DEV Community: Darryl D.

What are the "next steps" in your career?

Darryl D. — Thu, 06 Dec 2018 15:05:47 +0000

I have a conversation with myself more than often about the next steps in my career. I like to assume this is a common thing to do, but very curious about how other people view and plan their next steps in their career.

What's the next steps in your developer career and how do you plan to get there?

Is it based on...

a time frame?
promotion?
responsibilities?
perks? (ie: working from home)
skillset?

Curious to hear others perspectives!

The Rejection-proof Freelance Portfolio Formula

Darryl D. — Wed, 28 Nov 2018 13:49:42 +0000

Let's rewind a bit. You woke up this morning and decided you want to be among the many remarkable individuals who freelance. You proceed to take a look at the fluff-free guide to pre-freelancing. Start to follow it and are now sending out proposals. Life is good. You’re waiting for responses to roll in. You're amazing at what you do so people should be blowing your inbox up by now.

Hours turn into days, days into weeks, and you went from wanting to freelance to filling out job applications. You didn't realize how much work it was to land a single client. Good news! You're not alone. Most freelancers hit this brick wall when seeking their first client.

I get asked the same question more often than not, "why isn't anyone biting?" Then I ask them to send me the link to their portfolio or Upwork profile and review it as if I’m hiring them for my project. Usually, the answer is "No" simply because I don't have the right information or enough information at all.

Keep in mind, when someone is looking to hire a freelancer, they're getting hammered with proposals. You need to make it easy for them to digest your awesomeness instead of sending them to a site filled with random information about you and your work.

Now that we’ve established that you have a portfolio made for rejection, let's focus on building a "rejection-proof freelancing portfolio". Well, it’s not 100% guaranteed that it will land you clients, but it will be 100% better than what you have now!

If you take this approach and still don't land a client after a few months, I'll help you find one myself. I'm saying this because I'm sure it won't happen.

The structure of the "rejection-proof freelancing portfolio" goes a little something like this:

Your background - a quick history on who you are
Core expertise - what you kickass in the most
Personal projects - you passionate or nah?
Paid projects - the other people who decided to give you a shot
Additional awesomeness - skills that complement your core skill
Conclude with personality - thank them for reading all this

With that being said, let's get into some specific details on each section.

First: Your background

This is the first section that someone will see when they land on your portfolio. Here's what you'll need:

Name
Professional Desired title
Your niche over the past 5 years

It's a no-brainer to add your name, but your professional title is a little different. We know work titles are usually BS and cause more issues than they solve. Each person/company views titles so differently that I typically hate to mention mine. Yet they're still necessary because that's what people search for when looking to hire.

If a company needs an experienced developer, they're going to search for "Senior Developer." Don't be that person who prefers to be called something different such as "Architectural Chief Engineer Ninja" because you find it more refreshing. We're aiming to land gigs, not look cool. Choose a title that people actually search for.

When mentioning your niche, keep it brief, practical and specific. Ideally, a single sentence should suffice.

Don't say: "I make dynamic websites for companies!"

Do say: "I've been working in the finance sector creating real-time dashboards for power users."

Why have a niche? Because nobody in their right mind is looking for a generalist freelancer. If they're looking for a generalist, you don't want to work with them. Trust me on this.

And this is not the time to write a memoir. The last thing you want is to be ignored because you decided to write a fluffy novel for a person who's been looking through dozens of portfolios for weeks. Don't expect them to read. Expect them to skim.

If you want to tweak this area, feel free to do so just be sure to keep it short and to the point. Go look at some Yelp reviews to get an idea on how to scare people off. Those are perfect examples of how NOT to explain your background.

Second: Core expertise

This is the area where you let the world know where you kick the most ass in. Feel free to brag a bit. If you don't think you're awesome, why should a potential client who doesn't know you? The key here is to highlight your assets.

Have a list of tools that you use with expert like precision? List them and talk about the situations you were in that ordinary people wouldn't be able to handle.

Have a few development languages that you know inside and out? Talk about how you got to this point in your career and why it was important to acquire this level of mastery.

Here are a few sentence starters:

I've been perfecting my skills in...
I'm amazing at...
I've been using XYZ each day for 6 years

Talk about how you got this awesome:

Did you work with some of the best people in your niche?
Were you at a company that gave you exclusive training?
Did you read every single book about your core skill?
Are you glued to your phone every night reading about ways to improve?

Whichever path you took to get to this point, just remember it's important to paint the timeline. Nobody just wakes up being amazing. A little backstory can go a long way in establishing trust.

If you don't feel like you're at the point to speak highly of your skills, talk about the steps you're taking to get better. Mention goals you've met and plan to complete as it helps establish a timeline.

Pro Tip: Remember to speak confidently, nobody wants a timid person attempting to tackle their project. If you lack confidence, but know you're pretty awesome (example: you get a lot of praise for your work), just pretend to be confident behind the comfort of your computer screen. All the internet trolls are doing it nowadays!

Third: Personal projects

This is a loaded topic. Some people feel they shouldn't have to take time out of their day to work on personal projects when they have other accolades (example: a masters degree). But one thing that personal projects do exceptionally well is that they show initiative and in some cases passion.

Let’s say I interview 2 developers with similar skills (soft skills and technical). One has 2 failed startups and 2 projects he's actively hacking on while the other has a masters degree in Computer Science. I'm going with the person who tried to run a startup, twice.

This is a much-needed area in your portfolio as it shows initiative and separates you from the crowd.

Imagine if you were looking to hire someone and they had personal projects that aligned with your business. You would love to work with a person like that. Be the person you would love to hire.

Don't have any? Good, this is where you mention your upcoming personal projects with an ETA. Link to a landing page or something similar to keep you accountable. Be prepared to speak at length about these future projects as they make fantastic conversation points.

An easy way to think about this section is to consider it personal “Research and Development”. You are literally pumping money back into yourself. You may not see it now, but later you will.

Pro Tip: Personal projects are where you're free to experiment and not worry about people's expectations. It doesn't need to be 100% complete and bug-free. They're usually a "permanent work in progress".

Forth: Paid Projects

Paid project draw a close parallel to the "experience" section on most resumes. You know, the part where you write fluffy HR focused wording that sounds nothing like you. Don't do that here. Be yourself.

For each of those projects let's focus on:

type of project
a goal of the project
tools used or inspiration
how you went above and beyond

The type of project should be something simple that most people seeking talent like yours will understand. Example: wordpress site, custom software, logo design, etc…

The goal should add context to the type of project. Example: Client needs a Wordpress site for their chain of restaurants. It may seem like unnecessary information, but the person who is looking for a developer to work on an app for anything food related would feel like they hit the jackpot. When going through endless amounts of proposals, having any experience in their related field helps you stand out.

Tools give the client something to google if they're unfamiliar with how you complete your work. If the client is savvy in your expertise, it adds validation to your work.

Then we are left with the most critical section of them all: How you did additional ass kickin' for this project. This is where you brag a bit and talk about how you really hit it out the park. Example: "The client needed to have the project done by the end of the month. I finished half-way through the month, so we had more time to tweak things and maybe implement some additional ideas I had."

Keep in mind to be yourself. You aren't trying to impress a potential authoritative figure (hr rep, a potential boss, etc...) as one would do in a resume. You're informing people that you kick ass at what you do. Period. Guess what? That's all they want to hear.

Pro Tip: Have no paid project? Focus on landing that first gig but in the meantime, work on a few more personal projects to have more talking points. The goal is to show this potential client that you know your stuff, not brag to them how much money you made. That's none of their business.

Fifth: Your advantage

Similar to the section in paid projects where you talked about "how you went above and beyond", here you want to apply that same concept.

Your advantage is something that complements your primary skills.

If the client is looking for someone to code a website, anyone can open a text file and write code. What skills do you have that go alongside those coding abilities?

Can you build a team? Great! Talk about your experience as it emphasizes strategizing.

Enjoy mentoring youth? Excellent! It shows you can educate.

Led successful projects? Good to hear as it shows you can hit goals.

Have a background in finance, but made the switch to coding? Talk about why you made the switch. Can you imagine the joy on a potential client’s face who's looking for someone to start a coding project for their finance company?

Pro Tip: Consider this the area where you separate yourself from the crowd. These are the unique features about you that the client didn't think to ask for.

The biggest Pro Tip: Be you.

People will always act like... people. It's important to keep in mind that when someone is seeking a freelancer, they're looking for someone they can trust. This means they're looking to make a connection. It's hard to trust someone if they're pretending to be someone they're not.

Why do I say this? Google some examples of cover letters, and you'll see a sea of robotic personalities. When moving into freelance, people will often apply what they know from writing cover letters and resumes. But the key here is to let your personality show.

If you have a stern personality, be stern. If you have a bubbly personality, be bubbly. Don't allow your first interaction with the client to be based upon a lie. Otherwise, you’ll need to keep up with that lie throughout the entire working relationship.

Your homework

First steps are important. Your first step should be to pick the most appealing section (we don't need to work on them in order) and start drafting content. Timebox it for 1 hour. Repeat for the other sections.

If you get blocked or have a question, feel free to reach out!

Happy Portfolio-ing!

4 years on a degree or a side project, choose one.

Darryl D. — Wed, 21 Mar 2018 21:12:28 +0000

If you were to start over and could only choose one path, which would you consider based on what you know today?

I've been seeing a lot of people complaining about side projects being a point of discussion for new jobs. Some people feel they don't need one because they have a degree while others believe their side project taught them more than a degree.

Really curious to hear some others perspective on how they would approach starting a career in the current landscape of development.

A guide to increasing your freelance rate

Darryl D. — Mon, 19 Mar 2018 15:28:42 +0000

Why is choosing an hourly rate for a project so complicated?

When choosing a rate for a new project, do you think about how you would feel about that rate six months later?

What if you're starting off freelancing and get stuck in a low paying project for a long time?

Then you may start to think you need to pick a high enough rate that you will be comfortable with in the long run. This makes it very hard to start new projects or freelancing in general.

The thought going through most people heads when choosing a rate:

"I need to pick a rate that I can live with forever!"

If that is you, stop. Don't think that way. Your rate is not set in stone.

The context of the is based on picking your initial rate in a previous post on going from $20/hr to $80/hr

Let's get into some ways to help raise your rates

Give a heads up that change is coming

Nobody likes surprises when it comes to spending money. Well, if you are getting a discount that's a different story, not the case here!

If you decide it's time to change your rate, don't expect it to happen overnight. Plan to have it happen over a month and maybe not at all because the client can refuse.

No magic here or much else to say, just communicate well.

I once had freelancer (yes, freelancers sometimes requires other freelancers) I brought onto a project say they need to raise their rate by the end of the week. That was a very strong "No" from me (well, the client) but, I mentioned to him a few weeks from now, it would be no issue. Why? It gave me time to plan accordingly.

Tell them you have upgrades

In my last post, I mentioned to just ask for an increase. That's usually my goto solution but, sometimes the relationship or client requires a different approach. Always good to arm ourselves with different techniques since it's no single solution to rule all situations!

If you're raising your rate, be transparent and make it worth it.

Let's say you just got a new 34" monitor compared to just using your 13" laptop monitor. You also enrolled in some fancy training by some guru to make you better at development (or anything!).

Hey,

I just made some significant changes to my workspace and hardware. Also taking some pretty awesome training from a leader in AWS. Both are a hefty investment but, it will greatly improve my day to day work and allow me to perform better and work quicker.

For these reasons I need to make some changes in my pricing, are you ok with me going up on my rate $10. You'll still be at a discount compared to any new clients I may get!

Curious about any thoughts or questions you may have!

The worse response you could get would be:

"No, because of {inset some excuse as to why the client doesn't want a rate change}"

Rejection is 100% ok because the ball is still in your court. You have 2 choices to make:

Accept the rate if you want to keep working with the client.
Accept the rate AND proceed to begin the search for replacing the client to meet your new requirements. Just be prepared to give a notice to your current client a few weeks in advance.

The answer is always no if you don't ask, making this a win-win situation. By asking you now know if you have a bump in rate or should start a quest to get new clients.

Ask if it's room for improvement

Similar to the previous approach but, this time around we don't have upgrades and training. Do a "pulse check" with your client to see where you stand.

This time around we're asking for an area they are looking to make better. It could be anything, here are some of the requests I received in the past:

quicker turn around time
additional responsibilities
more meetings
some client training sessions
etc.

After they respond back with what they want more off, if it's doable ask are they ok with raising the rate. I would say something along the lines of:

No problem, I would need to change up my schedule to get these features out the door a little quicker. Same goes for the weekly training.

I don't mind these changes if you don't mind me raising the rate $10 to accommodate them. We can start this week if you like.

You may be thinking "shouldn't I be doing this already?" I don't know, that's entirely up to you. If this is pushing you outside your norm and the scope in which you work, then you should be compensated for it.

You'll both benefit in this case, so it's fair game!

Be open to feedback

It will be some rejection, and these rules won't always work. The trick is to keep composure and learn what you can from the situation.

I mentioned techniques like this to a freelancing friend, let's call him Jim. He got a "No" from his client. Jim was "hurt" by that rejection and decided to fire the client.

Don't do that. Do be like Jim.

Psychology protip: Respond opposed to reacting. It's understandable to be upset if you feel like your hard work isn't valued. Just keep in mind, you're still in control and not at the liberty of a single project.

With that said, stick to your guns! Your value has increased, and your rate should reflect that. Don't get caught in the cycle of improving and not being rewarded for it. This isn't corporate America {insert troll emoji}.

Mention change may come before starting the project

This is more of a proactive rule to help reduce friction in the longer term.

Something as simple as:

This is the rate at the moment, we can adjust if need be moving forward if anything changes. Are you ok with that?

If they are not ok with the rate potentially changing, I would then proceed with caution or not at all. For me this would be a deal breaker, for others, it may not be. Use your best judgment with this information.

Now for some homework

It took a few minutes to read this, make it worthwhile and take action. Do a "pulse check" right now to your clients to see where you stand and if it's an opportunity to increase your rate.

Protip: If you are still working a 9-5 job (which is completely fine!), these rules still apply.

Let me know how it goes!

Developing on Upwork: From $20/hr to $80/hr

Darryl D. — Fri, 23 Feb 2018 13:22:25 +0000

The global market doesn't care about your local rate, but I do.

Many think the rate should be reflected based on their location or experience outside of freelancing or freelancing platforms like Upwork.

It’s also a huge misconception when it comes to hourly rates on platforms like Upwork:

“Just be ready to get paid 20 bucks per work done.”
“$20/hr is ...not a competitive rate for a professional”
“Personally $20 is not much for anything, in all due respect.”

For context, $20/hr was my example rate in a previous post on pre-freelancing.

Here is what to keep in mind when thinking about your initial rate (let's continue to use $20/hr as an example) on Upwork:

Nobody cares about your location unless it benefits them

When someone is looking for a freelancer, their location takes priority. Not yours. If someone in Iowa comes across a developer in Silicon Valley, they don’t need to accept that's the going rate of that area. Would it be nice if they did? Absolutely, but they're acting in their best interest to get work done.

Your competition is global now, no longer local. This is a potential client, not employer. The average hourly rate in San Francisco isn’t globally accepted.

It’s temporary

Everyone needs to start somewhere. Just like in the corporate world, entry-level jobs are necessary before senior roles. Your accolades outside of freelancing help you land clients but it’s not often the deciding factor. They will be much more valuable in the long run.

But when starting off? Nobody cares if you worked at Google/Facebook/Netflix/Bob's Burgers, you could still suck at freelancing on your own. Time to show and prove otherwise.

Don't quit your day job (yet)

This is oddly common. Many people think freelancing is a replacement for a full-time job, and although it can be, it’s not. In most cases, it’s used as supplemental income. As in you're home from work (or it's the weekend) and need a few extra bucks for a vacation trip, what are you going to do?

You can freelance for a temporary lower rate or you Uber people around. Nothing against Uber but, freelancing is a more scalable solution because you can build the relationships and reputation to go full-time.

This is so common that I named my personal site freelance after five. The operative word is after as in after your 9-5 job :)

Here are some ways to get to your ideal rate ($80/hr)

Smaller project wins

Make your initial projects smaller. Offer a lower rate and time box it for a limited time

Let's say you land a $20/hr project and complete it within a month.

Land two of these projects in your most comfortable development area (front-end, back-end, etc) to keep it simple for you.

After that month has passed, raise your rate $5-10 for the next batch.

Now aim for a couple $30/hr projects.

Once those projects are completed, you can now be a little more confident in charging $45-55/hr, and it only took you two months. Imagine what can happen in a year.

It would take years to get this type of growth in the corporate world, the average is 2%-5% increase annually unless you switch jobs. With freelance, it's not uncommon for a 100% increase.

Ask for a freaking increase in rate!

Let’s hack the first tip of smaller wins. What if you have a project and it’s lasting longer than expected. You're valuable to the project because you are still on the project. Ask your client to increase the rate. No magic. No explanation. Just ask. Ever heard of the coffee challenge? (watch, don't skim)

Example:
You: Hey, are you ok with the current quality of work?
Them: Yep, it’s great!
You: Mind boosting up the rate $5 or $10. I’d really appreciate it!

What are they going to do? Kill the contract because you want to be compensated for your growth? The most they can do is say “No”. Just follow up with “Ok, thanks!”.

I was going to give a neat example of how to ask AND provide a good reason why. Then I decided, screw that, time to learn to deal with rejection! It will only make you stronger. Sorry, maybe next time :)

Invite other clients into Upwork

I would consider this a hack but, Upwork has a program to bring clients into Upwork as a referral. For bringing them in, they wave fees.

For someone who has been using this platform for a pretty long time, I find this to be great. When people reach out to me to start a project, I always point them to the signup page on Upwork first. Why? It’s simply more convenient for both of us.

Pro tip:
Once you have a decent Upwork profile, make it public and share it with people outside of Upwork. The problem you're solving is universal, not Upwork specific. Only people who worked with you can review, so It holds much more weight, this is why it's more powerful than google and facebook company reviews.

I’ll leave you with some fun things to ponder for next time you’re feeling defeated about your initial low hourly rate:

This is your lifetime initiation fee into freelance
You’re competing globally NOT locally
This also will help outside of Upwork

I also have pretty unpopular opinions on free work if you are interested in a change of perspective.

Hope this helps, let me know if otherwise!

A fluff-free guide to pre-freelancing

Darryl D. — Tue, 20 Feb 2018 16:04:33 +0000

I’m a developer, and I have peers that are developers. I have a day job, and my peers have a day job. I freelance, my peers don’t. Combo breaker right?

They often ask me why I freelance. I always respond “why don’t you?”. The answers are almost always the same, overall the response is

“I only hear horror stories."

"I looked into it, and It’s just too much work…”

Then they tell me about what they read, and it’s always some fluffy list of things to do that seem to be written by a person who never freelanced a day in their life or paid to write an article. Overall just wrong information.

I’m going to rectify this with a practical fluff-free approach to getting started. I’ll assume you're a developer with a day job looking into freelancing.

Also, consider this pre-freelance since these are all the things that need to happen before you can start landing some good clients. Once you land one, you are no longer pre-freelancing (prelancing? is that a word??)

This is a 6min read so grab a coffee and let's get into it!

Use your portfolio

Don’t have a portfolio? I have good news and bad news.

Good news: You’re a developer. It’s "simple work"!
Bad news: You’re a developer, what’s "simple work"??

Do yourself a favor, get a simple theme, spend no more than a day on it. We don’t need to reinvent the wheel this first go around, just need something to send to people that say “I know what I’m talking about. Here are things I've done in the past.” Think of it a more verbose and creative resume.

Don’t have development material for a portfolio? No problem, start doing some personal projects. Make a micro-app and launch it. Make a small library and put it on GitHub. Find a design on Dribbble and bring it to life. You don’t need to have paid work to show you can do the job.

Don’t have time to work on those types of projects? OK, write a few stories about your previous projects at work, think of it as interviewing yourself. Problems you faced, how you addressed it and what you would do differently next time. Don’t skimp on the details. We want to be pretty technical here.

Overall, beat your chest a little bit! Show them that you know what you are talking about, the more info you have available to potential clients about your abilities, the better.

You need a proposal formula

Now that you have a portfolio, you need to start reaching out to people. Nobody will know you exist until you tell them.

Pro tip: When people are looking for freelancers, they are getting bombarded by proposals. Most of those proposals are very vague and riddled with useless information about the project at hand. Not to mention formalities that aren't needed on a platform such as Upwork.
They usually go something like this:

Dear Company,

I am very interested in blah blah blah… If you take time to consider me, it will be blah blah blah {inset more copy-paste fluff here}

Don’t do that. Nobody likes that. Nobody cares about formalities when going through dozens of proposals. It's time-consuming.

Make your proposal skimmable, to the point and focused on the project you're targeting.

Let's say you found a project looking for a developer to work on a social media analytics dashboard. Example of how you can approach it:

Hey,

Took a look at your projects and had a few questions:

which social networks are you targeting?

how many users will need to use this dashboard

do you have any designs for the dashboard

The last project dashboard project I worked on used this tech stack, are you ok with this?

react with redux

firebase for real-time

AWS for infrastructure

Outside of that, I have a decent amount of experience working with various types of dashboards {insert more project related talk here}

Here is my portfolio if you like to see more of my work. YourSite.com

What did I do?

asked questions that you need to know about the project
mentioned the way I approached my last dashboard project
spoke about my experience in the context of the project
gave them a way to read more about me

At first, this takes a bit of time, after a dozen or so proposals, you’ll send out proposals just as fast as you make Facebook statuses.

Get on Upwork!

Now that you have a portfolio and your proposal formula, we should be ready to go! Time to find some projects.

Where do you ask? Upwork. Not craigslist, not googling, not cold calling, not networking events, not friends and family. Upwork.

Why do you ask? It’s the easiest way for people looking for freelancers to find them.

What if it goes down? It will always be another. It was first Elance, then oDesk now it’s Upwork. If Upwork goes down, I’m pretty sure another will come, and by the time that does happen, you won’t need it.

Make your profile and buy the premium tier. It’s cheap, you will make it back fast. Actually, Super fast. Don't even think about it as you will spend more on coffee in a month than on Upwork

It’s a numbers game

Portfolio, Check. Proposal formula, check. Upwork profile, check. Clients, unchecked. Let’s change that!

This part of the process is probably the hardest part because it requires a new habit. ABP “Always be proposing” catchy right?

I've noticed freelancers will:

send a proposal, wait and hope for that one to respond and eventually move to the next.
send out a few proposals a week or month
don’t send any, instead just hope to get contacted

Instead, establish a daily minimal of 5 quality proposals based on the formula I mentioned above. Think of it as a routine just like checking your email. Target the newer projects as you can find yourself wasting time on old postings.
When applying to these projects, don’t get attached! Read the description, make your proposal, answer questions, submit and forget. Repeat.

Start to take a project seriously if you get a reply. Until that happens, it's just number.

The moment you start to get attached to projects is when you begin to feel defeated and unmotivated. It’s not uncommon to send out 20 proposals and get one response when starting off.

Good news, eventually it will take you 30 mins to send out 20 proposals. A half hour of work for a connection to an interested client is pretty good if you ask me.

Start small

When looking for projects, be mindful of the person looking to hire a freelancer and the other freelancers trying to land the same gig. When starting out, you'll need to offer very high-quality work for low pay. Yes it sucks but, you need to build a reputation.

From a hiring perspective, it’s hard to justify picking a person with no reviews or work history. People who have a long history and great reviews are usually ideal. The problem is, those people are more expressive (rightfully so). You need to make sure that the person looking at you profile isn’t thinking of you as a huge risk. Which you are but, we are here to prove otherwise!

Start off with your rate around $20 to get people attention. For every review, increase your price by $5-10 until you’re happy. Just remember to stay competitive.

What’s next?

I would like to assume you didn’t want to waste time be reading this and not applying so let’s establish some homework!

0 - Find a lengthy Spotify playlist! (or whatever you use for music)
1 - Create or clean up your portfolio (~5 hours)
2 - Create your proposal formula (~2 hours)
3 - Setup your Upwork account (~1 hour)
4 - Send you daily minimal of 5 proposals for today (~1 hour)
5 - Pat yourself on the back for a job well done (~ 20mins, this is a long patting session, but you're worth it!)

Try it out and let me know how it went!

photo by unsplash/@nathan_mcb