by Varun Mayya
Figma for UX Design https://www.lynda.com/Figma-tutorials/UX-Design-Tools-Figma/573133-2.html
Within 6 months Advanced HTML and CSS
Javascript Basics
Blasting off with Bootstrap – Bootstrap Basics
http://learn.shayhowe.com/advanced-html-css/
https://www.udacity.com/course/javascript-basics--ud804
https://www.codeschool.com/courses/blasting-off-with-bootstrap
Within 1 year Learn AngularJS
OR
Learn ReactJS
https://www.codecademy.com/learn/learn-angularjs
https://www.codecademy.com/learn/react-101
Game Development and 3D Modelling
Note that we’ve combined the 3D modelling and game development roles as they’re interlinked. At the start of my freelance career, I did a few projects in game development and now sometimes I dabble in Unity (one of the best game development engines out there) every so often to see how far it has come.
Currently, mobile games are the highest grossing category on the App Store and Play Store in terms of number of downloads worldwide, and this is expected to only increase as more people around the world switch to smartphones. With the massive success of the gaming industry and the advent of technology like virtual reality, learning how to make games has never been more rewarding. There are four parts to game development, each of which can spawn its own career map for you:
3D model design (or alternatively, 2D sprite creation)
Level design
Game programming and scripting
Testing and quality assurance
Examples of game development projects on Upwork
Working with one of the best game designers from Ubisoft, we’ve come up with this list:
Timeline Course Link
Within 3 months Learn to Code by Making Games — Complete C# Unity Developer https://www.udemy.com/unitycourse/
Within 6 months Learn Blender 3D Modeling for Unity Video Game Development
Paladin Studios’ Building Levels in Unity
https://www.udemy.com/learn-blender-3d-modeling-for-unity-video-game-development/
http://www.paladinstudios.com/2013/07/05/building-levels-in-unity-part-1-of-3/
Within 1 year Advanced Unity: 3D Game Programming https://www.lynda.com/Unity-3D-tutorials/Advanced-Unity-3D-Game-Programming/160270-2.html
Product Management
A product management role is the perfect interplay between development, marketing, design and sales. A product manager (PM) comes up with new ideas for an existing or new product and a plan to not just build it, but sell it and manage customer expectations. In terms of skill set, a product manager needs to understand the basics of all the domains they’re involved with—tech, design and business. It takes several years and multiple projects to be a product manager, but if you’re interested in building great products and have worked in marketing and/or tech, a product role is the holy grail. Product management roles can pay pretty well, and I personally know a few who bill over $300/hour! For start-ups especially, a good PM is generally really hard to find.
Examples of product management projects on Upwork
Because the trajectory of a PM is so varied, we don’t have a set path we can recommend. The best way to get into this role is to build products in the tech or design capacity with a team, get a variety of experiences under your belt and learn how to become great at building products. We’re going to avoid the usual three- month, six-month and one-year timelines for this role as the path varies wildly depending on not only the person you are, but your experiences and the industries you work in. However, here’s some courses you can start with to get familiar with the responsibilities of a PM.
Course Link
Become a Product Manager: Learn the Skills and Get the Job https://www.udemy.com/become-a-product-manager-learn-the-skills-get-a-job/
The Practitioner’s Guide to Product Management by General Assembly https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00LTUC882/
App and Back-End Development
This Pyjama Category includes Mobile/Desktop/Web App Development and Back-end Development.
Back-end Development, in simple terms means that you will be performing manipulations on data stored in a database. This means reading, writing, creating and updating data using code. While simply understanding how to read and write data on the web should get you started, true back-end code is fairly complex and it might take decades to truly be proficient in a coding language or a framework. The back-end developer creates components and features that are indirectly accessed by a front-end application or system through Application Program Interfaces (APIs)
App development involves writing the front-end applications that the user interacts with. This involves writing an app that works on certain platforms (Android, iOS, Windows, Mac etc), and interfaces with a back-end language to manipulate a database. While each platform has different languages to learn, (iOS has Objective C and Swift, Android has Java, and so on) most developers begin with just one or two. There is also a trend of cross platform technologies like React, React Native and the Ionic Framework that let you write apps once and have them work across all platforms.
The challenge to beginning a career as a back-end developer is to pick a coding language and an associated framework to master. To be a good back-end developer you need to know at least ONE type of ALL of the following skills.
Databases—Powered by the language SQL
A coding language—this could be C, C#, Ruby, Java, Javascript, Swift
A framework—this is a layer (a fancy word to say a set of libraries you can use to make lots of complex functions convenient) built on top of a coding language—C# has ASP.Net, Ruby has Rails, Java has Spring, etc.
While there are several thousand permutations and combinations of databases, coding languages and frameworks, we’re going to recommend the simplest and fastest combination which also happens to be one of the most popular combinations online. Simply being able to create an application in Ruby on Rails is enough for you to start billing $30 to 40 an hour—we’ve seen entry-level freelancers with very little Ruby on Rails experience doing very well for themselves.
To be a good app developer, you need to pick a platform to start with. For beginners, we would recommend ONE of the following:
iOS Development, powered by the language Swift
Android Development, powered by the language Java
Web Development, powered by HTML/CSS and Javascript
With the boom of smartphones, these have the highest demand right now and have ample opportunities to grow. Web app development has been an evergreen skill and will continue to do so with new technologies emerging every couple years.
Examples of app and back-end development projects on Upwork
Timeline Name of Course Link
3 months HTML and CSS Basics
Computer Science 101: Master the Theory Behind Programming
Ruby Basics Including Object Oriented Programming
https://www.codecademy.com/learn/learn-html-css
https://www.udemy.com/computer-science-101-master-the-theory-behind-programming/
https://www.codecademy.com/learn/ruby
Within 6-12 months Ruby on Rails Course
Rails for Zombies
iOS 11 and Swift 4: The Complete iOS Development Bootcamp
https://www.codecademy.com/learn/learn-rails
https://www.codeschool.com/courses/rails-forzombies-redux
https://www.udemy.com/ios-11-app-development-bootcamp/
The Complete Android N Developer Course
The Web Developer Bootcamp
Advanced Rails 5 Day Course
https://www.udemy.com/complete-android-n-developer-course/
https://www.udemy.com/the-web-developer-bootcamp/
http://tutorials.jumpstartlab.com/paths/advanced_rails_five_day.html
Another new field that’s been popping up is data science and machine learning, but when
it comes to the freelance economy, they’re still in the early stages. Most small-to medium-sized business don’t need or can’t afford machine learning scientists. You are probably better off working full time for a company if you have these skills or want to develop them.
How do I pick?
Now that we’ve run you through what the best course of action for every Pyjama Category is, it’s up to you to pick one that suits your interests. It doesn’t matter whether you’re a computer programmer who wants to write content or a fashion designer who wants to learn Ruby on Rails. Everything is possible, and we’ve seen so many people switch streams that we firmly believe your university degree shouldn’t limit what you want to learn or the life you want to lead.
So if you’ve got a useless degree that is making life hard for you, stop using the excuse that you made the wrong choices when you were young and start taking control of the skills you want to have. Learning a skill increases your confidence and makes it easier to learn the next one—we’ve seen very successful freelancers with a media and communications degree billing $200 an hour as back-end developers and former doctors making a killing doing game design! They all started one step at a time and it was just as daunting for them to let go of their past education and expertise to try their hands at something new. Small victories help you tide over that fear, so get learning!
Creativity
In the midst of picking a skill to learn, mastering the basics, finding a freelance job and making consistent income, creativity is something that can be forgotten. Learning any of the skills we’ve talked about doesn’t guarantee that you’ll be creative.
It’s like teaching someone the piano—you may know all of the keystrokes and can play songs from memory or by looking at sheet music, but creativity lies in being able to use the keystrokes in a new and original way that sounds good when played. Similarly, learning how to design a website, writing content or designing a game is all about teaching yourself fundamental techniques, limitations, possibilities and how to make whatever you are able to see.
Where creativity plays into the equation of freelance work
Creativity lies in being able to use those individual skills in a manner that results in something truly original that looks and functions well. We cannot account for how long it will take you to develop creativity or how that will help you better your income, so throughout this book we’re going to sidestep the topic of creativity and focus on more objective matters.
Passion vs Money
It seems fairly shallow for us to consistently bring up things like billing rate, income and how much money you’re going to make. It seems like we’re being completely dispassionate about the projects we’re working on. I personally believe that passion is an overused word. Why is it so difficult for us as human beings to say we want to learn something to make money? A lot of the decisions we make in our waking life are somehow related to money; so why the secrecy when it comes to being able to have financially enriched lives?
Having a consistent income can enable you to explore further and find what really drives you. Money is what that gives me the freedom to pursue my real passions. If I don’t have to spend 10 hours a day working, I can devote that time to the things I care about—building cool things, learning music, playing and making video games, spending time with my friends and family and anything else I might want to do.
So get rid of the misconception that you need to be passionate to learn a skill that makes you money—just go ahead and learn it, then see how that skill becomes your ability to earn your freedom to do the things that drive you. Nobody is born with a passion for something; it’s something that you have to constantly discover in life. A friend of mine who’s a top accountant in the country once said to me that he wasn’t born with the passion to balance books, but once he got really good at it, he discovered that it was something he enjoyed doing.
So forget passion for now.
The only thing that really works is discipline. Be disciplined about learning. Get over the initial learning curve of a skill, and get good at it. Get over the learning curves of multiple skills if you aren’t able to decide what’s best for you. I can guarantee that once you start to enjoy the process and being in a flow state, a passion for it will develop inside you.
In my case, I absolutely hated learning to build a website or an app. The process was frustrating and took me longer than most people who actually liked to code. The trade-off was that it gave me the ability to build absolutely anything I dreamt of online, something I can’t do without today. I’m passionate about building awesome things. I’m not passionate about writing codes. However, codes allow me to build the things I’m passionate about. So I decided to go ahead and learn it.
Chapter 4
Communicating Your Value
“You don’t get paid for the hour. You get paid for the value you bring to the hour.”
—JIM ROHN
Why is value communication important?
Every freelance gig has many bidders—whether somebody referred you to a business in real life, or you applied to a project online. For a business to hire you, they have to be convinced that you’re the perfect person for the job and hiring you will give them better returns than hiring anyone else.
So how do you win? The answer is plain and simple— communication. You might be the best person for a job, and have all the experience and skills to make it a success, but unless you find a way to make your client believe that, you’re not going to win.
Every single touchpoint between you and the client is communication. Whether it's pitching your services over Skype or them going through your online profile—they form an impression of you and this influences their decision.
How much should I charge?
Every client is different. The industry they’re in, the size of their business, the urgency of their need, their past experiences with freelancers and many more factors play an influence. But before we get into that, let’s understand the two basic types of billing that you can work with: Fixed price and hourly. We’ll also talk about a hybrid model we’ve seen freelancers adopting.
Fixed Price
A fixed price project is one where the price of the project is mutually agreed upon before work begins. For example, say a client wants you to build a social networking app and you mutually agree to a budget of $500 for three discussed features. The scope here is static.
Typically, you get paid in milestones. After you complete your first feature and demo it, 1/3rd of the fixed price will be wired to you, after the next feature, another 1/3rd and the full amount after the final feature has been built and demonstrated. As a sign of commitment from both sides, it is also recommended to take an upfront payment of anywhere between 10–40% of the project cost.
Some fixed price projects might pay you only at the end when the final product is demonstrated. Stay away from such projects because there’s a high chance that the client will disappear after the final email or that the end will never be reached as new changes and edits are continuously requested. This, of course, can happen when there are milestones too, but they help reduce the risk for both the freelancer and the client.
Hourly
An hourly billing project is one where you get paid for every hour of work you put in. Your hourly rate is decided beforehand, a rough budget is agreed upon, you track your time whenever you work and send the timesheets along with your invoice. The scope here is dynamic.
Platforms like Upwork usually require you to install a time tracking software that monitors your work. They track keystroke activity and take a screenshot of your work every 10 minutes to make sure you’re not billing the client for idle hours or reporting more hours than you’ve actually worked.
Outside of platforms, the hourly system works only on trust. A client will trust that you will get your work done in the time it requires, and you trust that the client will pay you for this time.
Hybrid (Weekly Billing)
A model th
at some freelancers in my network have been using is a hybrid model of weekly billing. You sell the client chunks of your time, one week at a time. So, for example, if you expect a project to take about a hundred hours but it could possibly be more depending on changes and edits, then you can give them a fixed cost per week, with additional weeks if things stretch.
The advantage of this hybrid model is that clients that are hesitant about hourly billing can find some solace in the fixed prices of this model. Another advantage is that if the project stretches beyond your initial estimate, you can always sell them additional weeks to get the work done. It is then in the client’s best interest to provide timely feedback and wrap up the project with little delay.
Start billing at a price you’re comfortable with and clients are willing to pay. After you have a few reviews and ratings, increase your billing rate dynamically. Avoid working fixed price in the beginning as you probably have a poor understanding of how long it will take to finish a project. Also, fixed price clients at lower price ranges are very finicky and keep demanding changes. Remember that you’re eventually going to wean off whatever platform you’re using and work with your own clients. Most of the SIZR crew stayed on Upwork for less than a year before moving on to private projects.
Value-Based Pricing
What might be affordable and hold great value for client one might be too expensive and unaffordable for client two, and might be suspiciously low and hold questionable value to client three. The magic is in finding the balance—a sweet spot that is the perfect intersection of the client’s expectations and your skills.
When I started out, I saw job posts with 50 to 100 applicants. For a beginner, this can be intimidating and I started by bidding very low. I bid $3 an hour on my first few applications and landed zero jobs. For high value clients, my skills weren’t up to the mark. For low value clients, I was suspiciously cheap. Most of them actually have a subconscious range—they know they want cheap but too cheap raises suspicions about your quality. So I slowly started bidding higher, until I found my sweet spot—$10 an hour. For the first few months, I did all my projects at $10 an hour. As I worked up, I got the confidence to bill $20, then $40 and so on. My value was what I chose to make it, as long as I could communicate and deliver, I could charge anything! So one day I did something risky— I left Upwork and started freelancing by myself.
