4 replies to this topic

[Passionate]

Hi guys,
I am suffering with very intense problem(bankruptcy) . Due to some problem , i tool loan with a hope that i would pay latter by freelance money . I do freelancing at freelancer.com as Ruby on Rails developer . Sometimes i get projects , sometimes i don't . Mostly i disapproved . I tried my best but no gain . i am in ROR comfortable zone . I can do almost anything with ROR,javascript and its in between language . But nobody show interest on my work . I dont know .

If anyone here have some tips of winning project , please share with me. I will thankful to you.

I also thinking that if i enlarge my skill area , i would bid on other projects too. So,would you please tell me , how to find person who is best in photoshop , css and he will collaborate with me . Any suggestion .

I am also thinking that if i release some awesome product and made it opensource , might be i will be very impressive . So, i like to know ...is there anything you felt missing. I willl try to make it for you.

One more silly question , what is experience ? . I have been working for past two year as freelance web developer , but didn't join any company . And it is parttime . I am college graduate . So, i didn't join any company yet . I learned everything by myself and did projects with my ability . So, can i call myself as 2 year experience developer ?

PS : yes i got many job offers but all whose jobs package is not adequate to pay my load. Actually,they pay me monthly (or annually) , within this period my loan gets double (due to much high interest ,calculated monthly ) . so,joining such job doesn't make sense . And, freelancing is good option for me . I am indian,wages are less as compared to outsourcing .

[Nashy]

So what you're saying is that you would rather accept no job at all, than one that doesn't have enough money.

Unfortunately most companies look at experience that can be backed by another company, not just yourself. They may accept your portfolio of work as experience, but you still lack the experience that comes from working in a company.

Are you actually going bankrupt, or do you mean you have no money?

[Simon-]

I think that you should go back to study and work on your English communication skills. Most English speakers would find your written English hard to understand and this would be the number one cause of why customers have been dissatisfied. English speakers feel that they can't communicate properly with someone (or the other person doesn't know what they are talking about) if the person who they are writing/talking to doesn't have English skills which are good enough.

The Business world works in English. If you don't want to work on your English, then you're best off finding local work with people who speak your own language, or find a salary job where you would not directly communicate with customers.

As far as finding a Salary job, use your 2 years as freelance as experience. Just say that you're experience is freelance work, but experience is experience. I wouldn't worry too much about the resume, I would concentrate on showing them work examples so they can get an idea of how you are really like, as a lot of resumes (particularly so where the job market is more competitive in a developing country) are just plain out lies anyway, so the employer would be looking for something that stands out which is actually tangible.

[Passionate]

thanks for your suggestion . do my english is so much bad ? if it is , please suggest me some way which let me to perfect my english , so next time i dont feel shame .
And @ ^^ . i just mean that i dont have that much money to pay my dept .if this will continue , govt. will declare me bankrupt .

[Intrinsica]

Personally, if I were in your position then I would take every job I could get, even if the pay wasn't great. Why? Well for one, some income is better than no income. We've all done jobs that we didn't like because it paid the bills; in my case, I worked in a warehouse for a few months earning slightly less than minimum wage. It had nothing to do with my particular skill set and it was monotonous, but at least it gave me some money at the end of the day while I continued to look for a job I would enjoy doing.
The second reason for taking any job you can get - this especially applies to you as a freelancer - is experience and your portfolio. The more interesting jobs won't approach you for a job unless you can show them evidence of your skills. That is what "experience" means in this context: you need to be able to show your potential client what you have done in the past, and you need to be able to provide references (i.e. "I worked for this guy, so don't take my word for it, go and ask him if he was satisfied with my work.")

I wouldn't say that your English is bad. I work in an international company, where a majority of people write to us in English which is not their primary language. I get a good giggle now and again from some of the phrases they use, but at the end of the day I can understand what they are asking. If I can't quite understand, I will email them or phone them for clarification.