The Lady Programmer

I’ve often asked myself why there are so many “normal” bloggers who like to rant about their wackiness. It is uncommon for me to see “crazy” and “twisted” as their blog’s tagline. I am tempted to maintain my own senseless blog too. I am hoping that a psychologist would come to help me understand why there are so many writers who like to label their blogs as “eccentric”, because when I start to read their blog posts I am more convinced that they are otherwise.

the crazy side of me

I am a huge fan of Reader’s Digest and I have subscribed to their magazines for several years. Now, RD is reaching out to online readers and I am glad that they still have those all-time favorite Reader’s Digest Laughs. Along with that are some of my favorite articles on personality and self-development. One of the topics that caught my eye is Are You Normal or Nuts?

This article provides a good understanding about the common habits that people think are “out of this world”? I am a shy person and I am often afraid that others would hear me. I got the habit of not speaking out online – for fear that others would look at me as stupid. I had to admit, I am sometimes faced with the fear of communicating to new clients through chat. Even speaking through voice conversation evokes fear in me, because I do not like the client to think of me as a stupid person during a Skype or Yahoo chat.

I am happy that RD reached to me with this Are You Normal or Nuts? article to help me understand that I am still a normal person with bouts of madness. Do you think I’m insane when you see me avoiding all the cracks and spaces on the sidewalk?

Friendster is definitely a big hit here in Asia, over MySpace and Facebook accounts. I find more Philippine companies and local celebrities putting up and maintaining their own Friendster profiles and other accounts. Almost everyone that I meet asks me for my own Friendster profile. I think that David Jones, Friendster USA vice-president for marketing, made a good decision to direct efforts here in Asia than competing with MySpace and Facebook.

photo credit: SwedishMel (SXC)

I had been keeping my Friendster profile for several years after a friend introduced me to it. I got tired of updating it, but I decided not to take it off. Now, almost everyone has an account – at least for those who are computer literate. It is also common for me to meet guys even at their 40s with their own Friendster account.

I tweaked my new Facebook account yesterday and I had to admit that it is a lot better than Friendster – especially if you are a blogger. One thing I like is that I get to have my profile updated from various feeds like my posts at this blog, my StumbleUpon and Digg reviews, YouTube accounts and a lot others. I like its connectivity with other designs. I just hope Friendster would catch up on this and would not miss the growing number of English bloggers. It could be a lot tiring to be maintaining a lot of profiles around the web.

This ABS-CBN News Online article says a lot about their efforts in Asia. Friendster is still hot in the Philippines. I do not think it users will be convinced to switch to other networking sites and leave their hours-worked profiles and friends in Friendster.

If you’re a Postie, then share this great news!

Not everyone can find success in freelance jobs. I observed that many freelancers started out by working for employers and gaining years of experience and expertise doing that job. I could just count a few who started out as talented student freelancers – I really have both my thumbs up for earning using their talents while still studying the lessons that will launch their career.

For everyone who has just embarked into the freelance world, do you have the skills that clients are looking for?

Freelance projects are often needed because of various reasons. A company may decide to outsource jobs because they cannot justify hiring another person to do a transient project. Sometimes skills are needed for an unrelated function in one’s department – for example, an additional programmer might be needed to compose a comprehensive program related to engineering. Even other freelancers want to outsource other freelancers to do extra work for them or to complete a project where they do not have enough time or skill to accomplish.

Questions to Ponder

Look into what the market is looking for. Is there are constant demand for web developers? What are the chances of an SPSS expert to find freelance jobs that can give sustain a regular income? What are the skills that I still needed to cope up with such jobs? Can I learn a specific skill quickly to cater to the online freelance job demand?

If there is no job demand then it could be the end of one’s career. Being able to keep attuned to the latest job demand trends will surely help in keeping a freelancer putting in a constant stream of income in his pocket.

photo credit: marc87401 (SXC)

How to Find the Hottest Freelance Jobs

The hottest online freelance jobs are often easier to determine than finding work offline. There are many freelance sites that present a set of jobs. There are skills that are always in demand in one way or another. Writing jobs would not get outdated and I think this will even grow as online users base is growing. Web design and programming jobs often need skills enhancement, but the opportunities for this kind of job is always plentiful.

Finding offline jobs is often a challenge but I still think that it is possible to see the demand. Do networking – ask from friends, colleagues, acquaintances, former office mates, organizations and other contacts about possible extra jobs. Many companies need a temporary extra hand without needing to hire other people.

Are you a freelancer? Share your thoughts.

One thing that I like most about freelance sites is that I get to select my clients and select the jobs that I like to work with. A new freelancer is often faced with this question: what is the most suitable pricing for projects?

Where to Base My Price

In oDesk, one thing that I like about their online job marketplace is their oConomy. I can use this graphical data to base my hourly pricing on jobs. I could easily see what others are typically charging on their jobs through their charts. Unfortunately not all job marketplaces do not have such statistics to base one’s hourly rate or fixed bid price for a particular work.

Image credit to Mical Drushal

These are some factors that I have defined for establishing pricing of one’s services:

1. Market price of similar freelancers. If the graphical data is not available, then look into a selected group of freelancers in the job marketplace that you are with and establish your price.
2. Job experience. Generally, if one is new to freelance jobs, bid rates go a bit lower than those group who had worked with several freelance jobs.
3. Location. This is one of that is mostly debated in online job marketplace forums. Freelancers from emerging economies such as India and the Philippines often bid lower than those freelancers from mature economies like Australia and the US. The overhead expenses of doing a job in emerging economies are often lower than those freelancers who are live in mature economies.
4. Project difficulty. Freelancers should be careful on this one especially if the project will be given in a fixed rate. Some projects are easy, but there are some that are difficult. Do similar research in other projects: what are the typical rates that are awarded on such freelance projects? Work on that pricing to establish your own base price.
5. Job competition. This is a lot like to the law of supply and demand in economics. Are you competing with other freelancers? If you do not have much competition then it is possible to put a higher price on the job. Remember that online freelance job marketplaces allow the client to “buy” services which is similar to buying products in the market.

Pricing one’s services is indeed critical in getting noticed. It is easier to “copy” off another freelancer’s price but remember that clients often shop for the best deal. They want to get the best freelancer to work on their project at the most reasonable price.

What’s your price?

A freelancer’s profile is not something to ignore. This is the main document where clients need to see the overall skill of a freelancer. New freelancers often make the mistake of not filling up their profiles in their haste to get the first job. Buyers would not invest their funds on some freelancer who has nothing on his profile.

Learn how to create a great profile that catches the attention of clients.