Freelancer's way. How to find the first order?

Question

Android

Hello.
Previously, I was engaged in web development (created websites, studied PHP, HTML, CSS, JavaScript), and also studied other programming languages ​​​​at the same time (C / C ++, C #, programmed Atmel / AVR microcontrollers, Assembler), but I did all this in an "amateur level", that is, I have no commercial experience in large companies. Well, I wrote custom programs, websites, etc., but I don’t consider this a great experience in commercial development, since I did it either for myself or for friends offline.
Lately I have been studying Android, Java programming language and I want to be professional in this field. But I have no desire to go to work in big companies - I want to work freelance / remotely and develop my projects in parallel.
I signed up on various freelance exchanges (oDesk, Elance, weblance, free-lance, etc.), but I have a problem getting my order flow up and running. Basically, on these exchanges, either orders are very "complicated" (since customers give freelance what they themselves cannot do), or more experienced freelancers quickly sort out normal orders (especially the Indian army makes batches of bids on odesk, elance), and a beginner should start very difficult.
I do not consider myself a "cool guru", but at the same time, I believe that I can deal with many points on the fly if I need to complete an order. I prefer a learning by doing approach.
Please advise how to find the first simple orders to get started. Is it worth it to take orders and in the process study what is required to complete?

Answer 1

I am writing my opinion about Odesk and Elance, because I work for them.
1. About "to improve the flow of orders" - it is important to know what you mean by this concept. The situation "customers knock themselves, and I only choose and program", it seems to me, is not entirely possible. So get ready that part of the time you will be selling yourself. On the other hand, if you sell for a long-term project, then happiness is guaranteed to you.
2. Regarding the first orders: I took the first order for $5 (for the entire project) and did it to the maximum, so that the customer would not even think of putting a rating below 5*.
The first review is an important step. After you have achieved it, start asking for more or less tolerable prices. On the second project, I already worked for $10/hour.
All your rates will then be visible in the profile, so the more they pay now, the more they value you later. I once asked one of the first customers instead of 5 hours at $15/hour to calculate 3 hours at $25/hour (I agreed in advance that the work would take 5 hours). The amount for the customer is the same, but your profile already has a good rate and people see that you have already been paid that kind of money
.
I once came across an article about freelancing on Habré, where they wrote something like "if you don't know something, but study in the process, then you risk the customer's money and time." In my opinion, this is not so. You do not work as a janitor, in each task, most likely, you will have to learn something new: there are template orders, but this is hardly about programming. So, if you are sure that you are able to study something, feel free to take an order.
4. In my opinion, you use "experienced freelancers" and "army of Hindus" in one sentence in vain. I saw an order a month ago, where it was written in English in white "only for native Russian speakers", where one Russian and two Indians left bids.
To compete with them, many advise to leave the application among the first. To do this, you should organize your work in such a way that you can immediately see new requests for the right keywords in one place. I use lancemonitor.com for this (maybe this is a mini-PR, but I am extremely grateful to the author for saving time). The service sends projects by the keywords you need to the mail as they arrive: everything is collected in one place and allows you to quickly respond
5. Compose a cover letter correctly, for each customer, trying to show that you have delved into the project. You can ask 1-2 questions.
If I did the first project on Odesk for $5, then on Elance the first one was for $18/hour. So with a good profile and presentation of yourself, you can get a normal first project without feedback.

Answer 2

You don’t have a bad track record, make it into a short resume and post it on avito.ru
, my friend, in parallel with freelance sites, trades like that and with Avito he has more returns.
He gives this heading www.avito.ru/rossiya/rezume/it_internet_telekom?f=...
job, resume, remotely, IT, Internet, telecom, preferably in several regions

Answer 3

Trite to be the first and this will solve the problem of competition.
pumainthailand.com/answer-na-voprosy-o-workote-n...

Answer 4

How to bid on Elance? Make 5-10 applications at once and wait until Time Left ends and the customer chooses the "best" freelancer or constantly make applications? But in the second case, you can receive several orders at once at the same time and some of the orders cannot be fulfilled.
Here is an example of my Cover Letter:
I have 3+ years of web development experience (PHP, MySQL, HTML, JavaScript).
/* custom text */
I can develop one-page site with user email verification and a back admin page to display number of visitors to the site, list of emails collected, and the emails that are verified.
I'm ready to start immediately!

Answer 5

@serious911 by the way, look here a person (more precisely, his western employers) needs lamp and android programmers.

Answer 6

The main thing is not to be afraid! It's always the same with first orders.
Think about what you and the customer are. Many of them may even be less competent than you. To reveal their competence to a potential customer, reviews / tests / ect are needed. They build up gradually, so do not shy away from simple and cheap orders, and most importantly, do quality work at any level of complexity, this is the main way to promote a freelancer. Good luck.

Answer 7

I apologize for being off topic, but I need to make a site here, would you take up this business?