When you start experiencing the freelance industry for the very first time, you would certainly get overwhelmed because it is one of the most lucrative industries that you can ever be part of. The freelance market is completely different from full-time employment, and it is going to reward people that are totally dedicated and hardworking.
However, the freelance market also has a lot of ups and downs, like full-time employment. In this article, we are going to learn more about the pros and cons of becoming a freelance software developer.
The first section of the article is going to explain some of the positive sides of the freelance market, followed by the second section, which discusses elaborately on the cons.
You get to learn a lot of skill sets
When you become a freelance developer and start working on freelance software jobs, you would not be restricted to one particular skill set. Depending upon the kind of projects that you get, you would have a lot of opportunities to learn various technologies. With this, you would be able to build on your technical abilities to a greater extent.
Overall personality development
As a freelance developer, you must be aware that you are an individual who would be working on different things at a time. Right from drafting emails until negotiating the price on the project and convincing the client regarding the project, everything has to be done individually and on your own.
When you look at the freelance developer role holistically, there is a great scope to improve your overall personality. Along with the technical abilities, you could also start learning a lot of life skills, which is going to help you in the long run as both personally and professionally.
You would become a better professional
When you start working as a freelance developer, you are accountable for everything that you do. You will not have any support system to back you up at any point in time. You will start learning the art of being accountable and responsible for every assignment. You will start developing good management and leadership skills as you are the single point of contact to the client.
You are free to live your life
When you’re part of the freelance industry, there is no one to breathe down your neck and restrict you from doing things that you want to. You can expand your wings to any extent and learn anything that you want to in order to offer your services. Youare not bound by time, and you can work at any point in time from any location without anybody questioning you. With this freedom, you will start enjoying your life completely.
Absolutely no interference
Apart from the client, you do not have to deal with any other individual when you start working as a freelance developer at dormzi or any other business. You can stay away from a nosy boss and alsoan interfering colleague and keep focusing on your work all the time without any distractions
Now that we have understood all the positive sides of the freelance industry, let us quickly focus upon some of the negative aspects of being a software developer in the freelance world.
Freedom makes you lazy
When you are completely on your own, you will start losing your focus on the work that you are supposed to do. As a freelancer, there are high chances of you becoming lazy once you achieve the target.
You will start developing an Adhoc working style
Your lifestyle changes completely when you start working on freelance projects. There would be no one to restrict you or question you regarding the updates on the project; you might start becoming a lot more casual, and your attitude towards your working style changes.
Team communication skills
As a freelancer, you would be working as an individual most of the time, and the only person that you might interact with would be the client. With this, you will start losing confidence in communicating with a large group of people, and that would result in poor team Management and team communication skills.
Changing hats
As a freelance developer, you’re expected to change your hats instantly and spontaneously. You are not assigned with one perfect role that you can carry out in a single day. You have to be everything, and that can become extremely dangerous at times because it can lead to frustration and a lot of stress.
Emotional intelligence
As you would be working all alone on almost all the projects, as a freelancer, it becomes difficult for you to connect with people over a certain point in time. You might start operating mechanically and lose out on the emotions. With a lack of emotional intelligence, you would never be able to enjoy your social life properly
These are some of the most important pros and cons that every individual must be aware of when they are planning to choose the freelance industry as their career.