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Hard Truths About Being a Freelance Software Developer

Timothy Mugayi
Better Programming
Published in
8 min readJan 9, 2020

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Image source: Pexels

We read online about freelance developers who claim to wake up in the morning and make thousands of dollars while working remotely in their boxers. The hard truth is yes, this is true for some to a certain degree, but these are the unicorns. There’s another side to this story. There is one story that those glorified online articles try to sell you, that being a freelance developer is like the ultimate dream, and another side full of hard truths and realities that you will soon come to understand with experience.

I have been down the freelance developer path with some relative success. The only thing that temporarily stopped me from going all-in was certain constraints. Getting started is a bitch. I am not going to mince my words because that is the hard truth.

Geography Matters

Geography matters. What I mean by this is the place you work or the environment you operate in has a direct bearing on how successful you might be in the short-to-long term if you're doing face-to-face gigs. Let me be blunt: Not every client will want to work with you, no matter how good you are.

There will be instances when you get sidelined due to the fact that you may not…

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Timothy Mugayi
Timothy Mugayi

Written by Timothy Mugayi

Tech Evangelist, Instructor, Polyglot Developer with a passion for innovative technology, Father & Health Activist