I have been a software engineer for more than 10 years. From coding in C++ on Win32 platforms to creating web applications on the latest MVC platforms, I have been a part of various platforms, languages and technologies between them. Between working for Fortune 100 companies to tiny bootstrapped startups, I have seen the ups and downs and craziness of every kind of software company.
But somewhere in the middle of all of this, I was attracted to the idea of freelance software development. It was not about the idea of working by the ocean with a martini in hand and a laptop to boot. My expectations were lot more down to earth. I wanted the freedom and flexibility of a freelance job and the opportunity to contribute on multiple projects across various technical domain for different companies. I wanted to be able to unshackle myself from the rigors of a 9 to 5 job
So I began looking around, talking with friends in this field, reading everything from Quora posts to random blogs by industry veterans. Everybody had an opinion on this subject and one thing I kept hearing often was getting the first break-through. I tried dabbling in sites like Elance and ODesk. Early on I found that the quality of the projects available on these sites and the process of bidding for those pretty much shut out many good quality developers. It seemed like a race to the bottom and I was not keen on participating in one.
So as the cliche goes, one thing led to another and I found myself on the Toptal site. The first thing that caught my attention was their blog where I found genuine developers, UX designers sharing their insights on topics that I could resonate with. The blog definitely made me feel at home. It did not look like a auction site where the only thing that mattered was how low you could bid. Secondly the promise that Toptal would help me find projects was a big winner for me since my previous experience on sites like Elance, ODesk, freelancer.com etc were pretty negative on this front. Being part of the Toptal Web freelancers community gave me the confidence that I could break into this new territory of freelance dev
I am definitely looking forward to a fruitful partnership with Toptal and contributing my mite to various projects around the world.
Straight from the gut! 