In 2019, I took a React course. It lasted about 2 months. At that time, I had absolutely no work, and I thought that after completing this course, I would start working in Frontend. At that time, I was looking for work on the Kwork freelance exchange. Now it only evokes negative emotions. The work there is literally “for bread.” But I had no choice.
On Kwork, I started working with one of the clients. He had a startup, and he wanted to create some service for advertisers. Something like an analytical service. I agreed to work with him as a frontend developer. There was also a backend developer who created the API. As you can guess, I started working on React for this. We agreed to work 4 hours a day with an hourly rate of $4, which at that time was about 300-350 rubles.
I started working the first week. Everything was pretty good. The client liked everything. Anyone who has done anything in frontend or just in some kind of development understands that it is impossible to develop something in 4 hours a day. This is just some kind of start and a minimal prototype. During that week, such a minimal prototype was created that already did something. I got my money for this week.
I started working the second week, some work was also done, and a starting UI was created. Yes, we worked without any precise prototype or design. We were displaying information based on search and examples of advertising, as we were creating an advertising service. The second week was successful, and I got my money.
On Monday of the following week, I received a message that they would no longer continue working with me. It was quite strange to me. Everything seemed great. In the message, I read that the client had found a new frontend who had done all the work on Vue that I had done in 2 days off. I just didn’t believe it. It was quite difficult emotionally. Was I such a bad developer that someone did in 2 days what I did in 2 weeks? I couldn’t believe it. It was certainly difficult.
Since I had the site URL, I could see how the new frontend had done everything so quickly. And, of course, to my surprise, it was my code that I had done in 2 weeks. I had access, so I saw it. No Vue at all. I immediately informed my client that it was impossible to do this work in 2 days and said that my code had been used. He gently stated that I was just not competent enough and was jealous of the “expertise” of the new frontend developer.
From an emotional point of view, I was quite offended at that moment. Now I understand that I did everything right. Yes, it wasn’t perfect, but it was workable. I felt that after hard work for 2 months, I couldn’t do anything in React, or I was doing it incredibly slowly. When this is your only income, when there is no alternative, it is quite stressful to lose your last earning opportunity.
After that, I followed the URL of this project for a few more weeks (although, in truth, I visited this URL every day). The project stopped at what was done in those “incredible weekend”. I don’t know what happened after that; I forgot about this project.
What conclusions did I draw from this work? Not only you can be a beginner in your business, but also the client. He may not understand or have inflated expectations. I don’t blame this client; he fulfilled all his obligations to me. He paid everything as agreed. I also understand that if a project does not have money to start, then its owner probably does not fully understand what is happening. When you go into something like this, there is a high percentage of inadequacy towards you.
In such a situation, it is easy to lose the motivation to move on. My main mistake in this story is that you don’t need to lose your source of income until you have achieved a good knowledge in a new business. This is very important. I had a job at a factory. Yes, I didn’t like it, but it gave me a steady income.
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