What was or is there a mistake when trying to go to Freelance?

Question

Freelance

Hello. The topic is traveled, but still I can not find one root problem. I'll start from the beginning.
So I'm a web developer, I consider myself a small, humble but solid junior.
I know HTML/CSS (including animations, albeit on top, responsiveness, using a grid, and of course bootstrap, foundation), php (confidently, but not ideally, of course, OOP is present), yii framework (not bad, but not thoroughly), js (surely not bad, jQuery, I write everything in CoffeeScript), I have a little command of the console, now I'm digging into angularjs, I understand the basics of mysql (I also understand relationality). It seems to be everything. I want to bring it all to the ideal, understand Unix systems, learn how to write under iOS / MacOS. I'm sure that even from the described one you can find fault with the fact that I wrote nonsense somewhere (you never know), I'm not saying that I'm straight ace, etc., so don't laugh too hard. I know how to work with Git. I try not to give out "shit code" and comment on everything.
I had development experience, but scantily tiny. First, after some searching, I found a project related to the world of real estate, and with the support of my mentor, we began to do it. At the 15% stage, the manager and the customer quarreled and it was all over. Portfolio has not been filled yet. This was all two years ago. Since then, I have written a lot “for myself”, nothing has come to an ideal or at least laconic end, since there was no such goal, there were attempts to work with firms on contracts, it’s impossible to work without a portfolio. Plus, the university takes half a day, and it’s clear that such a schedule is not enough for a large project.
I had experience working in a small business. 1 made up, I'm on the back, dis and manager. He left because they did not agree on the characters. He performed the work and coped with 85% iron.
In the future, I understand that I need to learn this for a long time, but without a normal Tim Lead or just a new partner, my experience will not begin to multiply, and no one will correct the understood and acquired knowledge and they will not be consolidated by practice.
What is the best way to start your career? Knowledge is not an ocean, but at least I am sure that there is enough of it and that it will help me to improve successfully. It is advisable not to spend money on all sorts of accounts and other nonsense. I do not understand people who ask for money for reviews on exchanges, thereby killing many people like me, for whom this is a bit of an extra expense.
Please understand correctly, and kick not much.

Answer 1

info about myself: without a portfolio, he quit his old job, not related to the web. the next day I started freelancing on fl.ru - I started with penny projects (from 50 ye per business card), there was no shortage of projects, the professional level was lower than yours. A year later, the projects were already from 500 ye for the same business cards. At the same time, I was offered the position of a programmer in a local company (I lived at that time in the regional center), in which I worked for two years, freelancing in parallel (income was equally composed of office wages and freelancing). After two years, I realized that the level of current work no longer suits me either from a professional or financial point of view (by the way, freelancing projects were already from 1000 ye), and in fact there was nowhere to go in the regional center and in two weeks I there was already an offer from a Moscow company.
Why am I doing this? Quite such a possible way: freelancing is not a dead end, you can work there; you can work in the office, gaining experience and graduating from a university (by the way, I also did it); you don’t need much mind to rush to the big city either - it’s a matter of technology.
But you shouldn’t quit programming (especially with your baggage of various knowledge) - believe me, it’s much more convenient and freer to work as a programmer in many companies than as a non-programmer)

Answer 2

If you don’t know how to work, then it’s logical to go to work in a web studio, there is a good stream to get your hands on.

Answer 3

riveting shitsites on joomla

Learn the joomla framework and rivet NOT shit sites on joomla.
Who's stopping you?

Answer 4

Write your script, anyone. If, as you say, you have a confident knowledge of JS + Yii, then it will not be difficult. Write for example a script for SEOs, or infobusinessmen or bloggers - In general, anything in a niche, offer your product / for free. If the product is of high quality, you will have orders, a lot over time.
Thus, you will get experience and customers :) Good luck

Answer 5

You have enough knowledge to start working on your own. You don't have to wait until they are perfect. Leave your contacts wherever they are looking for specialists from the field in which you want to work. Tell everyone you know what you do and say that you are ready to take orders. Usually a lot of clients come through acquaintances. And of course, do not bend the price, set it less than the market price at first.

Answer 6

While Vasya was choosing the best plugin for routing to Node.js, Petya had already completed 4 sites on Wordpress and hired an intern

If the listed skills are really available, they should be enough for normal freelancing. From a pile of text, I did not understand one thing: have you ever tried to freelance? A firm and one project are mentioned. All. Have you looked at freelance exchanges over these two years? Gained at least a minimum of reviews there so that the profile does not look like zero? Even if these are reviews for work that is loosely related to the one you plan to do.
Catch orders for business card sites, for revision, for scripting, layout. Anything you can handle and whatever suits you. Ideally, of course, to enter foreign exchanges.
And most importantly - do not miss the chances of local freelancing. There are people in every city who need a website. Solving the issue with a lone freelancer will be much cheaper and often more comfortable for them (we are talking about small and medium-sized businesses). Here, the main thing is not to be a sucker. At least in most cases. The advantage of such local freelancing is a perfectly working word of mouth. If the work is worthy, both the customer's partners and his acquaintances will want to make/update the site. The main thing is not to forget about the design, they look first of all at it.