[BangPypers] [XPost][Slightly OT] Could you share your experiences about Python Freelance programming, from a programmer's perspective

[Sidu Ponnappa]

> I have a friend, who's finished his education and looking for work.
I think the first thing a grad should be looking to do is to get
better. I can't comment on the Py freelancing scene, but I will say
that if he wants to make money he probably can, but that his software
engineering skills will almost certainly suffer.

His first priority should be to get into a situation where he has
superb people to learn from. This is most easily solved by getting a
job at an interesting place with interesting people. It could also be
solved by finding a small yet popular open source project that has a
lead that knows his/her stuff and where all his commits would receive
feedback.

Either way, his focus should remain on getting better at what he's
doing or his career will almost certainly be impacted in a few years
when his peers turn out to be better engineers than he is.

Good sources of freelance work: odesk.com and elance.com

Payments in non INR currencies can be taken via Paypal (with certain
limitations) or direct wire transfers. The websites I mentioned also
provide an escrow service that can be useful when dealing with
potentially flaky clients. The important thing to remember that
freelancing is a business, and should be run as such. At a minimum,
register a sole proprietorship and get a business account with SBI.
Mixing your personal and business finances is a good way to have all
sorts of accounting and taxation problems.

Best,
Sidu.
http://c42.in
http://rubymonk.com

On Mon, Oct 31, 2011 at 5:42 PM, Vishal <vsapre80 at gmail.com> wrote:
> I have a friend, who's finished his education and looking for work.