10 Freelance Developer Guides Every Coder Must Read

There’s a new guy in town. He’s called freelancing and he’s out for no good.

Freelancing platforms such as Upwork and Fiverr are out to disrupt the organization of the world’s talents. Both platforms grow double-digits year-over-year. The proportion of freelancers in the total population is on the rise. Soon, we may find ourselves in a situation where there are more freelancers than employees!

Are you positioned to benefit from the trend? This article shows you the best guides focused on freelance developing. Freelance developers are coders who sell their skills to different companies, organizations, or individuals. They have a unique advantage compared to employees in that they are independent from any single company, don’t need to spend a lot of time in commute, and earn more money in the process.

Do you want to become a freelance developer? Then study our freelance developing guides presented in this article! Here’s a quick overview of the best freelance developer guides online:

ALL LINKS OPEN IN A NEW TAB!

Now, let’s dip into each of those guides—I’ll also embed a video if the respective guide provides an appropriate one.

The Complete Freelance Developer Guide

This is the ultimate guide on how to become a freelance developer. The article shows you everything you need to get started, how much you can earn, what are the best platforms, countless tips and tricks to scale to six-figures and beyond. If there ever was a must-read on freelance developing, this is it!

Here’s one of the many videos in the complete guide:

Table of Contents:

Freelance Developer First Steps
Freelance Developer Income – How Much Do They Make?
Freelance Developer Finding Gigs
Freelance Developer Education
Freelance Developer Tips
Freelance Developer Tools & Templates
Freelance Developer Legal
Freelance Developer Work Specializations
Hiring Freelance Developers
Freelance Developer Region Specifics
Where to Go From Here?

Link: https://blog.finxter.com/the-complete-guide-to-freelance-developing/

How to Become a Freelance Web Developer in 2020: The Ultimate Guide

This article walks you through twelve practical steps to show you how to become a freelance web developer. The guide is written by a freelance web developer and he shares his experiences and golden nuggets through his journey to smashing his job and earning a living by selling his skills on the marketplace.

Table of Contents:

Define your goals and know your “why”
Break down your long-term goals
Focus on your strengths to find your niche
Learn the skills to make money with
Update your LinkedIn profile
Register a domain and sign up for web hosting
Set up an online portfolio website
Sign up to an online freelancing platform
Practice by building meaningful projects
Apply to your first small freelance jobs
Deliver stellar results to get your first testimonial
Rinse and repeat – and keep learning!

Link: https://mikkegoes.com/how-to-become-a-freelance-web-developer/

The Ultimate Guide to Becoming a Freelance Web Developer

This guide is not ultimate (don’t believe headlines). It’s a relatively short and shallow article about freelance developing—written by a large accounting company. However, if you’re looking for a light-weight introduction to freelancing—maybe you just want to skim over a bit of text, this guide is for you!

Table of Contents:

Brush up on your Coding Skills
Create a Business Plan
Organize your Finances
Find Your Clients
Project Management

Link: https://www.billomat.com/en/magazine/freelance-web-developer/#

How to Become a Freelance Web Developer [Tips from Top Developers]

Again, a very light-weight introduction to freelance developing. Personally, I don’t like these kind of shallow overviews—they have little meat and little value for the professional. However, I include this guide here because I know many people who’re looking for exactly that: a shallow, high-level overview of the freelance developing market opportunity. But be warned—you won’t get a lot out of this guide!

Table of Contents:

Why become a freelance developer?
Required skills
How to start a business
How to get clients and grow your business

Link: https://www.pagecloud.com/blog/how-to-become-a-freelance-web-developer

How to Become a Freelance Web Developer and Land Your First Client

This is a well-written, interesting, little article about freelance developing. On top of that, it contains funny GIFs. While this is a good read and an entertaining article-, it’s not really a guide because of its shallowness. If you’re looking for entertainment—that’s it!

Table of Contents:

Realities of Life as a Freelance Developer
Freelancing Prerequisites
Building Clientele: 6 strategies
Choosing Your Clients: What to Consider
Operating as a Business
Recap: Do’s and Don’ts

Link: https://www.codementor.io/blog/land-clients-freelance-developer-39w3i166wy

5 Steps to Become a Freelance Web Developer

This interesting 5-step strategy is tailored towards web developers who want to work outside of freelancing platforms. It’s written in 2016. While it contains useful information for you if you’re a fit in this specific niche, the information is a bit outdated. Today, a freelance developer will probably start on Upwork or Fiverr and there’s no mentioning of those platforms in the guide. However, the ultimate goal of any freelance developer should be to leave the platforms to avoid having to pay 10-20% fees in the long-term. Thus, it’s a good read and I recommend you spend the 5-minutes reading it!

Table of Contents:

Step 1: Learn as Many Technologies/Languages as You Can
Step 2: Dot Your I’s and Cross Your T’s
Step 3: Build Your Freelancing Website
Step 4: Market Your Services
Step 5: Stay Current

Link: https://www.codingdojo.com/blog/how-to-become-a-freelance-web-developer

The Complete Freelance Web Developer Guide: How to Make Money Through Freelance Programming Jobs

Finally, we reach another highly valuable guide to freelance developing. Speaking with a bias, I’d say this is the 2nd best freelancing guide after the guides from Finxter referenced before and after this guide.

Table of Contents:

Three essential rules for making money as a freelancer
Planning your new business
- Funding your new venture
- Deciding what niche you’re going to serve
- Determining what services to offer & pricing
- Structuring your new business
- A “to do” list for planning your new business
Getting started with your new business
- The importance of “starting out right”
- Administrative items to complete
- Marketing items to complete
- A “to do” list for getting your business started
Finding clients for your new business
- The need to get clients in the short-term, while focusing on the long-term
- How to sell yourself to clients
- Getting clients in the short-term
- Building a brand for the long-term
- A “to do” list for getting your marketing started
Managing your day-to-day business
- Administrative & financial management
- Managing your development/substantive work
- A “to do” list for making sure you properly manage your business day to day

Link: https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/freelance-web-developer-guide/

How to Go Full-Time ($3000/m) as a Python Freelancer

While the focus on this guide is Python freelancing, much of the ideas and concepts are relevant for other programming languages as well. Besides—I don’t know a single freelance developer who’s not using Python, the largest freelancing language on the planet! This guide will show you how to start as a complete beginner and build your full-time coding business as a Python freelance developer. Highly-recommended read!

Here’s a video that quickly goes over the relevant points in the guide:

Table of Contents:

Are you broke?
How much money do you earn per hour?
Develop your new high-income skill: Python development!
About me
Why to become Python freelancer?
How to sell your Python skills for money ($$$)?
- Career path 1: Work for a big client as a consultant
- Career path 2: Sell your micro-services as a freelancer
- Career path 3: sell your services on your own platform
A simple formula for success
The top-3 secrets to earn more money as a Python freelancer on Upwork
- Secret #1: earn trust
- Secret #2: Money flows to specialists!
- Secret #3: Leverage network effects
How many skills do you need before starting with your freelancing career?
How to learn the Python basics?
Puzzle-based learning Python
How would your life change if you developed the high-income skill Python to become a Python freelancer?
- Related posts

Link: https://blog.finxter.com/full-time-python-freelancer/

Freelance Developer – How to Code From Home and Earn Six Figures [Industry Report]

This tutorial intends to give you all the motivation you need to sustain a long time (say, one or two years) working daily on your new online coding business. It’s a report over the freelance developing market opportunity. You can check out the associated video here:

Table of Contents:

The Workforce Disruption of the 21st Century
Why Outsourcing is Genius [Alice Example]
Python Freelancer: To Be Or Not To Be?
- The Good Things
- The Bad Things
- What’s unique in Python freelancing compared to general IT or coding freelancing?
What’s the Hourly Rate of a Python Freelancer?
1.1 Million USD — How Much You Are Worth as an Average Python Coder?
Code From Home! How to Be Happier & Earn More Money
What Does it Take to Be a Freelancer?
Are You Good Enough to Start Earning Money?
Can I Start Freelancing as an Intermediate-Level Python Programmer?
Are You too Old to Become a Python Freelancer?
Are You too Young to Become a Python Freelancer?
Where to Go From Here
- Related posts

Link: https://blog.finxter.com/freelance-developer/

Webinar: How to Build Your High-Income Skill Freelance Developing

This webinar shows you my path from a government employee to a highly successful freelance developer earning $150 per hour. In the webinar and the associated course “Become a Python Freelancer”, I show you ALL my success secrets that will save you months, if not years of time and accelerate your path towards six figures.

Table of Contents:

My Journey
Python Skills
Business Skills
Strategies and Tips

Link: https://blog.finxter.com/webinar-freelancer/

Do you want to develop the skills of a well-rounded Python professional—while getting paid in the process? Become a Python freelancer and order your book Leaving the Rat Race with Python on Amazon (Kindle/Print)!