Miroslav Belicak – Software Developer

M

A personal website and detailed profiles in social networks are the nuts and bolts for freelancers! At least if you believe in the words of an experienced freelancer who’s in the industry since years. We are introducing Miroslav Belicak, a freelance Software Developer from Slovakia. Within a short interview we have pumped Miroslav Belicak for information about how and why to start a freelancing career. Do you also feel like starting a freelancing career? Get inspired by Miroslav Belicak…1) First off, can you tell us bit about yourself? 

My name is Miroslav Belicak, I come from Slovakia (EU). I work as a software developer since almost ten years. During this time I have worked on many interesting projects from different areas like enterprise systems, economic, industry, and many others. Software development is my hobby (beside the development for my employers I´ve created two startup projects in addition). With freelancing I started 5 years ago.  

2) If you would search for your profile on Google, which are the three keywords you would type in the search bar? 

It would be: Integra Server Solution. Using these keywords you´re able to find my profile at my personal website oelsoft.com

3) What was your inspiration and when did you actually decide to become a freelancer? 

There were several reasons behind my decision to become a freelancer. The main reason was option for total management of my work. If you work as a team leader (as I worked before) you cannot be as flexible as a freelancer due to internal relations of the given company (you often have to change your plans because of your supervisors and many other factors…). Another reasons important for me to be a freelancer are: freedom for setting up your working mode (especially from time deployment viewpoint), ability to make your own whole decisions without external interventions, direct communications with target customers, no frictions at workplace, and naturally better price offer for the firms and so better pay for me. 

4) What kind of services have your clients asked you to provide? 

Most demands are related to the modification of existing software and to the development of the new ones. There are also requirements for architecture designs in UML for other developers, analytical services, and consultations. I like building the applications from scratch most of all. 

5) Do you use other freelancers or companies to provide skills that you don’t possess? 

Of course, in the case of need. Almost every project has beside cost budget the time calculation as well. In case of unpredictable circumstances (e.g. additional requirements or demand for foreign technology use in some part of application) you obviously have to invite other freelancer in order to make your customer satisfied. Other freelancer can know the technological area that are foreign for you, and trying to learn yourself a new technology in very short time (beside other duties) cannot be expectable to bring quality results. Freelancer should take the projects by good knowledge of required technologies, and naturally should invite the experts in the foreign areas, if needed. 

6) Now tell us, how do you find new clients that are interested in your services? 

Although a lot of inquiries comes through LinkedIn, I use websites for freelancers where I search for the projects which fit my experiences and knowledge well. And of course I also have my own website with a more detailed portfolio at http://oelsoft.com/freelancer.aspx.  

7) What about freelancermap.com? Can you tell us a little bit about your experience with our IT-network?

Perhaps the greatest advantage against other similar websites that I know is a large number of remote projects, as I said. In my opinion, remote projects have future and there will be growing interest about them. 

8) How do you set yourself apart from your competitors?What makes you special? 

Recently I´ve worked on many projects of different kinds. They were large and under different platforms. The experiences that I´ve obtained by them gave me ability and courage for establish development of bigger projects alone, from scratch and as a multiplatform. So I offer realization of more demanding software projects as turnkey solutions, especially cross-platform client/server solutions.

Experiences in this domain I´ve utilized by my recent project called IntegraServer.NET as well. It is available at http://oelsoft.com (The server provides often required functionality of server-based applications, e.g. user profiles, roles settings, access control, modules/plugins management etc. The client libraries provide the same API for multiple platforms in order to access the server and this way the building of cross-platform client/server applications).

Beside my experiences I offer additional service, especially object-oriented design using UML, GUI design, IT security implementations (especially encryption techniques over TCP/IP), research in software systems area (due to my PhD. education), parallel algorithms design, and more at very good price. 

9) What are the top three books, blogs or magazines you read to stay up to date in the IT-market? 

I recommend to start with quality book about some platform or technology (e.g. .NET or SQL Server) because it give you general overview for given platform in a nutshell. The next step is to learn more about the features that are important for your projects (e.g. from web resources) and tracking the change lists published online, or receive selected news as a subscriber via the email.  

10) Freestyle! Is there anything you would like to tell our readers? 

Only a few words for those who decide to become freelancers soon. First of all, create a quality profile on proper social network, e.g. LinkedIn website (which I consider as most important place to make your profile visible and searchable for recruiters). You should create the personal website as well (with decent design, described portfolio, and optimized for search engines). Your website and social network profile tell something about you. You should present also something exceptional which sets yourself apart from competitors (e.g. experiences with development by some kinds of specialized systems).

The next step demands on your preferences whether you want to work on-site or off-site. In case of on-site you should contact the IT recruiters or search for on-site projects on websites like freelancermap (similarly to case of off-site development).

Finally, you should take patience and resolve for something new, the experiences will come in time. 

Where to find Miroslav Belicak? 
freelancer profile: Miroslav Belicak at freelancermap.com  
Link to website: http://oelsoft.com 
Skype: info.oelsoft

The interview was conducted by Doreen Schollmeier, freelancermap.com team. 

Pic: © Miroslav Belicak

You would also like to be introduced as a freelancer in our “freelancer insides”?
Send us an email to info@freelancermap.com with the subject “freelancer insides” and shortly describe your services, experiences and status!

Doreen Schollmeier

Doreen Schollmeier is dealing with the international freelancing and outsourcing market for more than 5 years and knows both sides of the coin. After working as a project manager for an India based company until 2012, supporting the company to find clients worldwide, she nowadays helps freelancers to find jobs and clients.

By Doreen Schollmeier

Recent Posts