Options for a developer

Question

I have been an amateur developer for a long time. I was hooked to computers since the age of 10. I started with windows 3.1 and Qbasic. Few months, I moved to Visual Basic where I developed few applications just for fun. During this time I was always a novice, amateur developer. Two years ago, I started seriously with Dot Net for windows developement and PHP for Web developement. I worked and learned for the both sides (Web and Windows, Microsoft and Linux). I now prepare (and I can take) the MS certificates. I made a huge progress in programming and it turned from a hobby to a serious (job??).

Yet, this is the problem. I live in Tunisia, where my programming skills have no value for our industry. I can't go abroad, as I'm not really that competent and also it's recession. (+ I'm 18 years old only).

I have tried building sites and blogs, I made about $800 with Google adsense (but that was a long year, which means $2 a day!!). + I like more coding that being a webmaster.

I'm now a good developer on MS Visual C# Dot Net, I have also a good knowledge on PHP/Mysql and AJAX. I can build sites and optimize Wordpress Blogs.

But I have very little experience about the Freelance World. I want you guys to share your experience with me. You may have experience in this field, so simply said "If you were in that time in my place, what should you do?"

1. Become a Freelance? What shall I really do, what articles you think are best for reading?
2. Take a virtual Job? they exist? Is it easy to take it? what processes shall I go through.
3. Other Options?

I want just your advice and some ideas and hints to start. No matter if you write long about your experience, I'm interested to know it. I have learned that the most I know, the least I will fell in mistakes and then I save time and money.

Thanks for your suggestions.

Just to make things clearer, I'm looking for other developers experience. What Worked for you, what ways you decided and they were time wasting, what's the best way to start..

Answer 1

Take a look at other SO posts which have the term "Freelance", "Contract" etc in their heading. They may be of help. Also, try Googling for "freelance programmer", "rentacoder" and the like.

Answer 2

It all depends on your lifestyle. If you have a decent bank balance to back you up for atleast a year, then you can go for free lancing(only if you wish to be a lancer).

I, personally, will not recommend to do that since 1. You do not have a professional programming experience. 2. currently, the conditions are bad.

I would say go for a permanent job and get some decent experience. Also get better on your finances. Then you can start free lancing.

As far as certifications are concerned definitely go for it. DO NOT USE DUMPS. That makes certifications useless.

Answer 3

First off, you have something amazing going for you, your ability to communicate fluently in written English!

This alone puts you ahead of the vast majority of people who are attempting to do work "offshore". Please excuse me if I am not using a politically correct term, I am referring to the practice by many firms in places like the USA who whant to have the work done in a country where labor rates are cheaper. The ability to communicate clearly ad accruately is essential for any sort of "virtual job"

Next you state you made $800 on a website in one year. While this does not sound like muct to someone who works full time as a developer in a place like America, it is far more than most 18 year olds have made on a website, even in a place like America!

You need to remember that everything is relative. What is the average wage in your country? I bel it is less than in New York City where a small apartment rents for $2,000 per month.

Also did you make more in month 12 than in month 1? If your revenues are growing that is important!

You should be extremely proud of yourself! We have a saying in America that "the grass is always greener on the other side of the fence" meaning that someplace else always looks better that where you are at (of course that is untill you go there and find it really isn't).

You have been doing .NET for 2 years now, consider how much you have learned. Just think how much more you will know in another 2 years! I bet if you continue building websites you can figure out how to generate far greater revenues.

Answer 4

Some second thoughts.

Since you will be starting your career, I will suggest to make yourself familiar with things like SOA and cloud computing. Cloud computing will become THE way to write codes in near future. But do not forget to be thorough with OOP concepts too.

Answer 5

I m just like you ! i m 19 i ve been playing with .net for 3 years i had a small freelancing experience(last summer) it is hard to get project if you are not on a team and also developers from india (with all respect to them) offer bids less than yours always so it is just not right for you ; i m trying to get a Master degree (i'm a Computer science and applied maths student ) maybe Phd :p so you might consider going to college and get a degree first maybe after if there is no jobs in Tunisia ( i m sure there is plenty !! ) you can create a startup banks will give loans if you have a degree

good luck anyway :D

Answer 6

I will probably give out the second politically uncorrect comment, but it is definitely nice to see a capable person from Tunisia as opposed to many other of your countrymates that made it to EU just to do crimes and consume social welfare.

I would advice you to think about startups. Not that serious where you need funds and staff to employ. Just try out some of your ideas (which I'm sure you have) and see whether one of these projects fly to be a known and loved location on the web. Those that won't really work, but still be interesting to others and have regular visitors, just leave them as items to your portfolio. It is for the worst case when you'll still have to work for living. Then it will help you to get orders as a freelancer.

Just don't cross the line and don't do something on the border of being legal, like spam, credit card fraud etc. I know some very genuine young people finally get attracted to the grey zone if they can't find a decent job. Don't.

As for real jobs I really don't know what to say. I'm also a guest here in Germany and I can confirm that the IT job market in Germany is almost dead (the rest of Europe is even worse). It takes months to years to find a job even if you have no issues with documents and permissions.

My suggestion would be to do interesting projects and freelance at the same time. Maybe you'll become a known and respected person, then other options will be open to you.

Answer 7

I'd suggest trying freelancing. If your professional experience is limited, it will likely be easier to pick up freelancing work than it will be to pick up a full time remote job. Once you gain some experience working professionally as a freelancer, it will be easier to make the transition to a full time job if you like.

In addition, freelancing is a great way to hone your skills. You'll get a chance to work on a variety of technologies, in a variety of environments, working for a number of different businesses.

Try bidding for work on sites like rentacoder.com and scriptlance.com to pick up freelance work. I'm an American, living in the US, and used these sites to earn money to put me through college for 3 years. I used these sites as a way to meet new clients, and build trust between us, often continuing to work directly with them outside of the site after we'd done one or two projects together. Most of my work was combination of linux system administration and web programming, using perl, php, and javascript.

Being that you're not in the US, your situation is different from mine in a couple of ways - some of which are an advantage, some of which are a disadvantage.

Advantages you have you should exploit:

• Your cost of living is probably low - This will allow you to compete on price with other programmers who may know more, but who live in more expensive countries. At the same time, be careful not to charge too little, or customers may perceive you as inexperienced or not serious
• You are very articulate - This one is key - probably the thing that got me work over everything else. Spend a lot of time asking well thought out questions about what a potential client is trying to do. Try and figure out if what they're asking for is what they really want, or just what they think they want. Prove that you can do the job through the questions you ask, and a detailed explanation of how you'll accomplish their task.

Disadvantages you'll have to overcome:

• Timezone - You live in a European time zone. This may be an advantage, if you can find european clients. However, if you're working with American clients, you'll need to be awake when they are, as much as possible, to be able to IM and email with them when they're working. I often stressed that I was in the same timezone as someone I wanted to do work for, which was an advantage. However, I also worked with someone in New Zealand. Go figure.
• Cultural barriers - You may work on sites/software that solves problems you don't have direct experience with. Again, not sure how big of a deal this one is. However, for instance, you may not be familiar with how American/European real estate works. Thus, it would be harder for you to work on a real estate site, because more of the underlying business will be foreign to you. If this is the case, make sure you spend a lot of time trying to understand things you're not familiar with. Again, ask lots of questions, and do lots of research.

Best of luck to you. I really enjoyed my time doing freelance work. If you can get into the mindset that bidding for work is like a game, and focus your energy on learning how to win at the game, it can be really fun, and make you a pretty decent living.

Answer 8

The first impression is very important. Especially in freelancing. So make sure that your "virtual image" is flawless.

For example, your post here can be considered a part of your CV. It shows what you know. Even if doesn't show how well you know these things, it might motivate a potential employer to want to interview you for a permanent job. Your English is decent for a non-native English speaker, this is important. So imagine that someone who is reading SO gets interested to get in touch with you closer to do business together. He opens your profile and sees your website there. He tries to open it and ... bang! The site is not opening :(

What happened? There can be many reasons why your site is not accessible. The key thing is that your virtual image doesn't look flawless anymore.

So look to eliminate such factors. You are young, you are motivated, you are smart. You will be able to make a good impression to a potential employer. But make sure that you get to that point.

HTH