There and back again

One of my first freelance gigs as a web dev comes to a close. It was an amiable stop, and the client shared that it was a positive working experience together. And I learned so much from it. It’s been a great opportunity to benchmark myself against enterprise standards:

• Devops and tooling skill is junior level - Docker, Git, Github, anything in the terminal… I suck in those but learning fast to close the gaps
• Coding is maybe mid level, but for Vue/JavaScript, not Rails. With AI, maybe leveled up a bit more.
• Definitely not senior level in anything
• Good understanding of UX/UI - at least there’s some borrowed skill from working as a design consultant in UX teams
• Good communication - another borrowed skill

Right now, I can’t be 100% independent developer for sure. So still need guidance and mentoring in my weaker areas. So to manage expectations upfront, whoever is hiring me will need to know that.

Last month, I just got past survival stage. This month, things are teetering near survival levels again. I’m back in the market for another gig now, maybe 2 days a week. And I’ll have to continue with my design thinking training workshops and consultancy work. Feast and famine cycles couldn’t be starker. Maybe things aren’t as stable as it seems…

Just another day in the life of a freelancer.

The silver lining is, at least I still got one ongoing gig with a local startup. And if anything, one gig for four half-days Monday to Thursdays leaves the rest of the time for my products.

It’s actually a nice balance.

I can’t spend all my time selling my time, after all. The long term plan had always been to stop selling time, and sell value through my products.

Onwards.