What are the websites for Online Freelance Electronics Projects to earn money?

[Dhanushka]

Hi,

I have 3 years of experience in electronics. Also I have a little laboratory including scope, function generator, bench power supply etc. So, I am looking for an advice to find online freelance electronics projects to earn money.

I am using fiver platform, but it is very competitive and requests are cheap. Also, fiver buyers are not totally coming from industry, a half as I think from undergraduates to do their homework and FYPs.

So, I really appreciate if someone can give me an advice (pathway/freelancing websites/websites specially for electronics freelancing etc.) to find some good jobs as freelancing.

Sorry for if I have mention this wrong question in this category. But I think, people are here know the right advice.

Thanks

[Alex Eisenhut]

Good luck!

[RoGeorge]

Freelancing has a bad reputation, and it won't get you any money.  Totally not worth doing that, IMO.  I'll recommend to stay away from freelancing, and try to get a permanent job.

Also, do not put the word "freelancer" in your resume.  If you do freelancing just to put that in your resume, better do some projects for yourself instead, something you like or need for your lab.  Post those projects somewhere, then add them as work experience.  That will really i9ncrease your chances at an interview, will be much better than writing that you worked as a freelancer.

[nctnico]

Freelancing has a bad reputation, and it won't get you any money.  Totally not worth doing that, IMO.  I'll recommend to stay away from freelancing, and try to get a permanent job.

Sorry, but that is completely wrong. I have been freelancing full-time for almost 12 years already and before that part-time that since I graduated. You can definitely make a good living from it but you'll need to build up contacts to get customers. A good start would be to put an advertisement in the 'work wanted' section on this forum and see where it goes. But then again, freelancing is not very everyone just as a permanent job is not something for me. I have worked at nice companies and have had really nice jobs (don't get me wrong) but it never felt like something I'd want to do until retirement.

[strawberry]

If "freelancer" is a ill word then replace it with "my project"

[oz2cpu]

please also read this link

https://www.indeed.com/career-advice/career-development/freelancer-vs-consultant

Dhanushka you say 3 years experience with electronics ?
do you have any education with a certificate in the field of electronics ?
or is your level self taught from playing with your own hobby projects ?

don't get me wrong, some homebrewer dudes show very impressive levels of skills,
but it takes a bit more than 3 years impress someone like me or a potential customer
with good money ready to pay for your talent.

also be sure the Dunning–Kruger Effect is not going to take you by surprise

[analityk]

I have 8 years experience in electronics, from full time service to full time constructor (mostly remote) and even have some good equipment at home (including room especially for me). As long as I can work mostly remote I can't imagine how I should work like freelancer. Now I have full time job, work under extremely demanded devices and really I have not expect someone from free space can join to us. Not because you know more or less but because our work is under some like nda conditions. Working like freelancer you are closed for many offers. I will not say it have to be boring, in World there are many fields where electronic engineers can work, but you should remember about that some fancy jobs you have to not reach.
Everything depends.

[b_force]

Freelancing has a bad reputation, and it won't get you any money.  Totally not worth doing that, IMO.  I'll recommend to stay away from freelancing, and try to get a permanent job.

Sorry, but that is completely wrong. I have been freelancing full-time for almost 12 years already and before that part-time that since I graduated. You can definitely make a good living from it but you'll need to build up contacts to get customers. A good start would be to put an advertisement in the 'work wanted' section on this forum and see where it goes. But then again, freelancing is not very everyone just as a permanent job is not something for me. I have worked at nice companies and have had really nice jobs (don't get me wrong) but it never felt like something I'd want to do until retirement.

I think you're right, but it also really depends what kind of "freelance" work you do.
I also don't get where the bad reputation comes from (you can always replace it for contractor btw).
There are some extremely skilled people in the freelance business.

If you can find your niche, it pays an awful lot more than a regular 9-5 job.
Especially in the fields of FPGA, RF or like DDR4/DDR5 computing designs.

Thanks to Covid as well as the current chip shortages, this can sometimes also change drastically.

The main difference is that as a freelancers or one man business, you also have to carry the hat of the marketeer, administration and sales departments. Unless your in such a lucky niche that customers almost automatically will come to you.

It happens, but it's not standard.


But yeah, there is actually great lack of any good websites or communities for freelancers.
Even finding another freelancer or contractor to do work for, or ask for work that are in the same mindset seems almost impossible sometimes.
Often people who basically live next to each other, don't seem to be aware of each other's existence even.

[bomp]

All good answers, good to hear from all the experienced people.

Be sure you have insurance, if somebody gets hurt from the final
product they can claim it was due to a bad design.

K

[b_force]

All good answers, good to hear from all the experienced people.

Be sure you have insurance, if somebody gets hurt from the final
product they can claim it was due to a bad design.

K

This is part of another topic about the legalities around copyrights, but for things like this, a contract is also the answer.
Although in most cases, the company who is selling the product is legally liable at first obviously.
The same goes for being compliant with CE, UL, FCC and/or other (safety) standards.

[DC1MC]

Hi,

I have 3 years of experience in electronics. Also I have a little laboratory including scope, function generator, bench power supply etc. So, I am looking for an advice to find online freelance electronics projects to earn money.

I am using fiver platform, but it is very competitive and requests are cheap. Also, fiver buyers are not totally coming from industry, a half as I think from undergraduates to do their homework and FYPs.

So, I really appreciate if someone can give me an advice (pathway/freelancing websites/websites specially for electronics freelancing etc.) to find some good jobs as freelancing.

Sorry for if I have mention this wrong question in this category. But I think, people are here know the right advice.

Thanks

Hello,
while some people have given good advice, I don't see many actual sites mentioned, so I will try to answer your question, but a word of caution: you will not get rich or even comfortable well executing projects posted on those sites. What you will get is a bit of cash and experience dealing with customers, project requirements, avoiding scammers and some other useful real-life skills.

So, without further ado, here are the sites that I know off with a short description from me (IMMV):

freelancer.com - the 300 pound gorilla of freelancing sites, formerly rentacoder.com, there you can get the most projects, sometimes crazy demented (hacking medical devices) sometimes very interesting. Lots of competition (the first few projects are hard to get, after you've got some good reputation, it becomes easier).

guru.com - a newer site jumping on the gig economy bandwagon, there are some embedded and electronics projects active.

peopleperhour.com - mostly general programming, but now and then some embedded projects appears.

https://www.upwork.com/services/search?nbs=1&q=embedded - formerly odesk.com, also have some embedded projects, trying hard to get a piece from freelancer.com.

If anyone knows more sites, feel free to contribute.

 Cheers,
 DC1MC

[bidrohini]

Open an account at www.freelancer.com. There are lots of electronics, Arduino, Raspberry pi based works. 

[helenbish]

It seems to me that there are a lot of such projects on the Internet. And of course diversity is a good thing like diversity with playing games by this useful link . But I would like to know more about which sites are worth trusting. And which ones are not. But in general the topic is quite relevant at the moment.

[Doctorandus_P]

I don't feel the negative sentiment towards freelancing as RoGeorge does. For finding a job (either regular of freelancing) a resume which shows your experience and capabilities is important, and the best way to do that is to build your own website and present your own projects.

Getting the first few customers is probably the biggest hurdle. After you've found a few customers they hopefully come back for more projects, so treat your customers well.

A big problem is defining what the customer wants, and what the limits are. A customer may not be aware of the limits (and strong points) of software and electronics. It's also quite common that they don't even know what they want. They have some vague idea and have not filled in the details. This does not have to be a problem, but you have to be aware of this and make clear specifications during negotiations, and write them down. It happens far to often a customer changes his mind and wants to change or add things halfway during a project. Make it clear that such changes cost extra time, need a re-negotiation and that all comes at a cost. (Unless you get paid by the hour for an indefinite time...)

It may be a good idea to design and build something for a friend or family, and then playfully treat it as a real job negotiation. (That means, don't build the gadget you want, but build it as they want it). This will get you some experience in getting specifications clear and negotiating requirements and setting limits. This experience will probably also boost your self confidence when a real negotiation pops up, and this self confidence is likely to improve the impression you leave behind.

[bidrohini]

I will keep www.freelancer.com on top of the list. lots of Arduino and microcontroller-based jobs are available there. You will find many clients from your own and neighbouring countries. That is more comfortable of course. Since you are interested in earning money from electronics skills, I think you may find this blog post helpful:  https://www.theengineeringprojects.com/2022/12/electronics-diy-projects-to-improve-work-from-home.html

[Berni]

Actually making some good money with freelancing is difficult but possible.

You have to build up a regular customer base that keeps you on board for the bigger/longer projects. To get the good customers you also need to have some sort of online presence that shows off your skills in the field. For example this forum is pretty good at showing up in serach results so you can for example use your forum signature to promote your freelancing business (and link to your website or something)

The easy path is to simply get a regular engineering job in the relevant field. No problem with putting freelancer on your resume. If you never had a job before you absolutely should put it on as it looks a lot better than saying you never had a job before. Use the freelance work to demonstrate your competence. Talk about all the things you created while working as one. Once you do get an invitation to an in person interview make sure to bring stuff. Throw all the PCBs and projects and stuff you made into a bag and dump them on the table at the interview. Bring lots of photos/videos/screenshots of your work on a phone or tablet. This is what makes you look impressive at an interview and tells the interviewer that this person can get useful stuff done from day 1.

So just do some cool projects and post all about them over the internet. Even if they don't help you land some nice freelancing deals, you can still use them to look impressive at a job interview. But most importantly you learn the most from doing projects.

Most important of all is to have fun doing it to keep your enthusiasm for electronics alive.

EDIT:
Also you will hilariously underestimate the amount of work for your first freelance projects, so you likely won't even make minimum wage on them. But over time you learn how to better budget the time and effort it takes to complete a project.