I am guilty of sticking to a small group of clients that paid very well and completely stopped growing my business. I don't even have a website or business cards anymore. 2 months ago, I stopped doing work for them completely, the work was soul crushing.
My decision now, for many reasons, is to join a company even as low as a junior front end developer or growth hacker. Reasons for starting back at junior if need be:
1. My web projects have sucked over the last 3 years, I started focusing on business development and did really well for them with that also, but they hired cheap developers and the work became completely unacceptable for a portfolio. Their expectations were too high and budget too low. I had spoilt them over the years.
2. I want to work on a team again. My first time I worked for a startup, we knocked it out the park. That role was in sales. Being on a team building products and being around people again is really intriguing to me.
3. I just turned 30 and having never finished a degree (actually finishing one online for personal reasons). I feel completely lost. I have little confidence in job hunting and feel completely off my game. I'm not used to having my career in another person's hands.
Here is where I need help, but any advice or guidance would be appreciated:
- How can I get a junior front end position or growth hacking position? Should I do some mock projects for a portfolio? How many, what kind? I fell out of touch with some of the modern workflows, but have been spending all my time catching up to getting back to my A game with JS and such.
- Any suggestions on the type of roles that may be a good fit for me apart from what I mentioned?
- How do I get in front of companies and show them that I am an excellent hire?
Thanks for reading this far and I look forward to anything you guys have to offer.