Ask HN: Beginning freelance web developer: no clients - portfolio?

26 points

15 years ago

A short introduction: I'm a programmer with appr. 8 years of experience mainly in desktop C/C++ apps, currently trying to become freelance web developer. 3 months ago I started my intensive (at least to my standards) study of web development with the goal to become "free" and work from home, with my own schedule, etc...

Since I'm constantly reading that a freelance web developer without online portfolio of websites/apps developed for previous clients is a big No-No, I was wondering how to get away with this chicken-and-egg problem of having no clients <-> having no projects done for clients.

My plan so far is to deploy my websites/projects that I'm currently developing (and will develop) to my personal site and use them as a "fake" projects with the idea that they are actually "real-world". Let me explain a bit about what projects I'm planning to develop:

1. E-Commerce site

* Features: product catalog (departments, categories), product attributes and images, product reviews and recommendations, admin panel, shopping cart, customer/user accounts, ordering pipeline, credit card transactions (DataCash, Authorize.net), amazon.com web services

* Technologies: PHP (from scratch - in order to learn), MySQL (stored procedures), Smarty templates, AJAX (shopping cart updates), keyword-rich URLs (from scratch).

2. Community site for people with shared interests (let's say books)

* PHP + Zend framework (mainly to learn how to develop an app from scratch with Zend), Unit testing (PHPUnit), JavaScipt (jQuery), Web services (amazon, google calendar, youtube)

3. Another E-Commerce site

* This time developed with Zend Framework for the learning experience

4. Custom CMS

* Zend Framework

5. Music mashup app

* Zend Framework, Web services (RSS, amazon, youtube)

6. Blogging app

* Zend Framework, JavaScript (prototype, scrip.aculo.us), Smarty templates, Image gallery, Google Maps

My plan: From these, the #1 (the e-commerce site from scratch) is 2/3 done, I'm learning a ton... With the help of a good friend (and beginner web designer), we'll beautify the site, but we're wondering what kind of e-shop (regarding the types of products) is most suited for a portfolio in order to impress future clients?

The million-dollar questions:

* What do you guys think of my plan for getting complete applications and experience in my portfolio?

* Which of the above projects that I've planned would you scrap, or which would you prefer?

* What about Drupal: does it worth it to create a couple of full-featured (a restaurant site, image gallery, job board, etc.) (but still "fake") sites with it in order to show that I have these skills. Or generally, developing with Zend+JS as a sort of "specialization" will be more viable for my goals?

It is essential to NOTE that I plan to start bidding for projects on the freelance site (elance, odesk, etc.) and use my "fake" portfolio of home made projects in order to get work.