What are the benefits of freelancing over office work?

Question

Freelance

A month and a half ago I got a job in an office. I am engaged in support of internal projects in PHP, I also have to make up a little. They took it on the move, they didn't ask anything. Moreover, this was the first interview) After it there were 3 more interviews during the week and they were ready to take me everywhere. I get the job done, everything is fine. Prior to that, for about 3 years, I occasionally freelanced, without much success. Now I realized that after the office, first of all, I will look for a full-time remote work in a team of programmers, and I will leave freelancing only as a non-core project job - I found an interesting project and slowly sawing it.
Actually, the question is more philosophical - why is there such wild competition in freelancing, people are ready to work for a penny, when employers have a steady demand for specialists and are they ready to offer a good salary? People as soon as they do not pervert in order to get an order - dumping, all sorts of cunning schemes and methods of work. Is all this freelance freedom worth it?

Answer 1

I describe by myself:
1) The ability to create your own sleep mode. For me, getting up at 8-9 in the morning is a real pain. For a year+ I fall asleep between 3-4 am and wake up between 11-12. That is, I absolutely always sleep my norm at 8 o’clock in order to feel normal and not drink any coffee.
2) Absence of time/moral/physical expenses on the way to work. Specifically, I didn’t have to complain, because the first place of work was a 10-minute walk from home, but people in big cities clearly suffer from this.
3) Opportunity to live and work as it is convenient for YOU. Here I am sitting during the day, I just finished writing some part of the project and I look out the window, and there the sun is shining and the birds are singing. Well, I take it and go to run at the stadium. And it all happens at 2 o'clock in the afternoon. What about in the office? Go outside to clear your head during official breaks? And if you have earned and missed the break, then what? Many companies will have to sit further dumb.
4) Ability to work when it is most convenient and efficient for you. One of the most important points. In the office you come and sit an 8-hour working day. And you can’t go up to your boss and say that your brains are not working right now, and you would like to go home altogether. Well, maybe they will let you go 1-2 times, but what if you are paralyzed for a couple of hours every second day after lunch? You will end up sitting and twisting spaghetti code on a fork. And then refactor it, cursing. For example, I like to work at night, but where have you seen offices in which you will be allowed to work there one half of the day and at home the other half at night?
5) Lack of attachment to any preferences of the firm. So you got to a web studio that makes sites on Bitrix. And imagine purely theoretically that you are paid normal money there. And then what? Well, for half a year you will cut the shops. And then another six months. And further. Well, of course, not everywhere is so dull, but all companies have enough of their "features".
6) The absence of a visible ceiling on earnings. In a standard company, they will put you on a salary, + small bonuses if the whole team will hand over the project on time, for example, and draw a roadmap for you, according to which you will make plans for life. Alya "in six months I will hand over 7 projects and I will be promoted, increasing my salary by 15%". And then one fine evening after work, you sit down to study something interesting at home. And you will study for weeks or months. And now you come to work one day, with a bunch of new knowledge, and you have a strong feeling in your head that now you are worthy not only of this increase of + 15%, but you are pulling all 30%. But no one will give you that. Simply because ordinary offices live by different rules.

Answer 2

Hehe, at work I got somewhere around 30, with a bonus and praise from the boss when I plowed, well, 35 (by today's standards it will be somewhere around 50, after so many years), when I quit I started earning from 120 - yes, you plow a lot, but when you earn in a day as much as before a month involuntarily you start to think, why did I stupid before?
And besides, now my wife works on the same principle - she does advertising campaigns in Direct and Adwords - and she makes good money, while her business is easily scaled, and she, like me, can be anywhere, not necessarily in Moscow.
I didn’t see 50% of my clients at all, in principle, despite the fact that we are in the same city, and she is 100%.
But it all depends on the character, some people are better off working at work.

Answer 3

Dumping in freelancing is created by newbies or developers from poor regions, where $ 5 per hour is a good salary. If a freelancer with experience / knowledge, he will not underestimate the rate for the sake of the project.
The advantage of freelancing is that each project is a new technology / subject area / something else. And at a permanent job, you have one platform, which may be outdated a long time ago, the same technologies. For example, I get tired of working on one project for more than a few months. I want something new, and the customer asks to change titles, add shadows to blocks or another form via ajax

Answer 4

I went into freelancing, as it was the only way to earn money at the age of 15-16. Now I am 19. Sometimes there are thoughts that it would be nice to get a job somewhere, do something to the best of my ability and consistently receive my 15-20-25 thousand a month ... But ... Why? When can I get 30-40-50-60 thousand for 1 site? And I can make 1-2-3-4 of these per month. That is, it turns out that with hired work, my maximum income will be 25,000 rubles. When freelancing, the minimum will be 30,000. Well, a person without a higher education (not even a student) should definitely not hope for more, at least in my city.
Another weighty argument - you don't have to go anywhere. I want to work at home, I want to work on the street, I want to work in a cafe. I don't want to work, by the way!
I can work at night and sleep during the day. I can vice versa. I can work for a day without sleep, and then fall asleep for a day.
They can't fire me, they can't force me to do what I don't want. Don't like this client? Lol, I'll find another. The capabilities of Yandex.Direct easily meet my needs in terms of order volume.

Answer 5

The question is actually rhetorical. And not always a freelancer is a freelancer, no matter how ridiculous it may sound. Do not believe it, but work "for the uncle" occurs in both cases. In the office you work for the owner of the company, at home you work for the customer.
I, as a "freelancer" with a lot of experience, found out for myself a very simple truth. It lies in the fact that you can’t argue against the system. As soon as you reach a high level, you will have a large number of clients. Well, or a couple, but serious. If clients are from the CIS, then they bother you from Mon to Fri from 9 to 18. If, for example, the United States, then these are night gatherings.
Sooner or later, you choose those clients with whom it is more convenient and interesting for you to work. The rest fall off on their own.
The bottom line is that you need to work in any case. Freelancing is of course the most flexible, but the more serious the clients, the higher the responsibility and the more you become like an office worker.
There are exceptions, of course, but they are exceptions. And in freelancing, you need to be able to overcome laziness and be able to motivate yourself :)

Answer 6

I didn’t see freelancers working on large projects and being key people there. Of course, it’s unpleasant to work in a smelly office on small projects with low rates, but it’s the same in freelancing if you have a smelly apartment with grandmothers / mothers, children and cheap customers.
Everything is in comparison...
The current offices of reputable companies can only be replaced by perfectly built houses with private offices and terraces. Otherwise, from the evil one. An office has more advantages than a home.
One of them is the opportunity to take part in large projects. And this is already a goal, rather than scraping dollars from the palm of every rogue. You don't think about money there. They drip for you and not bad, but you work and don’t think about problems, about finding a customer, about risks. They think for you, and giving away the money that you can earn on freelancing for this peace of mind is worth it.

Answer 7

There is no difference between freelancing and full time in the office. What freelancing, what full-time in the office is the exchange of your time for money. In what proportion a person does this depends on himself. Some people manage to exchange less time for more money by freelancing, while others do the opposite.
You can romanticize both as much as you like, but the essence remains the same.

Answer 8

Hi, I'm opposite for freelancing, because. there is freedom of choice, unlike remote, I recommend that you read my last article goo.gl/sVnE29 , to turn a blind eye to depingers, you can look through the blog.

Answer 9

It is much easier to get a job in an office - this is if you have your own apartment in Moscow, or at least in St. Petersburg. Normal money for IT specialists (the vast majority) is paid only in two capitals. By my standards, a normal salary per month is at least 100 rubles. In Moscow, of course, you can find work in an office with a salary of 100 rubles, but you will have to live somewhere, and this is already considered 30 rubles per month for rent, + 20 rubles for food, + 10 rubles for other expenses. And what's the point of going to Moscow or St. Petersburg and working in an office, so that with a salary of 100 rubles, you can keep yourself clean at best 40 rubles a month, when you can earn the same money without leaving your home in the most remote village (with the Internet) freelancing ?! In the regions, of course, you can get an IT specialist for 100 rubles a month, but there are only a few such vacancies for the whole city (again, depending on which city), and most companies pay pennies. Therefore, if you have your own housing in Moscow or St. Petersburg, it is better to work in an office with a salary of 100 rubles, and if not, then it is better remotely, it is more profitable. Well, or as an option, take an apartment in Moscow for 10 million for 30 years on a mortgage, and instead of paying rent, in fact, buy your apartment from the bank - but not everyone will go for this, and not everyone will be given a large amount by banks in the mortgage .
And dumping usually guys from Ukraine, or schoolchildren and students who do the work in most cases is not of high quality. Normal developers that I know make good money.

Answer 10

Both have their pros and cons. We can say that all of them have already been described by other commentators. For example, when applying for a job, I try to choose places with a flexible or free schedule and stipulate that I will devote part of 8 working hours to my projects. As a result, it turns out that on average every working day it takes me 4-6 hours for tasks issued in the office, and the rest for freelance. Not all employers agree to this, but only a small part of them ultimately refused. I chose this distribution of time for myself because it is very difficult for me to force myself to work at home. I tried to work purely for the office and freelance, but the experience and money gained were noticeably lower. At first, it was difficult to force myself to freelance, but the thought that it would be better to do useful work instead of social networks and entertainment sites disciplined me.

Answer 11

Remote work can be combined with freelancing if there is a lot of free time left and generally easy. The only thing you sometimes miss is the office atmosphere with jokes, dinners at the same table and corporate parties :)

Answer 12

Most likely, you were not a valuable person since you did not earn more than freelancing. Or they couldn't sell themselves.
Those who are valuable earn more even than in large reputable companies and do not run every day to the stock exchange to grab a miserable penny.

Answer 13

gentlemen who hate offices for the reason "you can't fart without permission", sorry, but what Chinese factories did you work at?

Answer 14

I work for an English organization in the office. I get a high salary for a junior, which will grow more and more. I've only been working for six months. While I was at the university - freelancing. It's cool, of course, to work for yourself, but I'm completely satisfied with the work in the office. Even despite the fact that you need to travel 20 miles in one direction. Helps unload the brain from problems. Ill or other health problems - took a paid day off, sit at home, watch TV shows.
When I worked as a freelancer, I spent 90% of my time searching for projects, 10% on the projects themselves. For without experience, not really anyone needs it. And I won't make a website for $5 either.
Now, even if there is no such influx of experience, there are prospects.
In my opinion, it’s better to open your own agency than freelancing, really tearing your ass. But here to each his own.

Answer 15

Anyone who cannot find such a job, for example, can go to freelance.
Let's say a very ugly person. Or living in some wilderness. Traveling to the regional center for two or three hours every day back and forth is tiring, employers even there are on the fingers of one hand and the salary is local.

Answer 16

There are also remote and outsource

Answer 17

Such a fashion ... Freelance ... Some consider freelancing to be a kind of their own business (for this, sometimes an individual entrepreneur or LLC is registered for one person). Some just from the thought that they have such a business to become more comfortable.
However, this is not really a business... You work by yourself, right? Are you hiring anyone?
What's the difference between "working for an uncle" and "working for a customer"? Nothing but risk. Well, working as a freelancer, you will squeeze out a certain amount more, so what? Money always tends to run out.
So if you already change something, then either open an LLC and hire people to rivet sites on ready-made engines, or develop your own ideas by converting them into profitable projects.

Answer 18

Actually, there is no reason. Freelancing is nice because you don't have to trudge to the office and you can work whenever you want, although frankly, in the office I can work more productively and still not strain with control. I'm sure many do the same. Co-working spaces help, but here freelancing loses all its charm of working from home. The competition there is mainly due to part-time work, one-time projects, portfolio development.
Well, except that the pros are able to raise more than 100k with it, but this is the salary of a senior / team leader in a large company.
But for full-time vacancies remotely they really tear f%ny)) For this is the very best thing that you can get hold of.
PS I don't see tricky methods. Just set the price a little lower than the rest, a polite message, and 1 order per day is guaranteed.

Answer 19

Yes, there are many moments.
Firstly, geography - not everywhere there is a Yandex office nearby, and secondly, again, geography, you can go to work out of town for the summer or even to Thailand, but this is if income allows.
Freelancing gives prospects - to build up a client base and open your own studio / company, but there are only 10 percent of the total mass.
Well, in fact, it turns out that not everyone manages to reach a sane rate of 15-20 dollars. per hour, so after a little twisting they go to the nearest office.

Answer 20

very close: sofa, refrigerator, TV, balcony, toilet and shower

Answer 21

web-praxis.net/?s=%D1%84%D1%80%D0%B8%D0%BB%D0%B0%D...

Answer 22

Just recently read the article Work in the office? There is no way

Answer 23

Well, dumping those who have nothing to offer except a low price.
In order for these deer to stop bothering you, you need to work correctly. Increase credibility, client base, have confirmation of your skills in the form of certificates or public projects.
Come here, here in the "freelance" section, everything has long been considered.
skillkit.ru/blog/freelance/?utm_source=toaster