The Harsh Reality of Freelance Programming

In this video, learn the truth about being a freelance software developer and the challenges that come with this career path. From managing multiple projects and wearing many hats to accurately quoting and managing payments, this video covers it all. Discover the importance of people skills and the reality of qualifications in the freelancing world. Don't miss out on this insightful look into the life of a freelance software developer.

[@BlaQsheeeP]

The secret sauce to freelancing are retainers. Market yourself as a contractor (i.e. a independent developer, who works similar hours as employee), and work on projects taking 3-6-12 months. After the projects end, move on with a retainer contract (again 3-6-12 months), and keep yourself networked with the company. This way, after 6-8 years, I am hardly doing any marketing or looking for clients anymore. I am just riding out my retainers, and networking within my established pool of past clients.

[@gabe.henrique]

How do you find contracts like the ones you're referring to? Thanks

[@BlaQsheeeP]

@@gabe.henrique There's a whole KZbin world out there, as well as a lot of information on Google, I would go after that. Perhaps start with figuring out what the difference between a freelancer and contractor is (that's a important one) But in short, its finding the mention of 1099 (US) or IR35 (UK) in a job posting or description. Or understanding how to cold-email startups, for positions, they need, but don't directly advertise. If you do want to go this route, steer clear of ever branding yourself as a freelancer, or working through freelancing web-sites (Upwork, Fiverr, etc). Often, the work that "freelancers" think, that companies are outsourcing for, are most of the time, covered by developers who have been on retainers with that company for a while. So they aren't even in competition for this work. The really cool thing about a retainer is, that you can be paid $2000-4000 or even more (sometimes less) per month, for many months, and the company, might not even ask you to do anything for them. You just ride out that contract, and keep billing them. Of course! Easier said than done, it took me a whole year to get my first client, another year for my second. But then after 3-4 years, I became quite established. In the end, you are a flexible employee, that is on-call for when problems happen, or when stuff you implemented in the past, needs adjustment or extensions. With the benefit for the company, of not needing to hire you as an employee, and all the benefits which an employee enjoys. There's always the chance, that they do want to hire you on a full-time contract, and you can still say no, without losing that client. Generally, you will also not be affected by lay-offs of budget cuts. The only downside is, that upfront its not stable, until you have had some clients, and the opportunity to network. Until then, you just hop from contract to contract, sometimes from company to company.

[@Applecitylightkiwi]

A nice way of building trust, i think even earlier than 6-8 years you can retain, i like your comment

[@hyperify1k]

Or be the one hiring the contractors

[@CascadiaNow69]

Thanks for showing us the way king

[@ralphguichette1]

I came here to get shattered, and now I'm leaving feeling inspired.

[@tom.developer]

You’re welcome! 🙏

[@mprasadsri]

Then freelancing is for you my friend

[@ian-tumulak]

The harsh reality as a freelance programmer. You need to be the marketer, job manager, auditer, budgeter, and employee.

[@tom.developer]

Exactly that!!

[@musoundix9228]

For me, that’s actually the reason I love it. You get to improve yourself on different things

[@alexaneals8194]

I think most people forget that when you run a business, half the work is managing the business and not just the service you are providing. So, basically you are the sales, purchasing, accounting and customer service of your business in addition to the service you are providing.

[@mcop1]

I love programming and I can tell you working for a company like I have for the last 25 years is not the way to program more either....meetings, planning, corporate BS take away HOURS of programming time PLUS the better you are at software engineering the more you are required to lead, mentor, interview & onboard and less the programming you do.

[@LeeLiko]

💯

[@krey_ton]

Glad KZbin recommended me your video! It's just good to know that freelance programming is not far only to programme / develop any kind software but also to take care of the financial and advertising aspect.

[@tom.developer]

It’s something that a lot of people overlook when starting out! Welcome to the channel 😃

[@jaymigue4726]

I hope this video gets recommended a lot, its a good reality check for those who just watch and are inspired from the over-romanticized view of the programming lifestyle, its always good to have expectations balanced. Great video!!!

[@tom.developer]

Thank you! 😃

[@MarcosDemian]

One of the best videos on youtube without any filler and without flashy editing. Loved it

[@tom.developer]

Glad you liked it! 🙏

[@valhalla_dev]

Making this note not because Tom doesn't know, but for the new programmers who watch this video: I've done freelancing and full-time employment for several years. I'm currently doing both at the same time. If you want to program 24/7 and that's all you want to do, full time employment is also going to disappoint you. No, you won't have to market yourself, but you will have to sit in on endless meetings, work with team members on high level solutions to problems, etc. We could go back and forth on which one (freelancing versus employment) involves more programming, but frankly if you're getting into software development, you're going to have to get good at non-technical soft skills as well.

[@i_zoru]

so in conclusion made by myself 1. Freelance programming is good when you code because you love it, if you only do it for the money, you are recommended to land a job in some companies 2. try to predict and give a margin of time for the project itself, e.g: if you can finish it in 70 hours, then set it to 100 hours just in case you're stuck a little bit. 3. learn how to market yourself, be a good communicator. 4. do what you paid for. about the no. 4.... most of my friends are freelancer. and if the client's want to start the project, they at least has to pay at least around 20-50% of down payment from the total budget (depends on the budget) to start the project. and be careful for the clients you trusted, sometimes they just want free things, there are several cases where the client try to scam the freelancer. the dark secret that some dev do is they always put a backdoor for the client that has a potential to scam them. it's either CLI that hit / send "something" to the server via ssh, or simpler such as API gateway.

[@marcelino-damianjasson441]

The best short form videos on YT... Thanks man keep up the good work

[@tom.developer]

Thank you 🙏 more videos like this coming up!! 😃

[@NoirMorter]

Good points, my family has businesses as well and they've said their annoying to run. One of them actually sold it with the caveat they'll keep him on doing the thing that he loves. Now he's much better well off and happier since he doesn't have a good business sense or salesmanship.

[@30pxrks]

New sub im 19 years old and im going on about the same path as you I started looking into this stuff around when I was 16-17 I started writing programs

[@tom.developer]

Thanks for subscribing! and congrats on starting the freelancing path! :)

[@eg4933]

the best video on reality of freelancing programming. PERIOD. Pass this around please.

[@tom.developer]

Thank you! 🙏🙏😃

[@eg4933]

@@tom.developer seriously, get this video shared as much as possible. There is still sooo much BS in online and freelancing world.

[@sundown456brick]

really good video, makes a lot of sense got me scared from the title but made me realize i DO want to deal with alk that, thank you for sharing that❤

[@DreamsAreMakeBelieve]

haha same, I honestly didn't know if I should watch or not but so glad I did!

[@plutomessi21]

as a dreamer I can confirm this video crushed my dream.

[@tom.developer]

I'm sorry 😢

[@jamest4027]

what about having a portfolio to prove you can do the job?

[@brightonshifu]

The last one especially. People really neglect that. All you have to do is try to pitch your competence on Upwork and that reality hits home harder than a deployed airbag.

[@tom.developer]

As soon as I learned how to sell, my life changed! 😃

[@lastingluminary6573]

@@tom.developer Are there any books you would suggest for learning more about how to sell effectively?

[@ntn888]

Nice succinct talk. The points made were very clear and makes sense too.

[@tom.developer]

Thank you! Glad you found it useful 😃

[@dromm3]

I’ve just finished my computer science degree and gotten an offer as a software engineer starting in October. However, I like the idea of the freelance route. Would you recommend getting some experience first (in the software engineer job) before I start the freelance route? This is the first time coming across this channel and I’ve subscribed :)

[@FLAIR__]

Seems like im in a similar position to you, and my plan is to go along with my graduate job offer and stick with it for a few years before seriously going for freelancing. I don't necessarily believe its the only option, however I think the experience in a professional software development environment will be valuable. After university you have a really good basis, but the job will give you the hands on you need to take yourself further

[@quochieu6878]

great video, I can't believe that you has less than 1k subscribers!!

[@tom.developer]

Thank you! 🙏 we’ll get to 1k soon! 😃

[@builder481]

I personaly regreted learning to code because i wanted to make money and reality is You have better chances becoming a famous youtuber than making money with Python

[@muhammaddanial212k]

Amazing background and scene.

[@nelsonmutane1372]

Hi @Tom Shaw, i love de video, very sincere and direct. how can i sell my self better, and how to find clients. My reality is on country and region that technology is not big deal, but i want to be one the pioneer on that, and jump from simple freelance to really entrepreneur. Thanks

[@devthings01]

I just left the job and decided to go full-time freelancer, I'm 19 I think I can take the risk.

[@valefarx]

How does it go?

[@tom.developer]

Congrats on making a big step! How's it going so far? :)

[@devthings01]

@@tom.developer for now, its hard. Trying on upwork, faced few frauds and just thinking about to build the brand first as dev

[@bibak9]

Update? :)

[@praveenkpk3377]

+1 Subs from a fellow developer.!

[@fadacode]

Hey Tom, whats the name of tool you used to give your clients the progress check?

[@tom.developer]

It's called Monday.com :)

[@ZawmyoHtet-lg7jn]

Thank you very much, Bro.

[@user-cj2lj5el1r]

Really appreciate you making this video mate

[@tom.developer]

No problem 👍

[@sonamsherpa57]

How do you charge? Is it project based or your hour based?

[@tom.developer]

I have an hourly rate that I aim for. I then estimate the number of hours and give them a project price. I only give hourly prices to clients if I'm doing maintenance work or consulting. :)

[@dekumutant]

"they dont care about qualifications, its about whether they think you can deliver the work" now say that slowly while thinking about what the optics of qualifications do

[@FLAIR__]

I imagine in the world of freelancing, qualifications hold much less weight than they do in the professional world. It's more the skills of selling yourself and showing your ability that is more important, I think that was his point.

[@kevinsedwards]

Your degree isn't worth much anymore man just face reality

[@aaronmori1764]

0:27 And what if im okay doing those things? actually i would love to do those things you mentioned

[@senorfavorita7457]

I'm just starting out as a freelancer, How to do it? I couldnt land a single project.........

[@aleksdeveloper698]

I have a question. If the client says $5000 was too much, which was offered by another company to do the project, how much should I charge them?

[@tom.developer]

Good question. Find out what their budget is, and see if you would consider accepting it. But don't deviate too much from your set hourly rate. Otherwise you could find yourself accepting projects for a lot less money, and then missing out on other opportunities. It really is a trial and error game of finding the sweet spot for how much you charge. :)

[@danielmcpherson9062]

Never look at what others are charging and then charge lower. Instead, always charge by value. If the project is worth at least $5000 (ideally it be much more valuable to increase the “price-value discrepancy” thereby increasing the likelihood they’ll buy), then it’s okay to charge that. The price-value discrepancy is the discrepancy between the perceived value of the product and how much it costs. People buy products because they believe the product is more valuable than what they’re buying it for. When the perceived value of the value drops below the price, they won’t buy. The goal is to increase the value of your product so that it’s “So valuable people feel stupid saying no” - Alex Hormozi Very rarely is the “it’s too much” objection is true. What the client *usually* means is that they don’t value the product as being worth $5000. You should ask (**ask**, don’t tell) how the project will help them, what it means to them, how it’ll make their life easier, etc. If I offered you a Lamborghini for $10000 and they truly believed it, they would find a way to get the money. They’d call friends, borrow money, take out a loan, etc to afford it. That’s because they know the value of a Lamborghini. When your clients say “it’s too much”, usually it’s just because they don’t see the value of the product. This is why you ask them questions about how valuable it will be. They’ll either realise the true value of the project, or you’ll realise it’s not as valuable as you thought - in which case it’ll be justifiable to lower your price. Check out Alex Hormozi on KZbin. He makes really good videos! (I’m not affiliated with him, I’m just a big fan and like to spread what I learn)

[@Reza1997rs]

How many hours per day should a freelancer work to finish one project in average? Is it possible to be a nurse and a freelancer programmer at the same time?

[@BrettOssman]

Make sure you get all the details of the requirements and expectations in a contract. Also, be ready for changes to either. Except for maybe the smallest tasks, like one user story for you Agile folks, the target will change. If they change, the contract changes.

[@tom.developer]

Very good advice! ☝️

[@MartiinWalsh]

Great advice, thanks for sharing 👐

[@tom.developer]

Thanks for watching! :)

[@Cloudjiek]

It's only increasing my desire to face it

[@tom.developer]

That’s a great attitude to have! I hope it goes well!!

[@Cloudjiek]

@@tom.developer thank you very much! It means the world to me!

[@user-kw4ph2cz8q]

Hi..i know basic to advanced python,html,js,css,bootstrap tkinter i am ...i have a full time job in south Africa ...i want to do freelance as a side hustle...any advices ...??? 😢❤

[@tostibrand1273]

Great advice! What are your thoughts on freelancing as a newbie? Currently doing The Odin project

[@tom.developer]

Awesome! As a newbie you need to be constantly putting yourself out there. And when you do start getting work coming in, don't spend the money. Save 6-12 months of living costs. Having money saved will make you feel more secure if you have a dry spell. :)

[@klapaucius515]

@@tom.developerHey Tom! I’m struggling getting my first job. Do you have any actual advice regarding this :( ?

[@G311X]

So honest

[@tom.developer]

Glad you enjoyed the video 😃

[@rajushah8748]

thank you very much brother

[@tom.developer]

Glad you found the video useful :)

[@sediinam]

Hey Tom, I sent you an email about three days ago and still haven’t received any reply😕😐

[@tom.developer]

Hey, sorry I haven't seen you email. Can you resend it?

[@kozas0]

Nice, another option down the toilet, thanks for clearing up that for me.

[@tom.developer]

Why's the option down the toilet?

[@deffcousticsp7094]

Good explainer..

[@ivanmeno]

if you love programming, freelancing is not for you, the bro is right, get a job instead :D

[@kevinsedwards]

Not true.

[@tom.developer]

*If programming is the only thing you want to do* If you enjoy the other parts about being in business, then freelancing is a great option :)

[@animegeek-011]

Nice video, keep it going

[@tom.developer]

Thank you! 😃

[@gabrielbrandao1106]

Could I please have your discord or something like that? I wanted to start working as a freelancer and I would like to clarify more doubts

[@tom.developer]

I don't share my discord or any other personal contact details unfortunately. The best way to reach me is via Twitter :)

[@uzumakiuchiha9184]

When you found a client, do you video call with them or you are just chat?

[@tom.developer]

Depends. I've had some clients where I've only ever communicated via email with them. But if the project is large enough, I always prefer to jump on a call with them and build a relationship. :)

[@johnnyrocket1181]

Yo lad well said my man

[@tom.developer]

Thank you! :)

[@engineeringmadeasy]

Hi, I really wonder in which city are you based in?

[@tom.developer]

I'm in Nottingham, UK :)

[@naufalamiruddin5798]

Great video, +1 subs

[@tom.developer]

Thank you! 😃

[@christopherrodriguez9055]

This is common sense …

[@user-pl3si1cx7p]

ha

[@niajmorshed8245]

Change the words on the thumbnail, man. People are scared!

[@tom.developer]

It’s an accurate thumbnail though 😃

[@michaelmarian9987]

damn bruv that alot of work

[@tom.developer]

People think freelancing is a "work whenever you want" type of life. It's definitely not 😂

[@kevinsedwards]

Giving your life away to the corporate rat race is much more soul crushing work

[@rendivs925]

I love coding

[@aftalavera]

Why is so difficult for people to realize that we are done! The programming as a job is done. It was good while it lasted. Get a life people! The machines will be turned off anyway!

[@Puwunda]

is everything alright at home?

[@ripplesr5655]

Dude, blink ffs!

[@tom.developer]

How? 👀

[@ripplesr5655]

@@tom.developer Try pulling down the upper eyelids all the way down to your cheeks.

[@tom.developer]

@@ripplesr5655 instructions unclear. heading to the hospital now

[@outermess]

This is exactly what I wanted to know about the world of freelancing. Thanks bro.

[@Omohagbon]

Very refreshing tbh 🫱🏼‍🫲🏾

[@tom.developer]

I'm glad you enjoyed it! :)