How to get started as a Flutter freelancer

First of all, the job market is tough for developers at the moment.

And especially so for Flutter devs. React Native is still very strong with big companies and there are only so many start-ups. And the problem with start-ups is that they always struggle with money.

A little background about me

4 1/2 years ago, I started building my first Flutter app. Here is a link.

I loved it from the get go.

So, half a year later I just quit my job and thought ‘This is easy, I just freelance now’.

By then, I had roughly 2 years of experience as a native Android and iOS dev. Had a bachelors degree.

But the search was hard. I mostly used Upwork. Applied and applied. Went down with my hourly rate. And then, almost 2 months after quitting my job I found a project for $20 per hour. Which is about minimum wage in Austria.

I had to throw out my ego and sell myself under my perceived value.

Let’s get one thing out of the way.

You want to work as a freelancer and not as an employee. There is a difference. Freelancers can earn way more. Hence, they need to have more expertise.

If you want to work as a Flutter freelancer, you need to have one app published yourself. For iOS and Android.

The now

Nowadays I’m lucky, recruiters and companies find me.

• My online presence is good

• and I have a good portfolio

How I hire on Upwork

Here is an old job post.

• I’d say 50% of the applications will not include any code, although I explicitly asked. I will not look at these applications at all.

• Some applications will include links to apps without specifying what they did there. Or if they worked on it in a team or not. These will also not be white-listed.

  • If you have developed your own app, you will be preferred.

• I give the best 2-3 applicants a paid task. Here is such a task.

  • I usually cap it at 3h, knowingly that the devs won’t finish it. But I want to see how they prioritize their work.

Your application

• A short introduction. Here is an example.

  • Hey I’m Joe. 35y old, living in Vienna. I have a bachelors degree in software-engineering. 8y of dev experience, with the last 4 1/2 years as a full-time Flutter dev.

• Have a portfolio.

  • This is the most important thing. As I said before. You want to work as a freelancer. That means you need to show some expertise.

  • Here, add the tech stack for the projects you did. e.g. state-management, routing package, code generation, backend used. Here is my portfolio.

• Show your Github account. People will judge how active you are. Developing in your free time is a big plus.

• Think about your hourly rate. Yes, you can work remotely, but the cost of living in Austria compared to India are different. You need to take that into consideration and probably won’t get the same pay.

Bonus: The don’ts

• Don’t try to look up my name from old posts or similar. I’m not hiring for a sales job. If I want to state my name, I will.

• If applicants don’t read the description properly. Just save both of us some time.

If you want you, you can leave your application in the comments and I will take a look.

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