In any industry, it’s hard to evaluate your skills if you’re self-taught. When will your skills ready to start freelancing? Self-taught coder Joyce Akiko answers this question, particularly for other programmers like herself.
Photo by schoschie.
She says, in general, you’ll know when you’re ready to take the leap when you can do these four things:
- Build a couple projects and be able to show them off
- Talk about decisions and reasons for making certain design or development choices
- Look at someone else’s work and find areas that you’d be able to improve
- Go on Stack Exchange or similar and answer more questions than you need to ask
It sounds deceptively simple, but many who learned on their own have the nagging questions of “Am I good enough?” and “Am I a real developer [or designer or whatever field they’re in]?” Akiko offers reassurances that you decide whether you’re a “real” developer or not. Her guide to getting freelance-ready also offers lots of advice and resources you can use to get to that point.
The Ultimate Guide for Getting Freelance-Ready When You’re a Self-Taught Coder — 2015 Edition [Joyce Akiko]
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