When I began the chapter of my life as a freelance front-end web developer, I had the best of intentions, but had no idea on how it would pan out. I didn’t even know if I was even being realistic in my expectations. But looking back on the year that was, I think I can say that I made the right decision from both my personal and career perspectives.
The lessons I learned during the two years of my previous job were invaluable to me and I can look back on them with (some) fond memories. I made some great friends, who continue to influence me in a positive way and I’ll be forever grateful to them for that.
However, I felt that I wanted to be involved in meaningful work and interact with more like-minded people. The reading I was doing by the brilliant people who I follow in the web design and development industry helped me realise and aspire to a better way of working and improving the quality of work I produce. And so the decision to quit my job wasn’t an easy one to make, but in hindsight it was the right one.
People quit their boss, not their job.
— businessPATHS
I’ve been very fortunate to have made numerous connections over the years in my industry and so I’ll be the first to admit I haven’t had to go out and sell myself as such when it comes to finding new work. The projects that I have worked on have been, in my opinion, ones where I feel I could make a difference, or at the very least, challenge myself and solve new problems. Or where the people I worked with were more or less on the same page as me. I think that is one of the most important things I’ve tried to stick to this year. You aren’t doing yourself or your client any favours if you have completely different values when it comes to the work you’re needing to do.
As is often the case, there have been both good and not so good projects I’ve been involved in this year. But most importantly, the lessons I’ve learnt in whilst trying to be better at what I do and to avoid making the same mistakes has been my biggest area of growth. And this doesn’t only apply to writing better code, or designer nicer interfaces. It applies to making better business decisions, understanding needs and requirements better, as well as interacting with people in a better, more humane way than what is so often the case.
Whilst I feel I’ve learnt and grown a lot over these past 12 months, it’s made me realise just how much more I can still learn, not only by myself, but from others too.
Here’s to the next 12 months…