Freelancing is somewhat similar to contract-based jobs. They are self-employed and yet work for multinational companies and individuals. Freelancing has existed for aeons but has recently garnered attention. The latest spike in remote or freelancing has majorly benefited digital and IT industries.
Recently, when a pandemic hit the globe, companies that had no faith in freelancing were seen picking the same. The scenario for the people who never worked beyond nine-to-five also changed drastically. From developers to testers, all were seen at home working on the laptops. Statistically, post-pandemic, 68 per cent of remote workers were willing to switch to freelancing.
Regardless to say, freelancing is freeing and you get the time to explore other things. There are authorities and clients you will have to deal with but at the same time, you can anytime call it quits. Because it is self-employment, you are fulfilling your dreams rather than others.
Having said that, you should not forget that independence brings responsibility. Freelancers have to keep hustling as there is no job security. They miss out on the extra benefits that offices provide like gratuity, PFs and others. Also, staying at home and working can be overwhelming after a period.
Himalaya Saxena took the plunge and started working as a freelancer after his first job in CPA marketing in 2010. He learned software programming and developed a few SaaS tools that were mostly free. Himalaya Saxena is a renowned name in the IT industry. He came up with the idea of Highcompress to reduce the load of the website and amplify processing by compressing images. With Highcompress, you can compress the image by 95 per cent without disturbing the quality of the image. Highcompress is the best image compression for png and jpg.
In 2017, Himalaya Saxena launched Highcompress. Within a year, WordPress approved the plugin. Presently, the Highcompress website gets used by 50,000 users. Also, according to WordPress, Highcompress is the most used plugin on the platform and is now the best image compressor plugin for WordPress.
Himalaya Saxena’s freelance work also had hiccups like everyone else’s. But, he made some changes in his working pattern that helped him land up in big gigs. Himalaya shared his soft skills and his communication wasn’t professionally brushed. Due to the same, he had to lose a couple of clients. So, he started working on his English and other soft skills by watching YouTube videos. Eventually, he felt confident, and the result was evident. Currently, he has the skill to pitch some non-negotiable deals.
The digital and IT world keeps upgrading and therefore, it is essential to remain in touch with the new updates and trends. However, sticking up with old patterns might be a hindrance as freelancing is all about versatility. Himalaya Saxena considers himself adaptable and has worked in different environments like Linux, Windows, and Mac. Despite working as a freelancer, there could be a situation where you will have to work as a team. Therefore, a freelancer developer should always have the quality of a team player.
It is the work of a developer first to draw the roadmap and later orchestrate the entire project. Be it a freelancer or full-time, developers need to have a quality understanding of the project. Moreover, he should never fear cross-question in case of a query. All these qualities save time and effort. Also, the developers have a clearer picture of the project. This will lead to an impeccable end result imagined as per the client.
Himalaya Saxena is presently freelancing for global clients for DevOps, website development and application development. Lately, Google Adsense invited Himalaya Saxena to attend the Google meeting.
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