What’s the Top Skill You Need to Succeed as a Freelance Developer?

Many Finxters who want to become freelance developers only worry about their Python skills. They completely ignore other aspects of the freelancing business—as if Python freelancing mainly consists of doing Python work.

This is not the case. Watch the video to learn about what’s important:

I recently hired a few freelancers for my Python learning website Finxter.com and made an interesting observation: The technical skill level of different Python freelancers was not the most obvious impression. Instead, people skills are far more dominant when interacting with clients:

• How fast does the freelancer respond?
• Does the freelancer ask questions to find out what I want?
• Are they polite? Positive? Upbeat?
• Do they have a “can-do” attitude?
• Do they keep up with milestones?

Those skills by far outweigh the technical Python skills of a freelancer. To clients, this is not the most important thing. Clients value their overall experience which is dominated by your ability to communicate well.

Above everything else, you are in the people business, not in the coding business.

So don’t worry about your technical expertise—it will grow automatically by solving freelancing tasks. Focus on the “soft factors” and you’ll be a very successful freelancer.

Do you want to follow a step-by-step approach to become a Python freelancer? I’ve created the most comprehensive Python freelancing course on the web. It shows you everything you need to know—from earning $5 to $50 per hour. You can even do it on the side while working in your regular job.

Click the image to learn more about the course.

Chris

While working as a researcher in distributed systems, Dr. Christian Mayer found his love for teaching computer science students.

To help students reach higher levels of Python success, he founded the programming education website Finxter.com that has taught exponential skills to millions of coders worldwide. He’s the author of the best-selling programming books Python One-Liners (NoStarch 2020), The Art of Clean Code (NoStarch 2022), and The Book of Dash (NoStarch 2022). Chris also coauthored the Coffee Break Python series of self-published books. He’s a computer science enthusiast, freelancer, and owner of one of the top 10 largest Python blogs worldwide.

His passions are writing, reading, and coding. But his greatest passion is to serve aspiring coders through Finxter and help them to boost their skills. You can join his free email academy here.