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Stefan Ionel
Stefan Ionel

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Recently I decided to become a freelancer

I started my software developer career in 2016 as an employee in corporations. I learned a lot and I had very cool colleagues. I started working as a game developer in Unity3D.

After a year and 3 months I decided to change the corporation and started working for a bank in Italy, Milan. I worked in this bank for almost 1 year and a few months. The experience was very beautiful because I was working in a foreign country and I was starting to travel.

After this experience I changed the corporation again and started working in the financial field. I work with Microsoft .net technologies on the backend and API integration side.

The financial project was very complex. It was a web application from which I learned a lot. I had almost 5 years of experience in the field, but I didn't seem to be fully satisfied.

Something was missing, but I didn't know what. I lacked freedom and independence.

In 2021 I decided to try to find clients and become a freelancer.
I started looking for projects on linkedin, upwork, everywhere. Finding clients becomes a real challenge for me.

In the end, I found my first clients with the help of closed freelancing platforms like: We are hiring

At this moment I benefit from all the advantages of this lifestyle and my income has tripled.

How did you manage to find your first clients as a freelancer?

Top comments (2)

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cariad profile image
Cariad Eccleston

Congratulations on the career move!

I've been freelancing for a couple of years now, and finding clients has been tough. I get offers every week to return to full-time employment, but no-one around here seems to want contractors.

I've had the most joy working for local startups who found me through word-of-mouth. It's the most fun and rewarding work I've ever done, but -- being pre-launch startups -- it's a massive pay cut from a full-time role, and I'm burning through my savings. I'll need to find better-paying gigs someday soon, but it's fun for now!

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istef94 profile image
Stefan Ionel

It seems very easy to find local projects. Internationally it is harder.