Why FREELANCING is just another word for FREEDOM

As a software engineer you cannot expect (or be expected) to stay in the same organisation for too long, the problem with staying too long is that you get limited exposure to new and different technologies.

The problem: This not only limits your knowledge base, but can also have a huge impact on your future.

The solution: FREELANCING.

We are lucky to live in a world where more and more companies are open to the idea of having someone work remotely.
This is great for us in the software business because you can literally do work for companies all over the globe while sitting in your garage.

A lot of developers don't want to give up the stability of a full-time job for the "uncertainty" of contracting, but what they don't realize is that this is really one of the few times where you CAN have your cake and eat it too!

Office hours kind of become irrelevant when you do freelancing, which is good for anyone in a full-time position because it means that you have the freedom to do contracting work after hours.

I'm sure that every software developer out there eventually wants to be their own boss, and contracting is a great way to get started.

Doing great work will quickly earn you a good reputation and companies are very aware of how difficult it is to get good contractors.
As soon as you establish a good relationship with a company you can be sure that they will extend your contracts or at least come back to you when they have more work.

I have done a good amount of freelancing work in the past, most of them via word of mouth, but the problem with finding new contracts online is that you are competing with substandard developers who might charge less per hour but do terrible work.

A friend of mine then suggested that I register with TopTal. TopTal has verification procedures in place to make sure that developers have a good standard of coding. This means that companies trust the developers more and as a result are willing to pay a more than work you find on other freelancer sites.

So what I learned today is that TopTal is not only good for your pocket, but for your career too!