Unsure about how to get started with freelancing as experienced engineer
I searched posts related fo freelancing but still did not find how to actually get started. Especially, when you have no previous work done, no reviews. I am experience engineer with 5.5+ YOE but I don't have OS contribution or projects which are created for…
I searched posts related fo freelancing but still did not find how to actually get started. Especially, when you have no previous work done, no reviews. I am experience engineer with 5.5+ YOE but I don't have OS contribution or projects which are created for clients. I only have 3 projects on github which are side projects that I worked on. In such scenario, I have few questions: * How to find clients in your network especially non-Indian clients when most of Linkedin connections are just random people you have connected and not someone you know IRL? * Do you need to create projects specifically for your portfolio? If yes then what kind of projects are we talking about? * One of the strategy suggested in some posts was cold mailing after analyzing their products but this take a long time to find issues and then pitching but is that general consensus? * Upwork and Fiverr are saturated and upwork has limited proposals after which paid proposals are required. Is that worth putting money into? I tried to create 2 gigs on Fiverr but they got paused eventually as no traction was there. * Are there any other platforms other than the above two? Contra, toptal, lemon.io - all of these did not work at least for me
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Do you like sales? Because you are now 80% salesman, and 20% developer. You tell everyone you now that you starting your sidegig, and I mean everyone You can also call & email local business and explain how you can solution will increase their sales, expect a 99% rejection rate
I am open to sales but the problem is in India no local businesses value digital presence so approaching them for webapp or any kind if digital solution is pretty much dead silence.
In that case, that problem is now your problem
Upwork is worse than that. Because there are so many scammers and fake jobs. You'll likely spend most of those tokens on fake jobs.
Why does this look like complete AI response?
I tried upwork and toptal, both are trash. Upwork requires you to pay for tokens in which you use those to bid for. And when you do bid, it’s like an auction house for work but even then if you don’t get picked by the employer you don’t get your tokens back. Toptal is another one that you do thru many rounds of interviews with random ass people (in thier kitchen) across the world, If you pass that then you need to do a technical assessment For each of the technologies you know and guess what… that does not secure you a job.
that sales ratio is painfully accurate for the portfolio question, skip the fancy demo projects, nobody cares if you built another weather app. instead, find a real business with a terrible website, rebuild just their landing page or fix a specific problem, then show them. you're not asking for money upfront, you're walking in with a solution already half-built local businesses are way easier to land than fighting randos on upwork. walk into a coffee shop with a janky site, show them what you did on your laptop right there. the in-person thing cuts through all the noise and yeah 99% rejection is real but you only need like 3-4 clients to get momentum going
You have to pitch it as it’s going to “make them x amount more in revenue”
Build stuff for free for friends and family.
Do people not use websites in india to lookup menus, prices, and other details? It could be the people you're talking to don't have the money to pay for it.
Your GitHub side projects are your portfolio, they're just framed wrong right now. Nobody hiring a freelancer cares that you built X with Y stack, they care whether you can take a vague problem and ship something that solves it. Rewrite each of the three as a short case study - what problem, what you decided and why, what the result was - instead of a features list, and they do the same job as client work would. For finding clients without a real network: the highest-hit-rate move I've seen work isn't cold emailing companies directly, it's reaching out to small dev agencies. Agencies are almost always oversold relative to their capacity, because that's how agency economics work, so a message offering overflow subcontract help lands completely differently than a cold pitch to an end client who's never heard of you and has to trust you with their money directly. You get client work under their name while you build up your own case studies. On LinkedIn - the network that actually converts for freelancers isn't strangers you connect with cold, it's former colleagues and managers who've since moved companies. A short direct message to former teammates saying you're taking on contract work lands miles better than posting content and hoping the algorithm does something. Upwork and Fiverr being saturated at the low-mid end tracks with what most senior engineers find - those platforms optimize for cheapest bid, which is a bad game for someone with 5+ years of experience to play. Skip the general marketplaces and go where the buyer already has an unmet need instead of where they're comparison shopping.
I will tell you what worked for me. Join the niche community in Discord and reddit. Be empathetic and try to solve the problems of the community members. Earn their trust and connections. That will reward you in getting projects in US and Europe. Try this playbook, which worked for most of the devs.
One thing I'd add is that your first client doesn't necessarily have to come through a freelancing platform. Plenty of people get started by solving a small problem for a startup, local business, or founder they meet through communities (Reddit, Discord, Slack, X, etc.).
I thought freelancing was hard in my country without access to international websites like upwork and etc, but it seems like a obal problem! I am also l trying to learn how to market my products and i know it's gonna take months to get a paid user if ever!
Forget chasing one-off projects and especially don't waste your time with small businesses. Get to know clients who need repeat business. Design, marketing and PR agencies rely almost entirely on freelance devs -- get to know those agencies roughly near your location; they're gonna especially favour someone they can get to know (and trust) personally. Reliability and availability are the two defining factors when working for agencies, not how good you are; they neither care or understand how good your code is. Just impress upon them how quick you can turn stuff around, and be ready to never turn down a tight turnaround job!! That's how their business operates, and they will pay you very well if you can deliver that. You only need 4–5 regular agency clients to earn a decent 6 figure living.
I grabed up a bunch of non profits and a few small buisness. If you are able to run social media that is a big add on too. Once one came in others followed.
Your GitHub side projects are enough to start if they look finished and real. Package them as case studies: problem, stack, tradeoffs, outcome. You do not need fake client work. Warm intros beat cold mail. Tell past coworkers, managers, and friends you are taking freelance work and ask for one intro. For strangers on LinkedIn, short value notes work better than long audits. Skip spending hard on Upwork until you have one paid project and a clear niche. Platforms get easier after proof. Local India outreach often fails when you sell “a website” instead of a concrete business result.
try to use discord too
You’ll have an easier time becoming an ice salesman in the arctic.
Try Upwork or Fiverr
One strategy I don't see mentioned often is partnering with small agencies. Many agencies need overflow developers but don't advertise freelance positions publicly. Building relationships with 20–30 agencies can be more effective than sending hundreds of marketplace proposals.