How I got started as a freelance web designer/developer.
by Palmer Huang, 11.16.2007

Hi, my name is Palmer, class of 2006, Boston University. I have a full time job I enjoy and I also do freelance web work on the side. I seldom go out looking for clients; they usually just find me on the web. I feel that I am well on my way to the career I aspire. Here I share with you, in detail some of things I learned after college that has been extremely helpful in jump starting my career.

1. Getting the experience and figuring out which field you are passionate about.

Take any job you can get, for the experience not for the pay. My major in college was graphic design. I also concentrated on digital photography at one point. Right out of college, graphic design jobs were extremely hard to get. I worked as a layout designer for a magazine. It paid next to nothing but I learned a lot about typography, which is extremely important for the web as well.
Do the best job you can on any project, even if it is a job you dislike; they will help contribute to the your limited portfolio from college. You will need the portfolio later to find the job you want.
Figure out which field is for you. For me it was easy, web design allows me to be creative but also technical. It offers interactivity, which you cannot get with print design.

What I mean is, while I was still learning web design using tables in college, that is no longer the standard in today's websites.
I find lynda.com to be a great website for learning software skills. So go ahead and subscribe, $300 a year is peanuts compared to what you spent per credit in class.
Learning is not by watching, but by doing. Have a goal in mind of what you want to accomplish with what you learned, say from lynda.com. My goal was to design and implement a decent portfolio website for myself.

Subscribing to a magazine is a great resource. But there are great free alternatives on the web as well, e.g. smashingmagazine.com, alistapart.com, etc.
Stumble! - the best tool for landing on random, cool sites of your choice. It is a firefox plugin free to download.
Start bookmarking: this is very important so that you build a database of your own, which you can refer back to for help, inspiration and updates. Rss feeds to your favorite design magazine is another great way to stay up to date and inspired.

This goes back to bookmarking; if you have your own set of resources, then you will always have something to go back to.
Do not be afraid of asking your co-workers for help. You are entry level and it is expected that they will get questions from you.

When it comes to building a portfolio site for yourself, keep two things in mind: 1. do not go crazy with the design; your site needs to be east to updated and navigate around. 2. Learn about Search Engine Optimization or SEO; this is what you need to do to get your website on search engine listings (e.g. Google, Yahoo, etc.) - how else are your clients suppose to find you?
For SEO, I recommend visiting bruceclay.com or watching the tutorial on lynda.com.
Show only your best work, not all your work: client only need one piece they like to land you a gig, do not let the mediocre work drive them away.

Spend time designing a logo for yourself.
Get your business card made if you don't have one already. Here's a cheap online source.
Design a html template for your estimates and invoices that you can send over email. Here is what mine looks like.