More advice about becoming a freelance Perl programmer

[Peter Corlett]

On Wed, Mar 06, 2013 at 04:34:30PM +0000, AJ Dhaliwal wrote:
[...]
> I hope someone can kindly help me with these questions
> 1) How can I go about finding work?

Don't typecast yourself as a Perl developer, as that just limits what roles you
can do. If you can do Perl, you can quickly pick up Python or Ruby, for
example. (Or Scala if the JVM/.NET is your kink.)

Sign up with the job boards. Jobserve and CWJobs have been the most useful for
me. Jobsite and "Careers 2.0" from Stack Overflow haven't found me anything
useful yet, but are low-effort. Monster was a spam magnet and an utter waste of
time. Consider using tagged email addresses so you can see where the leads are
coming from, or at least don't sign up with your primary email address.

Find other tech groups that may be relevant, such as GLLUG and DJUGL. Join the
lists, go to the meet-ups, and network. London.pm has a social tomorrow, and as
a newcomer you get a free drink. Now there's an incentive!

> 2) What should I charge per hour?

How long is a piece of string? Look at the advertised rates on the job boards
for roles that fit your skillset, and adjust to taste.