How to Know If You Are Ready to Freelance As a Self-Taught Programmer
In any industry, it is difficult to assess your skills if you are self-taught. When are your skills good enough to start freelancing? Self-taught programmer Joyce Akiko answers this question, especially for other programmers like her.
She says that in general you will know when you are ready to take the jump, when you can do the following four things:
- Create a couple of projects and show them
- Discuss decisions and reasons for choosing a particular design or development.
- Look at other people’s work and find areas that you could improve
- Go to Stack Exchange or similar and answer more questions than you need.
It sounds deceivingly simple, but many who have studied on their own have annoying questions: “Am I good enough?” and “Am I a real developer [or a designer, or whatever industry they work in]?” Akiko assures that you decide whether you are a real developer or not. Her freelance training guide also offers many tips and resources that you can use to get to that point.
The Definitive Guide to Freelance Training for the Self-Taught Programmer – 2015 Edition | Joyce Akiko