretty vast - some of my clients are in niches you've likely never heard of. If you were working in particular industries, you might see ASP/Java more often, depending on who the major players are there.
Most freelance developers would do well to simply rethink how they describe themselves, focusing on specific business needs.
A couple of lame examples:
Instead of "I'm a React Developer", think "I build web-based software for the mining industry".
Instead of just "I build websites", think "I help nursing homes build websites that bring in new clients"
Though nothing has changed with the freelancer themselves, this has many benefits including:
* Helping the freelancer to realize who their ideal client is.
* Allows said clients to self-select into the freelancer's services - clients don't know they need a Shopify developer, but they sure know they need a website that can take customer orders and do fulfillment.
I've been freelancing for 7 years, and the market has never been better for reliable web developers. A knowledgeable full-stack dev can earn above SV-level salary as a remote freelancer.
However, if you're marketing yourself purely as a "web developer", you're already commoditizing your skills. Instead, become an expert in a specific type of business/client and sell your ability to solve problems in that business domain. Your clients should not care about the tech you're using. You need to instead be seen as the expert who solves their problems with tech.
If you go this route, not only is freelancing viable - I think it's the best way to maximize your earnings as a developer.
I wrote about freelancing in more detail if you're interested: https://andyadams.org/everything-i-know-about-freelancing/
Thank you for your answers!
Do you pre-filter clients at all to ensure they have the budget? I've done scoping work for free, only to learn afterwards that the clients budget was 10% of what it needed to be. Do you just accept that as part of doing business, or is there a way to avoid it?
Don't charge money to scope projects
Would you recommend this even to a solo consultant, where scoping can take multiple days with the prospect of that time being lost? I'm in a situation where the potential client desperately needs a scope developed, but I don't feel I can risk doing it for free as it might take a week.
According to the developer survey, I'm in the upper 50% in years of experience. I know I'm not old by any reasonable metric (it was mildly a joke), but relative to the industry I'm above-average in age, which is wild but true.
Having built lots of WordPress sites over the years, I can give you 2 strong reasons why it continues to grow, despite being disliked by software engineers:
1. There is no easier way to set up a standard marketing/business website, despite many quality attempts to build replacements. The plugin library is a big part of this.
2. It's extremely easy for anyone to start hacking on, leading to lots of developers "cutting their teeth" on WordPress by following online tutorials. Show me a self-taught front-end developer and I'll be shocked if they didn't learn on a WordPress site. This has good & bad aspects, of course.
Heck, I'm looking at this survey and wondering if I should put Python on my learning queue. It does seem to be in use across a lot of disciplines, including some of the most popular emerging techs.
Given that students are probably learning Python in university, I could see this being a strong reason for its growth. I hadn't thought of the "manager" angle - it makes sense that it's easier to plug a new developer into a Python codebase than it is a Rails codebase.
One of the main findings of the SO survey was that Python is indeed rising, overtaking other languages as one of the most popular and desired, so although it was popular in the past, it's definitely rising.
Most everything else you said could also be said of Ruby - docs, helpful community, flexibility from scripting up to massive webapps. That's what perplexes me - what are the "more of the things people actually want" specifically that drive Python's growth?
I think the questions are formulated as such: "What web framework(s) do you use?", and respondents can pick as many as they want. That would explain the popularity: It's hard for me to think of a website I've touched that doesn't use jQuery, even if only for a small part.
Respondents are allowed to choose multiple answers for each question, so the totals != 100%.
Can someone help this old (2^5 years) developer out? I've worked with a number of programming languages over the years, and have never found a combination that brings me such joy and productivity as Ruby and Rails. However, I've always felt that Python and Ruby were very similar in style & goal.
Can someone who is experienced in both Rails & Django explain why Python & Django are trending up so quickly, while Ruby & Rails are ranking on the "most dreaded" lists? I don't want this to become a holy war, I am just genuinely curious what I'm overlooking.
Thank you!
Is it odd that I'm drawn to the architecture of the dilapidated wooden homes? I've never seen it before - particularly the ornate pieces above the windows. Is there a name to the style?
In the US, email agreements can be enforceable contracts, but I always take the step of getting an eSignature.
My take on international contracts: Working internationally, it's pretty much all based on trust. Once you get to the point where you have a large enough contract, sure, hire lawyers then. But how is someone going to pursue, for example, a Romanian developer for $10,000? It's just not worth it.
So, if you're unsure of the client and you have no way of enforcing a contract, you could "ramp up" your agreement: Get 50% up front, do a small project or 2, break larger projects into smaller chunks paid incrementally, etc.
I've never dealt with a large client flaking, so this is all speculation from me. I hope it helps.
I've only started going to tech meetups recently, as an attempt to socialize. It's definitely helped! I basically avoided it for the first 6 years, so I'd recommend it very much.
FWIW, I've been married the whole time I've been a freelancer, and the loneliness didn't settle in until year 5 or so. Your spouse will probably not want to talk shop all the time, and those types of conversations (tech, business, etc) were what I missed the most. But maybe I'm just excessively sensitive!
You get my productive output for normal working hours, typically an 8-9 hour range, but I'm not tracking time spent on potty breaks, eating lunch, or taking a walk outside.
Thanks for sharing.
1. I'd be terrified to run as a sole proprietor for anything more than getting started. I work on medical software, and if someone dies during a procedure - even if it's not my software's fault - I don't want my personal assets to be liable.
2. I started at 35%, and moved back once I saw what I was actually paying. Depends on your state in life, state within the US, and charitable giving state-ments.
3. Yep, 2 months is low. Just enough to weather a storm, but more = better.
4. Funnily enough, I'm switching to hourly billing for much of my work. But I think many freelancers (particularly US-based) don't even realize "day rates" are a thing - we're fixed on hourly pay, for some reason.
2 places:
1. Premium job boards. AuthenticJobs used to carry much more freelance work, but basically I'd find places where people had paid to post a job, and I'd do my darndest to impress them with my opening email.
2. My professional network. A couple of old contacts referred me to excellent agencies. Those connections still pay dividends today.
Hope that helps. These comments are giving me ideas for "Everything I know, part 2".
Sure, the article is applicable primarily to US-based freelancers. YMMV in other places.
If it's any consolation, I live in a tiny town in the US and have rarely met my clients in person. Many of them have no idea where I work from or that I occasionally wear pajama pants on video calls, because my webcam is from the waist up.
Yes! If you see a problem with the design, share your expertise (politics carefully navigated). This is how you become even more valuable to your client. But if you've settled on a design and you're the implementer, make it look like the specs you got!
It has always surprised me how many developers are OK with just going radio silent when things aren't going well on a project. It's a bridge burnt, plus they often don't get to collect their last payment. It's a lose-lose, just a horrible way to exit a professional contract.
I don't know much about aviation, but I know there's a plane that was faster than the SR-71: The X-15 [1].
I know because my great uncle died flying the X-15 on an experimental flight [2], so it's always been an interesting story for my family.
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_American_X-15 [2] https://theaviationgeekclub.com/the-story-of-mike-adams-the-...