The latest articles on DEV Community by Manvendra Singh (@manvendra_singh_791be6991). https://dev.to/manvendra_singh_791be6991 https://media2.dev.to/dynamic/image/width=90,height=90,fit=cover,gravity=auto,format=auto/https:%2F%2Fdev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fuploads%2Fuser%2Fprofile_image%2F3979172%2F31c79101-cf10-4bff-8c8b-5265581eb259.png https://dev.to/manvendra_singh_791be6991 en Manvendra Singh Thu, 11 Jun 2026 09:14:53 +0000 https://dev.to/manvendra_singh_791be6991/i-built-a-reddit-freelance-job-aggregator-in-my-spare-time-heres-what-happened-after-2-weeks-1bke https://dev.to/manvendra_singh_791be6991/i-built-a-reddit-freelance-job-aggregator-in-my-spare-time-heres-what-happened-after-2-weeks-1bke <p>I'm a self-taught developer from India. No CS degree, 3 years of professional experience, day job at a small company.</p> <p>A few months ago I started thinking about what I'd do if I lost my job tomorrow. Not a great feeling. So I decided to build something.</p> <h2> The problem I kept running into </h2> <p>I do some freelancing on the side. Every morning I'd open Reddit and manually check r/forhire, r/WorkOnline, r/freelance one by one. By the time I got through all of them, the good posts already had 15 replies and the client had moved on.</p> <p>I thought — this is dumb. I'm a developer. I can fix this.</p> <h2> What I built </h2> <p>FreelancerRadar — a full-stack SaaS that pulls freelance job posts from multiple Reddit communities into one clean dashboard. You add your skills once and it shows jobs matched to what you actually do.</p> <p>Stack: React, Node.js, MongoDB, Reddit RSS feeds, Nodemailer for emails, deployed on Vercel.</p> <p>I used AI tools heavily to build it faster. I want to be upfront about that. But I made sure I understood every part of the codebase before shipping.</p> <h2> What surprised me after launching </h2> <p><strong>The first real feedback changed everything.</strong></p> <p>Someone commented: "Dashboards are pull. Alerts are push. The daily-use habit comes from push — the second a new job matching my skills hits r/forhire, email me."</p> <p>That one comment completely reframed the product for me. I was building a dashboard. The real product is the alert.</p> <p><strong>Most users signed up but didn't add skills.</strong></p> <p>Out of my first 50 users, almost none completed the onboarding. The "Complete Profile" banner was too easy to ignore. I rebuilt the onboarding flow to be a mandatory step between signup and dashboard. Retention improved immediately.</p> <p><strong>A recruiter offered to post jobs directly on the platform.</strong></p> <p>I hadn't planned for job posters at all. But someone commented "As a recruiter I'd be happy to post my vacancies there." Two-sided marketplace wasn't in my roadmap but now it is.</p> <h2> Current numbers </h2> <ul> <li>88 registered users in 2 weeks</li> <li>1.3K events in last 7 days on Google Analytics</li> <li>Users from multiple countries</li> <li>0 paying users (Pro plan with email alerts coming soon)</li> </ul> <h2> What I'm building next </h2> <p>The email alerts feature — instant notification when a job matching your skills is posted. That's going behind a Pro plan at $3.99/month.</p> <p>One Reddit comment basically wrote my entire marketing strategy for me.</p> <h2> The honest part </h2> <p>I don't know if this will make real money. I still have my day job. But I've learned more in 2 weeks of building and shipping than in the last year of just working.</p> <p>If you're a freelancer or a developer who freelances on the side, I'd genuinely love your feedback.</p> <p>👉 <a href="https://freelance-radar-nine.vercel.app/" rel="noopener noreferrer">https://freelance-radar-nine.vercel.app/</a></p> <p>What's the most annoying part of finding freelance work for you?</p> webdev showdev freelance sideprojects