It had been 9 years and a half working as a full-time employee on a permanent basis, before I decided it was about time to try something new. 3 years before that, the lack of time flexibility, the dependence on a boss and on a company that I do not own, and the monotony of the 9-5 daily routine, began to haunt me. For this reason, the modality of working as a freelancer started to become an increasingly attractive alternative. It was not until December 2015 that I finally accumulated enough courage to forsake the security my full-time job provided to embark on the freelancing boat.
That was easier said than done. Full-time permanent jobs come with the sugar of security to which it is easy to get addicted. However, after becoming a freelancer, I cannot imagine myself going back. More than the typical benefits such as added time flexibility, less commuting time, and being able to work remotely, it is the opportunity to develop discipline. As a freelancer, one is in better control of their lives and that is priceless. Having the power to direct my business to my own vision is a new experience I am discovering as a freelancer.
This however came at a cost: the last job I had to quit before becoming a freelancer was the best I’ve experienced, with the highest salary I’ve had, the most humane colleagues and a wonderful company atmosphere. But as they say, “There is no such thing as a free lunch“, meaning that nothing comes without a cost. I’m just happy to admit that the rewards have outweighed the costs, by far.
Fortunately, the same company, Brainlab AG, for which I was working before becoming a freelancer became my first customer. It was wonderful to know how they valued my work and insisted on continuing to work together. My freelancing business was having a solid start. Such contract had a 6 month period, which ended on June. Since then, some small gigs have appeared here and there, mostly for website development. However, my aim is to secure 2 to 4 valuable long-term customers. My next step was to try with international freelancing websites such as Upwork.com and Freelance.com. Such websites however did not cater to my aim; a screening process is practically inexistent so any freelancer can freely claim to be the best, and many of the potential customers therein are nonserious private individuals. So I thought the corporate customers and interesting startups with serious projects worthy to work with have to be in websites with adequate and diligent screening processes.
I then remembered that a good friend, who is very selective to what he suggests, mentioned me Toptal.com not long ago. Hence such website had to be good, and indeed it is. The site claims to work with the market‘s top 3% of freelancers, which is actually plausible given their diligent screening process. They actually interview the potential freelancers, test their coding skills, even offering them the possibility to show a blog post regarding the candidate’s motivation to join Toptal (which you are reading now by the way). I became convinced that this was the kind of site I wanted to work with: clients know that the freelancers in their pool are indeed talented, and will be more willing to initiate long-term stable relationships, better appreciating their skills. This is what I am going for.
My drive to be part of the Toptal Software Developers Community is such that I paused my application in order to first develop my own business website and refine my coding skills, to afterwards continue with a more attractive application. Developing such website was actually in my plans already; however, the timing was by then ideal. Next week I will be interviewed by one of their communication specialists. My wish is that Toptal and I work together so that my skills benefit those of their customers that need them.
