Hi Kirupa Members,
I have been developing websites for several years on my own as a hobby and love it. However, it has only been a hobby for me for several years.
A while back one of my friends needed a website for his small business, and he went to a design studio to have them build his site. After a month and several thousand dollars later, he had a website which I could have built myself for him at half the price in half the time. This experience got me thinking about this hobby I had developed. The question inevitably crossed my mind: Could I become a freelance professional web developer and designer?
Obviously, this is a highly competitive field with lots of talent. I would view this as a side job for me initially with the potential of developing into a full time career or business in the future. I have no formal training in design or the applications; my undergrad is in business management and finance. I just started learning on my own several years ago and got hooked. While I know that I am not the best designer out there, there are plenty I feel I am better than. Whatever I lack on the design side, I feel I can compensate for on the sales, marketing, financial and management side of running a business given my experience and training.
Thus, I guess I was wondering what all of your thoughts on the question whether or not to become a freelance professional or keep it as a hobby.
What does it take to go out on your own? How large is the transition from hobbyist to professional? How can I properly gauge my own level of skill? What is the best way to continue to develop my skills? What is the ratio of business acumen to development and design skill necessary for success in this field? Is there anything else that I should know?
Thanks so much for your help! I look forward to hearing your responses.
