I am a computer science student on my third semester.

Due to have learned a lot in my spare time I have leaned enough already to build decent websites.
I even got a very good job as a PHP programmer for a huge hospital last year. So I have gained somewhat experience already as a student..

I'm now in a situation where I don't have time to have a regular student job as a programmer but at the same time I need to make 500$ each month to make my rent.

Therefor I've been thinking that I could make wordpress websites/webshops for folks even underpriced just to make sure I make at least 500$ each month.

But I have a feeling even though I'm willing to make the sites for a very good price it will be hard to find customers..

I've been searching for tips and tricks.
If I do it I will of course build my own website and show my portfolio, but I still have a feeling that customers are not just dumping in on my site.

My question is; is it a lot harder to make it work as a freelancer than all these blogs and articles make it seems? because when I search the web it make it looks like "yea just use social media, create your own site and you'll be fine"
But my gut says its actually really hard to compete against the big established sites. I dont have the money to be #1 when you google "wordpress sites".

Kind regards

maybe i don't quite understand how the programming world works and whatnot but if you already don't have a legit job how do you not have time for school? lol

I play professional sports which takes all my time on the side. Unfortunately the pay from my sport its not great so it leaves me short on 500$ for the month.

edit: thats why I'm looking to work as a freelancer and use the few moments in my week where I have a hour or two free to do some freelance work.



This post was edited by filsoof on Aug 30 2019 04:20am

What you are describing is pretty unrealistic but not impossible. A couple hours a week isn't enough. Networking is everything in freelance work and you most likely don't have a network of people who know you, and you don't have time to dedicate towards that plus actual work. Your bread and butter will be small buisness owners who are tech ignorant. Nowadays there is so many ways to make a website quick and easy with no knowledge. It's possible to find non web related work as well, but beware of scammers. Many people will just try to get you to solve a small piece and never pay you. It's pretty common. You'll need a portfolio that displays your current skills to even be considered for anything, especially without a network.

Wise words

It really just depends man but the above is spot on.

The harsh reality is most small businesses use a platform like Shopify where they handle hosting, web design, and inventory for $29 a month or like $180 annually. They only require actual professional help on adding in an API such as affirm or custom designs but you can get away without it so most people do. Obviously every situation is different but I think you’d have success in that same market doing applications instead of websites.

Maybe learn a skill like Flutter, React Native, or Swift and combine that into the package and people would flock especially on freelance platforms such as Fiverr. I’d probably buy my own .dev or .io domain and link my project portfolio to a personal site rather than focus on social media and just get on a few freelance platforms and see what happens.

When I was in college I made some decent money on Upwork but never tried Fiverr/Dribbble/etc. The most I made in a month from freelance was about 7k total of various projects then the next month I barely broke $300.

You can do it man but just trying to be realistic and it might be hard to build that network in the beginning.