Is there freelancing closer to 30?

Question

PHP

Hello everyone and everyone! I wondered if it is possible to become a front-end developer at the age of 27 and earn on odesk for a piece of bread with caviar?
About myself: an entrepreneur, had his own business for the last 6 years, closed, the head of the family, now I live on passive income from real estate, I managed to acquire it in time, I am actively interested in technologies, I have a good level of upper-intermediate English, for the last couple of years I have been thinking about moving to the It area, i.e. to me this: 1. interesting (very) 2. if you are a specialist, you will not be left without a job 3. Freedom is moderate, yes, of course, it is illusory, but it seems to me that after working hard for several years, you can get it at a high hourly rate and 4 x hour working day.
Question: in which vector is it better to start, is it worth it at all?
Disciplines required for study (supplement) and authors :)
1. html( xhtml, html4, html5)
2. css (2.1, css3, etc.)
3. JavaScript(basics)/Ajax
4. Mysql
5. Jquery
6. Cms (wp, drupal, joomla)
7. Back-end Php etc (why PHP impresses, since many projects on the net are written in it, a large amount of work).
7.1, I understand that the previous 7 points are just the tip of the iceberg, in the future I wanted to study Zend (in particular because of Magento) and Symfony2, i.e. work in the development business direction).
I wrote everything very emotionally, for the first time, after all, I hope for a constructive dialogue, without aggression, please, enough daily.
PS
And to be completely honest, why did I decide to go into the IT field, not having such experience and knowledge, but having a huge supply of patience, desire, a clear mind and the support of my wife. All this is a means to an end. The goal is to move from Russia with my family to a more comfortable country. Passive income + freelancing = a happy life. Thanks in advance. =)

Answer 1

Don't study technology. Learn to solve problems. Especially with the initial data and margin of safety.
It seems to me that there are 2 ways to succeed in IT today:
1. Zeal for something specific (for example, neural networks, computer vision, machine learning, e-commerce, visualization ...) - here, judging by the last paragraph, past the cash register
2 Not knowledge of technologies or even stacks, but the ability to solve practical problems. Here it looks like it is.
Find or come up with a project that is interesting:
- a family budget in the cloud
- a private chat for a family
- a toy for a child on Android
- a smart home via a web interface
- an up-to-date "plug-in" for an online store: parsing, cross-reviews, suppliers , competitor prices...
- ...
Look at what "fashionable" means this is being solved and take part. Start small. In a real and interesting task, it will be much easier to integrate into all the many technologies that are currently being used.
At the end, even if you don’t make a new super-hit, then:
1. Get acquainted with all the technologies and techniques (somewhere more, somewhere less)
2. There will be experience in a real technological process
PS If, nevertheless, only e-commerce and online stores (not the most attractive part of IT, in fact), then do not immediately rush to make up templates for Bitrix. Find important business problems that are not solved by standard methods (there are a lot of them) and try to solve one of them.

Answer 2

He came to IT from a completely different world. For the last 2 years, I have been earning my living from this. I'll tell you honestly - the first year, at least, will be very hard. Especially if there is no specialized education (employers really cling to the lack of a "crust"). But if there is a desire, everything will work out. At one time I realized that frontend and the creation of cool interface solutions are closer to me.
As for the frontend, the growth path is now very transparent:
1) know HTML5 by heart (semantics is an important thing :) )
2) CSS + any preprocessor (now you can’t do without them)
3) JS + any framework/library to structure the code (although for a start it is enough to read a couple of books on native JS, and taking jQuery - rivet your plugins. All the same, typical web projects do not imply complex logic on the client)
4) Collectors. There is Gulp, Grunt, Branch and many other interesting things. Very good help get rid of the routine.
5) Love for what you do :)
My advice to you is the author - if there is passive income now, and there is an opportunity to try - I would try if I were you. The point is that we have one life, and in order to live it happily, you must do what your heart aspires to. And if you persevere along the way - money, position and everything else will come with time.
Good luck :)

Answer 3

Here all sorts of people go to IT just for the sake of dough, they saw projects in enterprises, they come up with all sorts of scrums, agiles and other managerial crap - but there’s no sense, as they sawed guano, they saw .... IMHO people in IT should not go because of desire to earn money on "bread with caviar" and "wife's support", but because they like to create, because the soul lies. The best developer is the one who, with burning eyes, is ready to sit at the code for days and not wait for the return for the first n (substitute the necessary - weeks, months, years). Junior in programming for those who are ready to completely forget about the world around them and sit around for days and do something (to advance, technologies change, and every day you need to know more and more). You have to feed your family, you won’t be able to score on everything. Programming is not for you if you want a 4 hour work day. This must be lived.
I know several people who came to programming at an advanced age (one of them is over 40) - but they didn’t have children or wives, who, in the end, get bored with a small salary and "inattention". And there are enough Indians on clothes.
Boiled.

Answer 4

You have a list aimed at making websites, inexpensively, without ads and SMS...
There was good advice about ruby ​​here. No need to delve into a billion frameworks and learn to program again every time. Save a lot of nerve cells.
If you need what is called front-end in the mainstream, then this is html / css / js. Those who repeat the hurdy-gurdy about the fact that javascript has a low level of entry, in my opinion, are delusional. How to set a condition or pull a loop or recursion can be understood in a couple of days in any language. How to do what you need to do without pulling all the hair out of your head is another thing entirely.

Answer 5

Started coding at 27. I started freelancing, and after a year I went to work to learn how to code correctly. Before that, there was every kind of trade. And now I'm programming and quite qualitatively in PHP and the guys who code more in time consult on the code. If you are really motivated, then this is the main thing. And it is also very important to understand that there is no extreme age for development. This is a common opinion and a common excuse not to change anything in your life.
I just went the second way. An analytical mind and the ability to solve various problems led to the fact that I don’t care what to write on, the main thing is to get acquainted with the semantics. Well, of course, there are patterns and other things that are universal for the OOP family, for example.

Answer 6

I started working as a web developer at the age of 28. But before that, he was engaged in all sorts of near-IT activities and learned to program in the 6th grade without books and teachers, using the example of his brother's term papers.
It is very important to “burn” at least the first 3 years, so that there is motivation to master huge amounts of knowledge, to be interested in literally everything related to development.
However, I earned while sitting in the office. And he dabbled in freelancing from time to time. And I still don't see the need to change this state of affairs.
As for the choice of technologies, if I had the opportunity to go back in time, I would choose python or RoR instead of php, since you don’t need to learn a dozen frameworks to be in demand on the labor market, one is enough :)

Answer 7

It's never too late to start,
but in my opinion, aiming at such an advanced age and with responsibility behind your back
should be somewhere in the direction of a narrow specialization.
What you wrote will take at least three years before a normal result, and on the same ODesk there are a lot of people with such general knowledge.
Start with one thing, for example, with php, the rest will catch up by itself if you are inquisitive.

Answer 8

i.e. work in the business direction of development

Not compatible with freelancing.
Either freelance startups or enterprise in the office.

Answer 9

I support Pavel K , study one thing, either the server side or the client side (front-end), and there are many nuances there and there. It’s not worth grabbing everything at once, you don’t want to be a low-paid handyman, right? Feel both sides (server / client) and decide what the soul lies more.

Answer 10

If I were you, I'd go into management. Why break your head on the exact sciences? Do you have entrepreneurial experience?

Answer 11

Hello, choose Python, and then it will go by itself, then say thanks, you can read the messages in the profile, good luck :)

Answer 12

Yes, it's easy, I'm 30 and I'm a successful freelancer,
I live in Thailand, which I advise you

Answer 13

The fastest option - choose a very narrow specialization (in my case, this is a front-end with a bias in layout and animation) and dive headlong. But this option only works with full dedication. That is, in order to be able to work 4 hours a day and feel comfortable in the future, in the first year or two you will need to plow 50-65 hours a week. But there is a very important point here - out of these 50-65 hours, you will devote a maximum of half to direct work. Everything else is self-development. Reading all possible articles, books, other people's libraries and other things. And the obligatory filing of pet-projects / demos. I worked remotely for a year (with a good salary for the region, but tiny for the capital). 15-20 hours a week - direct work. And on top of that, 30-45 hours - reading the Internet and writing demos on the code pen. Now, With a whole year and a half of work experience behind me (and knowledge of programming in general), I work with a rate of $30 per hour (and plan to reach ~$50-60 in 6-12 months). At the moment, I’m working on two projects, according to which people contacted me themselves, I didn’t even write to anyone anywhere.

Answer 14

33. Started actively coding 9 years ago. Now I am a full freelancer - I pay a mortgage, I provide for my family.
So everything is possible.

Answer 15

At 35, the state tried to take away my business (trade/construction), it couldn’t, and it broke my teeth - thanks to the arbitration court and competent judges. But the enterprise itself killed.
He spat on everything - he went into freelance.
I feel good.
Can!

Answer 16

Go remote. Freelancing is different

Answer 17

If I like cars, then why not start my own production?
If you want an honest answer, there is not enough money for a family. Focus on what you are best at right now.

Answer 18

Toshie_One : Online
management, the same as offline, only it is not always possible to give a lazy worker a slap on the back of the head.
Entrepreneurial experience is more valuable (in terms of making money) than development experience
. , followed by a promotion to a startup when you put together a team.
If IT attracts you not only as a bread place, then you should superficially study the technology stack (conditionally: web (front-back), desktop, process control system, ...), so that cunning developers frighten you with basewords
And before you plunge - www.amazon. com/Inmates-Are-Running-Asylum-Products...

Answer 19

Great combination of bootstrap and modx. Modx revolution - will replace the difficult part of programming in the first couple, and will also teach you how to program, help you understand the logic of such things as parsing, pagination, etc.
BootStrap will save you from learning css, everything will learn by itself. you can take other frameworks, there are a lot of them now. Once you make your first site on modx, you can easily take orders.. and at 31 you are already a front-end developer.

Answer 20

The goal was to quickly pull up a friend so that he could successfully earn money on clothes. He had almost no experience, except that he picked something in his spare time. But there was a great desire. I directed him along the path that he himself knew well, realizing that as soon as he got involved a little, he would change the technology stack to the one that he liked more. A little less than a year later, he was successfully earning $20/hr.
There was minimal effort on my part: I gave a guide on how to create a blog in Yii step by step, and answered questions in the process. After that, I gave additional tasks on the resulting code, conducted a code review. After about 2-3 weeks, the guy was almost ready for independent swimming, I only had to occasionally give advice.
With a little understanding of this environment, you can use your management skills to organize a remote team. True, it will be more difficult here with a 4-hour working day.
As for downshifting, it's a little more complicated than it seems at first glance. It is not so easy to find a dream country where you can legally be freelancing. Although if your wife can find an official job on the spot, then the matter is greatly simplified. This part of the question is very interesting. After six months of living in Tae, he began to strain himself with the status of an illegal immigrant. Of course, you can find official work there, but it will no longer be a cozy place on the seashore.
If you are interested in discussing in detail - contacts in the profile.

Answer 21

Personal opinion, modest, specific: you can learn everything (well, or a lot) at any (almost any) age. The fact that you brought some topics and disciplines to study is, in the grand scheme of things, nothing.
Your situation and case are quite adequate, the age is acceptable, the desire and interest are understandable.
Everything is in place, everything is there, and this is one of the main motivational factors.
Moreover, if there is already passive income (albeit small), this will not distract from the desire to learn.
That is, extra earnings will not eat up a lot of time, and this very time can be spent on training.
You always have to sacrifice something, either time for work or time for study, investing resources in your knowledge.
The problem of many, especially beginners, who are deeply unfamiliar with WEB and IT technologies, not seeing the whole iceberg, is an incomprehensible vector of learning initiatives and developing their competencies in a particular area. And this is just one of the important reasons and factors.
Your education, your desire to know the world of technology can pursue two goals in the future: having learned and mastered the basics to earn or even earn extra money by making and coding shitty sites (simple, light, even erroneous), well, delving into the base, spending more time, try to earn and work on real projects and works, for a quite tangible reward.
But do not be hopeful, no matter how you learn, no matter how you master the theory, all this does not cost anything in general, since practice is valued, and in fact the level of your remuneration will subsequently depend on experience and practice, the ability to solve real problems, qualitatively , quickly, as accurately as possible, with less risk, with great effect, cheap, profitable, awesome. This will be appreciated.
With regards to freelancing, this area and the path is quite within your power and achievable, with the proper motivational vector of interest.
It should be noted right away that for a beginner, in any area of ​​freelancing, and even more so WEB, there is huge competition, so here you will have to try to gain experience, find regular customers, partners, friends, colleagues, and identify the main competitors.
Every second schoolchild in India, every third student in Russia, every fourth admin in Indonesia, every second developer in the US and Europe is already using this baggage.
And knowing only these basics is not enough. This is all for school work and lab work...
You're right that PHP is one of the leaders in development, but it's not the only one, there's also a lot of Ruby, Python...
To make money normally and understand the essence, you need to understand from the inside fundamentally WEB systems and their architecture, the functioning of the Internet, sites, stacks, protocols, technologies, be able to use version control systems, bug tracking, verification, validation, refactoring, automatic testing, production, know and understand the fundamental things of each of the developed technologies and their direct interaction with each other, understand the basics of SEO, marketing, advertising, development on the Internet, psychology and management. And, of course, English, at least. Ability to adapt to all the changing implications in the web development arena. Quite useful, in some cases it will be useful, but for real projects it will simply be necessary to know and understand the theory of algorithms, problems of computational mathematics, statistics,
Well, as some authors have noticed, what you have indicated in the list is, in fact, not only a base, but a too vague part. Yes, you need to know the basics.
But, as they say, to become a super pro in everything is impossible. Therefore, knowing the basics of everything, studying and being interested in everything in the field of web development and the Internet, choose one direction for yourself that will be narrower, more accurate, more pleasant, and become a super pro in it, thereby setting yourself up as an expensive specialist.
If you have an interest, some idea and just want to try it, why not?! You are in a very favorable situation, you have passive income, you can devote some time to study and practice, you can even start trying to earn extra money, or go to paid courses and webinars for learning, it is also useful. You have time.
You do not need to spend your free time completely on work and earn money for food. Try it, like it, so good luck, no - there are a lot of areas in freelancing, you just have to take the same design or SEO promotion ... And you never know, it may not be limited to freelancing, you may well find a permanent employer or partner later, with who then to promote and develop their business. All in your hands. The Internet opens wide open doors for you...
PS If by the age of 30 you have accumulated a lot of real estate that it already provides you with in some way, then where did this stream of income disappear to? Why don't you want to continue also buying real estate and developing in this market (real estate/rental/purchase/sale/construction/investment)? Or maybe you are left with a dozen apartments as an inheritance? Why not sell half and invest in another business, the same startup, or later implement the idea on the web with a group of like-minded people?

Answer 22

You may be a surprise, but there is freelancing a year before fifty.

Answer 23

I myself am not a freelancer, just an ordinary office plankton, we have a team of 2 php - middle me and a friend, 1 php-senior who gives consultations 2 hours a week, 4 junior students, 2 designers, a front-end ninja and a whole flock salespeople, managers + a bunch of contextual and content managers.
The work is hellish and the pay is average. Sometimes you have to go freelance.
On the stock exchanges, half of the inadequacies who want to socialize on joomla for 250 rubles and yesterday, and the other half of the people are people who give up their routine to do important things.
The first is better to bypass, the second will squeeze you to the maximum. There are so few interesting and well-paid things there that competitors will take it away faster than you.
The only option is oDesc or its analogues, there are adequate people and better pay.
I myself take third-party projects from friends, and there I get money. Moreover, with 3+ successful transactions, there is a chance that a bunch of normal clients will be taken into shat or trampled.
Sometimes you even have to fight back.

Answer 24

It seems to me that the direction you have chosen is not the best in order to have the prospect of going abroad.

Answer 25

IMHO, it is more than realistic to leave Russia somewhere (on GOA, for example) simply by renting real estate. Well, there, either wallow under a palm tree, or hire a gang of Indian programmers and from there go to the exchange for freelancers.

Answer 26

You answered your own question a little less than completely.
Freedom will be illusory, and work will find you if there is interest and a desire to develop in an interesting direction.