Freelancer Insides – Jozef Hindicky, Freelance Web Developer

Jozef comes from Slovakia, but has been working across UK in the last 7 years. He defines himself as “a digital nomad, based anywhere.”

Hi Jozef! It’s a pleasure for us to have you in our Insides series. Could you tell us a bit about yourself?
 

Hi, thank you, very nice to be part of your Insides series. So, let’s start with the basics – my name is Jozef Hindicky, originally I come from Slovakia, although I’ve lived in the UK for the past 7 years. I work as a freelance web developer helping businesses succeed in the online world, whether it’s as an external short-term help for digital agencies, long-term committed in-house developer or I can even deliver full marketing campaigns with the help of other professionals.

My main focus is clients based in the UK, although my aim is to expand and maybe one day work on a beach somewhere in Bali. Currently I’m contracting for a relatively young digital agency in central Manchester developing websites and applications, taking a full responsibility for the build, helping with quotes or any day-to-day technical fixes/improvements.
 

So, all in all, it’s mainly the freedom of working for myself as much as I like, as well as people I want to work for. It isn’t a standard 9-5 job, there is always something new – new environment, new processes, new people. It just simply cannot get any better!

What exactly made you want to become a web developer? And why did you decide to work as a freelancer?

I have always been fascinated by the Internet, as a kid I remember browsing the web before having to wait for a few minutes to connect to the Internet, not to mention the speed. At the age of 15 I was introduced to website development at school using a simple WYSIWYG ‘drag and drop’ software which would generate the website code.

I quickly wanted to learn more about it and within six months I managed to build a website for our school and had my first three local business clients whom I built simple presentation websites for.

From there on it gradually got busier and busier, I was learning and improving my skill set on a daily basis. I managed to secure my first full-time job working as a web developer which was a fantastic commercial experience in the early days.

I’ve always been an entrepreneur wanting to run and own my business. Even as a kid, I always had a side-hustle, something that would generate a little bit of income and this got even stronger within me over the years. Having had two permanent job roles within the last six years, I felt it was the right step for me to become a freelancer, since I felt I could provide excellent quality services, and therefore charge appropriate day rates.

So, all in all, it’s mainly the freedom of working for myself as much as I like, as well as people I want to work for. It isn’t a standard 9-5 job, there is always something new – new environment, new processes, new people. It just simply cannot get any better!

 

Was it difficult for you to start freelancing? Did you face many problems? Could you share with our readers some lessons you learned on the way?

I started my Ltd. company almost five years ago while juggling full-time studies and full-time employment. I managed to build a portfolio of clients while working full-time, so realistically when I quit my full-time job I knew there was steady income on monthly basis.
 

This would be the only advice I’d give to anyone considering starting freelancing: make sure you either have enough savings to keep you going for few months, or have some work lined up before you make the crucial step. It certainly won’t be easy, but I’d personally rather take the risk and continue working until it doesn’t fully work out and I’m happy with the position I’m at.

It is definitely worth it all and remember: you only get back what you put into it, so work hard and you’ll be rewarded with a great career.

This would be the only advice I’d give to anyone considering starting freelancing, make sure you either have enough savings to keep you going for few months or have some work lined up before you make the crucial step.

 

What do you love most about your work? Is there one particular project that you are especially proud of?

I mainly like the freedom and the opportunity to learn new processes working for many different agencies, as well as meet new people. I am very proud of my own portfolio website which was always at the bottom of my to-do list due to other commitments and work, but in 2017 I finally managed to launch it.

There is also a side e-commerce project I’m working on with a friend of mine which I can’t really mention just yet because it isn’t live currently but watch this space!

 

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

Simply ‘freelance web developer.’

 

What are a few of your favorite development tools and why?

I use PhpStorm, which is really simple to use and intuitive. It comes with many different features, making my day-to-day duties easier. I have a local development environment set up through Vagrant. Sketch is another fantastic tool allowing me to export elements easily or even some CSS (although not perfect). Slack is a great tool to stay in touch with agencies I have previously done some work for so I already have my foot in the door and it’s easier to be approached for some more work.

 

Do you use other freelancers or companies to provide skills that you don’t possess or to delegate tasks when you have too much on your plate?

Absolutely, I’m part of a team of freelancers who share their work; we’ve been working alongside each other for some time now, so we know our strengths and delegate work accordingly if there are tight deadlines or large projects [that] require more people to contribute.

 

How does your working routine look like and how do you manage the pressure of meeting deadlines?

I have been lucky enough to secure work for three different agencies this year – yes, I haven’t had any holidays (!) – so my normal working hours start at 8am and finish at 4pm. Normally depending on my workload I go for a run to the local park; it helps me switch off and forget about any stressful situations or problems, have some food and then do some late night work, client management and general catch up on some campaigns.

 

Besides your work, what are you passionate about?

I absolutely love jogging while listening to my favourite music – this usually depends on my mood, I listen to everything, not to mention some of my guilty pleasures (e.g. older classics, etc.)

 

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

As a freelancer, always expect to be asked ‘How much for a new website?’ with no previous communication or a brief from your potential client. It stunts me the amount of times this has happened and I’m still yet to think about a funny response to this request – maybe hit me up if you have any suggestions?
 

Where to find Jozef Hindicky

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