我做Freelancer

    算算日子，从开始做freelancer开始也有2个年头了。从开始是看看，到后来干上，如今是迷上了。

   记得是2007年发现一个OutSourcing网站，抱着试试看态度注册了一个用户。刚开始因为没有reviews，要想找到一个项目，哪怕是小项目都是一件困难的事。在这里倒要感谢一个India小伙，是他给了我第一个尝试机会，使用perl提取网站数据。接到这个小Case后，我立马动手，几个小时后把代码发给对方，几经修改最终他很满意。我得到了$50和一个A+++的reviews。从此，项目就不断了。有些是直接在网站上escrow,有些直接获得联系方式，money也就流到我的Paypal帐号里了。

  说起来容易，做起来难。这其中有些buyer是美国的，也有欧洲的，他们与我们有8小时甚至10几小时时差，熬到下半夜2、3点也就是常事了。所以第二天上班（我还在一个国企工作，有不错的薪水的）眼睛通红也就是家常饭了。有的buyer他们能把自己要做什么样的网站写的很清楚，细到哪儿弹出对话框，对话框长宽，哪儿跳转，哪儿使用Get还是使用Post都告诉你，遇上这样的客户你是最省心的了(当然，他们多半是IT公司的，有详细设计文档).有的干脆只告诉你给我开发网站吧，扔给你些资料，剩下的让你自己去分析，这种最累。当然啦，为了挣到些money，累就累吧。

  注意，做刚开始难，等和他们建立了长期合作关系你就容易了。项目也就多了。不过，千万不要quote 太高哦，人家外包就是图便宜，你要价高，人家就不用你了。

下面是做freelancer的一些建议：

   Do not start to work until you have developed a clear picture of the task (that means that you MUST by all means repeat the whole task in your own words each time before you start the project. That is mandatory and must ALWAYS be done! The buyer will appreciate it very much. Even so much, that you can be sure to not only win a new long-time customer - but also reduce you invested time in programming. Although it might only happen each fifth or sixth time - still... it is worth the time to ALWAYS repeat the task in detail in your own words and ask questions before you start. Understood? this means: ALWAYS! This must become a habit of yours!

1. • send a short version of the basic logic of your result before you invest into the details and ask for a feedback by the buyer.
   • agree upon timelines and provide feedback about the estimated time of delivery
2. double check if all the requirements are really met before you deliver your result
3. test the application and make sure it is working flawless
4. documentate your work after! the buyer has approved it

上面这些是一个德国人叫Stefan Brueck 建议的，我抄过来与大家共享。