Freelance Mag

Freelancing offers freedom and flexibility, but not every client is a dream to work with. In fact, with the increasing popularity of freelance platforms like Upwork, Fiverr, and Freelancer, the risk of encountering bad clients has never been higher. Whether they’re looking for free work, trying to scam you, or just offering poor terms, spotting these problem clients before they derail your career is key to thriving in the gig economy.

If you are one of those freelance programmers or writers who are so obsessed with their work that they keep postponing their sleep, then stop doing it instantly. In the long run, its going to be a losing deal, both for your health and the freelance business.

On sites like Upwork, freelancers have become a fully fledged commodity these days. The client doesn't care that I communicate timely in good english, nor do they care that I provide readable and maintainable code which is thoroughly tested. Most of them are only interested in one statistic:

Tech evolves fast, especially in web development. First it was jquery and backbone, then came angular and react, tomorrow it could be something else. Not just that, but each project that lands on your freelancing desk could have a varying degree of complexity.

To specialize in one area or be a generalist is one of the most important decisions to take when you start freelancing (especially web development) and it's not easy to take. When you work in a day job, you typically don't have to worry about specialization as you are given a task or milestone by your managers or leads based on your general profile or skills.