This is really helpful because I have been considering switching to freelance for some time but I have a lot of doubts. Does any one think trying it and failing could somehow make it harder to go back to a full-time job later?
I'm the CTO of international video agency Wooshii and I run an educational media brand called Skill Pathway. I also occasionally chat to people on my podcast, The Learning Developers Podcast.
Hi Jose, great question and this is a worry a lot of people have.
We're composed of professionals who have worked in hiring positions for multiple years.
Everyone here agrees that a perceived "failed" freelance stint would not affect their hiring decision negatively... If anything, it could make you more favourable.
This is because you would have most certainly learned some lessons when giving freelance a go. It also shows you have a lot of tenacity.
Inevitably, there will be the occasional hiring manager who looks at freelance experience or a career gap and thinks "this shows they're not committed", but this is far rarer than people worry about - and we'd ask you this - would you want to work with such an opinionated, uninformed manager anyway?
So you can always go full-time again. Now it's down to you to make sure it's practical!
Hope this helps!
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This is really helpful because I have been considering switching to freelance for some time but I have a lot of doubts. Does any one think trying it and failing could somehow make it harder to go back to a full-time job later?
Hi Jose, great question and this is a worry a lot of people have.
We're composed of professionals who have worked in hiring positions for multiple years.
Everyone here agrees that a perceived "failed" freelance stint would not affect their hiring decision negatively... If anything, it could make you more favourable.
This is because you would have most certainly learned some lessons when giving freelance a go. It also shows you have a lot of tenacity.
Inevitably, there will be the occasional hiring manager who looks at freelance experience or a career gap and thinks "this shows they're not committed", but this is far rarer than people worry about - and we'd ask you this - would you want to work with such an opinionated, uninformed manager anyway?
So you can always go full-time again. Now it's down to you to make sure it's practical!
Hope this helps!