Freelancing | Seth Hall

HTML5 and CSS3

January 30th, 2012 | by Seth | freelancing

Jan
30

It’s been awhile since I’ve posted but it’s for good reasons. The first month of 2012 I have already started bringing in large projects, in fact I landed my two largest projects this month since beginning on Elance back in August . These projects have allowed me to five more into HTML5, CSS3 and jQuery Mobile to develop UI’s and app like projects using new products like Silverstripe CMS. I’ll be happy when HTML5 is the standard and more browsers begin supporting it in it’s entirety as it can be a pain at times especially with mobile devices to detect older Androids and BlackBerrys that don’t support HTML5. I’ve found a few workarounds though using PHP and able to serve up different pages or views for those devices.

With HTML5 I definitely feel it’s that true “write once, run anywhere” mindset just because of the magnitude of items it can replicate and replace like Flash and Silverlight in terms of animation design. Using server-side languages along with frameworks like PhoneGap and Titanium allow apps to be made for any device and usable without a 3rd party plugin or support needing to be installed on the device. They can be ran from Linux, Windows, Mac, laptop, desktop, mobile, really any device and they operate the same through them all.

As the world progresses more to go mobile, languages like HTML5 and frameworks like PhoneGap those skills will be more in demand. So as I mentioned last time about one of my resolutions be to learn another language I’ve added another one to include HTML5.

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2012, my freelance career and resolutions

January 12th, 2012 | by Seth | freelancing

Jan
12

I’m a bit late on this but better late than never eh? We’re just two weeks into 2012 and already it’s setup to be a great year both personally and professionally. I have setup a couple resolutions that will benefit me and my career in positive ways and am adamant about achieving. The first of which is to move more into Mobile App development and not so much web. I still plan on doing mobile web development but have picked up a few Java tutorials and plan on making native apps for Android to start out with. I want to become a more rounded developer and able to take on multiple projects to stay competitive and able to market myself and my skills to the max. I’ve signed up for the Codeacademy and already through the first JavaScript lesson and had no trouble with it so anxious to continue on and learn more and how to use it. Right now my JS is kind of basic so I think Codeacademy will be a huge help.

My second resolution is to save more both for the business and myself. I currently have no bills each month besides hosting and cellphone and groceries, the necessities basically. I don’t have a car or insurance payment, I also don’t have a house payment or rent. Because of these it has allowed me to save and I’ve vowed not to buy anything that isn’t needed until I’ve built up a nice savings in my personal account and have some stored back for business expenses as well. I’m hoping my tax return will help with this so I guess we’ll see.

My third main resolution has to been pay for all debt and start knocking down student loans. As for the 10th of this month I’ve paid off $800 of debt. I’ve gotten rid of Credit Cards and paying off the ones that cost the most and working my way down to only student loan debt.

I have a few more but these three were the basic ones. I’m hoping to stick with them and not stop in a couple months like most resolutions for people go.

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Freelancing and taking vacations

December 27th, 2011 | by Seth | freelancing

Dec
27

With most students taking off for Christmas break and getting ready for the holidays and regular employees are able to take vacations as a freelancer you don’t always get that liberty. Even as a freelancer you still need to make sure you’re able to take time off, especially if you’re busy and during the holidays. I had a instance with a client who had contacted me the day for Thanksgiving to do a project for them and I agreed because it wasn’t that big of a project but I still made myself available to them. When Christmas came I promised I wouldn’t do that and would take a few days off and this year I was able to. The week before Christmas I had 4 on-going projects mostly Mobile sites and WordPress/Kentico development and I didn’t want to have to work on them to meet the deadlines. I guess I could have taken into account the holidays when giving the client a time frame but I wasn’t thinking and gave them my regular 1 week which made a couple deadlines fall on Christmas Eve.

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Staying competitive in your market and skill set

December 19th, 2011 | by Seth | freelancing

Dec
19

I’m sure as everyone is aware that sometimes even as a freelancer finding work can be troublesome at times depending on what market you’re supporting. I myself am more IT Hardware and Networking focused, I’m working on my degree in Network Administration and all of my professional experience has been with Help Desk support. When I started freelancing, I had web development, software development and IT backgrounds but I focused mainly on IT because I enjoyed it, had certifications in it and was going to school for it. Little by little I slowly got back into web and software and now the majority of my projects come from doing web design and development. Over the last few months I’ve learned the benefit of being able to adapt, learn new things and find work because I didn’t just narrow my view to IT. Read full story

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Time Management and Priorities

December 10th, 2011 | by Seth | freelancing

Dec
10

I know we’ve all had that moment when you feel super stressed and like you’re not able to get any work done? You’ve been there right? Yea, me too and this week was a great example of being able to manage my time and prioritize my projects because I finally missed a deadline. I know it would happen eventually in the world of development something can always come up and cause you to miss a deadline. I have a test this coming Monday on the 12th and I was studying for it and doing my projects which most of these week I’ve had 4 open and the one that got away from me and I missed was a PHP Timecard Form. Of course I had everything mostly done and when I tested with the client he loved it and got all excited but then came the hammer and he said “alright, there’s just one thing”. Read full story

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How to deal with bad clients

October 13th, 2011 | by Seth | freelancing

Oct
13

As most freelancers, I got into it because I could choose my own hours while picking and choosing the work I decide to take on. That part is great but sometimes you deal with people of different backgrounds, different areas and different definitions of what freelancing is. I’ve been freelancing close to month now and in that time have taken projects from Malaysia, Australia, the US and New Zealand. I hadn’t had any issues as far as project scope, payments or communication, nothing at all. The other day I took a job from a guy in Las Vegas for some PHP fixes on his website. We talked for a good 30 minutes to ensure everything was understood and it was my responsibility to resolve his PHP issues which in reality turned out he had changed hosts and didn’t re-upload everything correctly. Read full story

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