Contracting at 15? 😎
Before 1 month ago, I thought that I wouldn't be able to get hired as a web dev contractor, but now that I have, it's actually very interesting!
I got hired to implement a redesign of a sleep 😴 website.
Now that I've got hired, I can tell you this:
- Push yourself out of your comfort zone
- Don't let "age" define what you can accomplish
- Take the time you have during quarantine and teach yourself a profitable skillset 📈.
Anyways, just thought I'd share something interesting with you.
Comment below 👇 your thoughts on working as a contractor.
Congratulations Josh! I did my first contract job at 15 too, very underpaid, but so rewarding. Never stopped since (I'm 31 now). Godspeed!
Thanks man! I'll keep it up
I'm currently building a site for my dad's friend who sells custom Porsche parts and I'm 14.
That's interesting, what languages are you using?
It's a very simple site so I'm just using vanilla HTML, CSS, and JavaScript. I debated using Gatsby but decided to keep it as simple as I possibly could. There's no backend as it's essentially just a brochure site.
Let me know if you need any help 😎
I think I got this. Thanks for the offer tho.
Josh this is how I started too. My brother and I built a website for a printer ink supply store. When we were done they wrote us a cheque without running it past their CEO. We got a phone call to say the CEO hated what we had made and they were cancelling the $600 cheque, but luckily by that time we had already spent the money on Lego and pentium CPUs.
Our second site was for an accountancy firm. We had to take head shots of the accountants and this was hard because one of them had not smiled for four decades and it physically hurt him to do so. Nonetheless that million-dollar-revenue firm kept our 90s era website until some ridiculously late year like 2015 or something.
Today I still work for myself. I do a bunch of super interesting software development and CTO consulting jobs for different clients. I get to spend a lot of time tinkering on indie hacks and open source software. It's a good time!
Congrats! I hope it's the beginning of something great for you!
Thank you!
How did you land the client?
My close relative knew I was a web dev and they asked if I could help and I said: "Yes"
🙌🙌
Respect!
I remember trying the same thing at your age, I let my own lack of self confidence get in the way and thought nobody would take me seriously. Ugh, what a waste!
I ended up graduating university with a degree in Physics, about 7/8ths through I realized I wouldn't be able to find a well paying job with just a physics degree and started teaching myself to become a backend engineer - Scored my top choice "big tech" job. In hindsight - How was that any different then what I was doing at 15 ?! 🤦♂️
Keep at the hustle!
Inspiring story! What I realized is having web dev and SEO skills combined is really effective when starting a business
Congrats Josh 👏! You are doing great and you've got a bright future ahead of you! 💡
Thanks Brayden!
Way to go Josh!
One thing I love about software engineering is how it doesn't care about your age very much, and many of us start really young (I was 14 when I started) and you can keep doing it until you are really old (like the legendary Donald Knuth who is 82 now!).
One thing you should do though is not reveal your age to your customers (if at all possible). That way they can't underpay you because you are a "kid" ;-)
That's helpful advice. I'll keep that into mind.
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SleepSources
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Thanks!
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