If you want to join the Freelancing market, a good first step would be to actually understand what the market is looking for; what technologies are most sought-after, and more specifically what frameworks are freelancing projects built upon, or going to be built upon.
Getting into freelancing is hard on its own, but getting into it without understanding the market might make your job much harder in terms of either finding clients willing to understand it’s going to take a while to accommodate yourself with a certain technology, or finding projects requiring your current skillset (Depends on the individual, really).
So, after doing a bit of research into the most sought-after technologies in the Freelancing market, I was able to compile a list of 6of the most sought-after technologies that will increase your chances of getting web development gigs:
Disclaimer: The items in the list below are in no particular order, neither by popularity nor by how good they are. It’s a list that simply compiles some of the most popular technologies/languages within the freelancing web development market.
1. PHP
The mammoth of the Web, PHP is currently being used by around 77.6% out of all websites (https://w3techs.com/technologies/details/pl-php) which, I have to say, is a rather extensive use.
PHP has been around for almost 25 years and has been adopted by a lot of websites, web applications, frameworks, etc. Sure, since the early stages of the Web, PHP has started to lose some traction, as the big platforms that have once built their web applications using PHP have since changed to other languages.
However, most clients you will find on Fiverr or Upwork are unlikely to be those big platforms, but rather people have had their websites built with either vanilla PHP, a PHP framework, using a CMS based on PHP, etc.
It’s quite the variety, but as long as you know the ins and & outs of the language, you will much easier learn your way around a largely-adopted PHP framework/CMS and be able to cash in rather nicely. (Take a look at Woo-commerce, WordPress, or Laravel, as that’s what most projects you can find around the freelancing marketplaces are built upon).
2. Java
Another mammoth of the tech industry, Java is present in the majority of Android mobile applications, as well as in enterprise web applications, and has also been said to be running on 3 billion devices for 25 years now.
Most of the Java projects open on Freelancing platforms are either older web applications that require bug fixing/improvements, migrations from Java backends to some more modern alternatives (usually Golang or .NET), or the development of Mobile applications.
Whilst not the most enjoyable programming language to work with, it’s still extremely popular, both within the freelancing market, as well as in enterprise application development (Uber, Netflix, Spotify, Google, Airbnb, etc.).
Although it wouldn't be my first draft pick, as I would rather pick .NET or Express.js for backend development, Java is especially good if you want to get started in Mobile Applications development.
3. JavaScript
The language everyone loves to hate, JavaScript, is the building block of the web; without it, we wouldn’t be close to having the interactive, good-looking & performant web applications that we enjoy using every day.
Extremely popular, stellar community support, a lot of resources available for it, and a lot of demand; JavaScript really has it all.
If you want to start in Web Development, doing so with JavaScript, I really believe, is the best choice you can make. Not only is it easier to get started working with Front-End applications, but also is it easier as well, as there is more demand too.
I don’t think I can say more than what has been said so far about it. And there’s a reason for it, JavaScript is simply essential for working in the Web Development industry.
4. React
The most popular out of the trio (The other 2 being Vue.js & Angular), React is an imperative, Front-End library based on JavaScript used for building beautiful and performant user interfaces.
Developed and maintained by Facebook, React is an easy-to-use, performant Front-End framework that has been rapidly adopted by major businesses around the world (Facebook, Instagram, Airbnb, Uber, Shopify, Pinterest, Amazon, etc.).
If you’re just starting into Web Development, or you want to switch from another branch of Software Development, I would highly suggest looking at React, as it has a tremendous amount of resources, community support, and projects available to work on.
You may also check some of my previous articles, as I’ve talked rather extensively about React, as it’s my go-to choice when developing Web Applications.
5. WordPress
Although I’ve mentioned WordPress when discussing PHP, I truly believe WordPress receives a spot of its own as it has some really impressive feats and it does enjoy much more popularity than its core language, PHP.
WordPress powers somewhere around half a BILLION websites around the globe, so I would say there won’t be a shortage of WordPress professionals anytime soon.
A quick disclaimer for WordPress development is that despite it being extremely lucrative, maybe the most one on this list in terms of that, it’s also extremely competitive.
However, the best part about WordPress is that it doesn’t require that much coding, but rather finding your way around features, and it’s an especially good choice if you have a good eye for design, which makes it also easier to work with.
Sure, you can develop certain integrations, plugins, themes, etc., but at its core, WordPress development will be a no-code solution, with the possibility of extension if need be.
6. Python
Despite me not being the biggest fan of Python, it really has revolutionized the tech industry as a whole; it has abstracted away a lot of boilerplate in order to allow for easier automation, AI/ML development and improvement, and working with Big Data, and most importantly, easier access to programming for new-comers.
As you can see in the screenshot I’ve taken of the number of active projects on Upwork, Python is doing pretty well in terms of the number of open projects (10k at the time of writing), may those projects be automation scripts, ML models, NLP, Discord bots, or anything else of the sort.
Not only is Python a viable choice in today’s freelancing market, but it’s also a great language to get you roughly knowledgeable of basic programming concepts, as well as some design patterns; after all, that’s why it was created in the first place.
Moreover, Python proves to be a great choice if you’d like to join onto the high-paying AI/ML industry.
Final Word
All of the above-listed technologies are some of the most popular ones, picked by me in terms of my personal choice as well. For example, I could’ve included Shopify as well, as it’s a rather popular framework (Around 7000 open projects at the time of writing) but I truly believe working with WordPress or developing frontends with React would be a much better choice.
If you have enjoyed reading this article, you can also support me by buying me a coffee here.
Cheers!
Also Published here