Wendo Brian
As a long time freelancer, I have done many freelance jobs from “clicking” jobs, filling surveys, academic writing, photography, research, reviewing websites, transcription. I discovered that best paying freelance jobs are mainly based on web and mobile development.
Here is a list I created if you are planning to join the freelance world:
1. Natural Language Processing (NLP)
This is a branch of computer science where computers learn how to interact with humans by being able to understand different languages including different versions of the same language like dialects, patois and any other ‘diversions’. Large companies like Amazon, Google, and Apple have introduced voice activated assistants. Chat bots also use NLP to enable them learn new “words”.
- This is mostly a gig for web developers, computer scientists and linguists.
- Annual salary of more than 100,000 US dollars
2. Social Media Management
The name explains itself. Managing social media accounts is a tedious job for many companies who only want to concentrate on product development and managing sales. Companies would rather outsource this task to freelancers than hire full time employees who will need many allowances in addition to a monthly salary. Freelancers are only paid for the time they are contracted e.g. during marketing campaigns or product launches.
- This is a gig for those who are active on social media and have a way with words.
- Annual salaries of between 60, 000 and 95,000 US dollars
3. Angular JS Development
Angular JS is an open source front end web application that is perfect for single page web applications. It is described as what “html would have been had it been intended for web applications”. You can use it build mobile, web and native applications.
- This is perfect for front end web developers.
- Annual salary; more than 100,000 US dollars
4. Machine Learning
Data science is the fastest growing in terms of work requests according to Upwork.
Companies collect information everyday and they need data engineers, data analysts and data scientists to go through the ‘mountain’ of data.
- Python and R developers are best suited for these jobs.
- Annual salary; more than 100,000 US dollars
5. Zendesk Customer Support
Zendesk is a customer service software and support ticketing system. It is a cloud based desktop solution where companies outsource customer management to freelancers. It involves product replacement into API’s, apps and mobile SDK’s.
- This is perfect for web developers.
- Annual salary between 75,000 and 134,000 US dollars
6. SEO/Content writing
Companies need optimized content; content which will increase their online visibility and give them a higher ranking in search engines like Google and Bing. They achieve this by recruiting freelancers who are SEO savvy. They will create well designed content with keywords that will ensure a higher SEO ranking.
- This is meant for writers.
- Annual salary 40,000 US dollars
7. UX/UI Design
User experience and User interface designers are tasked with creating a rich but simple front end; one that is easy to use and one that is designed from the point of view of the user.
- Front end web developers are suited for this gig.
- Annual salary 87, 000 US dollars
8. R Development
R is a programming language that uses statistical computations to analyze data and plot it in rich graphical interface. It is ideal for surveys and polls.
- R developers
- Annual salary 76,000 US dollars
9. Twilio App Development
Twilio is an API used in building web and mobile apps that can directly send and receive messages from mobile phones.
- Web developers
- Rate of 35 US dollars per hour
10. MYSQL Programming
MYSQL is an open source database management platform. Most web developers have probably used it in their applications.
- Web developers
- Annual salary; 45,000 – 100, 000 US dollars
They all looked daunting but if you set your heart out to doing something and with enough training, you can easily acquire these skills to make it and have clients of your own.
