People are finally waking up to the fact that freelancing is a better option than fighting the daily 9-to-5 rat race. The flexibility, independence and opportunity to make more money are just a couple of reasons why people are opting to become freelancers. But if you’re uncertain which freelancing career path to chose, here are 25 of the fastest growing freelance skills based on information from Upwork, CNBC and Business News Daily.
1. User experience design
Nowadays, website and app users expect to be impressed whenever they visit a website or download an app. UX designers achieve these by creating products that are easy-to-use and enhance the visitor’s experience.
Average National Salary: $87,883
2. ASP development
Companies are searching for these types of web developers who can edit, change or customize web pages using the old school Active Server Pages since it runs parallel with HTML5. Other responsibilities include responding to questions on forums, providing security and accessing databases.
Average National Salary: $89,000
3. Shopify development
These developers build apps and sites for the popular ecommerce platform Shopify.
Average California Salary: $77,000
4. English proofreading
A proofreader simply reads copy and transcripts to make sure that there aren’t spelling, grammatical or typographical errors.
Average National Salary: $47,663
5. SEO/Content writing
SEO and content writers help websites and brands become visible to search engines like Google or Bing by composing engaging, relevant and keyword optimized articles.
Average National Salary: $40,951
6. Photography
Sure — everyone has a camera on their phones. And even though the demand for photographers in traditional media has declined, there’s still a high-demand for commercial and portrait photographers. In fact, there’s been a 37.2 percent increase since 2014.
Average National Salary: $42,375
7. Animation
These creative individuals draw illustrations for games, films, television shows and commercials. The digital marketplace is driving the demand for animators who can draw icons or infographics for brands.
Average National Salary: $50,195
8. Virtual assistant
Business owners, managers and entrepreneurs are using virtual assistants to help them manage tasks like responding to emails and scheduling appointments from a remote location.
Average National Salary: $39,183
9. Lead generation
Lead generators are responsible for prospecting, qualifying and generating new sales leads for brands and companies through mediums like email and social media.
Average National Salary: $23,890
10. Data mining
Described as the “Sexiest Job of the 21st Century,” data scientists basically analyze big data so that they can spot trends.
Average National Salary: $59,021
11. Social media marketing
Brands and companies completely understand the importance of having a strong online presence, so they look for talented individuals who can launch a strong social media campaign.
Average National Salary: $46,402
12. Video editing
Video editors look for errors, add audio or graphics, and make sure that a story matches the overall storyline. With more brands wanting to develop content, especially video content, it’s no surprise that this is a booming industry.
Average National Salary: $61,750
13. WordPress development
As everyone is expected to have a blog, it’s no surprise that this skill, in which you build and develop plugins, is on-the-rise.
Average National Salary: $74,205
14. AngularJS development
With this skill you can extend HTML vocabulary so that you can build mobile and desktop web applications. Because this is the framework for dynamic web apps, expect the demand for this skill to increase. Here is our programmer guide for better understanding
Average National Salary: $102,000
15. Java development
These developers create complex web-based applications, like animated drop-down menus. Despite over 20 years old, Java is the basis for many open-source projects, so the demand for this skill shouldn’t be slowing down anytime soon.
Average National Salary: $70,773
16. Voice talent
“While voiceover work has been around for decades, the move to digital is enabling talent to record from virtually anywhere, notes CNBC. “Telephony, audiobook readers, dubbing work, e-learning instruction, animation dialogue and video game voices are just some of the jobs calling for voice actors.”
Average National Salary: $40,000
17. Accounting
Even though there is more than enough accounting software available, the freelancer generation still needs to turn to accountants to help them understand information like tax codes and deductions, which keeps this an in-demand skill.
Average National Salary: $65,940
18. Android development
No surprise here. Everyone owns a smartphone and the world needs people to develop apps for the devices running on the Android operating system.
Average National Salary: $84,562
19. iOS development
Just like the skill listed above, except for Apple devices.
Average National Salary: $85,000
20. Electrical engineer
As noted in Business News Daily, “With the internet-of-things market heating up, companies and entrepreneurs need electrical engineers to help build connected devices.
Average National Salary: $71,000
21. Zendesk
Zendesk is a growing customer service software company where you can customize the experience for your teams and customers by placing products into existing APIs, apps and mobile SDKs
Software Engineer salaries at Zendesk can range from $76,969-$134,061.
22. MongoDB
This is an open-source cross-platform document-oriented database that’s classified as a NoSQL database. Adobe, eBay, LinkedIn, Foursquare and Shutterfly are tracked by MongoDB, so this skill isn’t going to become irrelevant anytime soon.
Average National Salary: $102,000
23. Data visualization
As noted earlier, big data is all the rage. Data visualization helps people understand this information by converting it into visual content.
Average National Salary: $30,000
24. AutoCAD
With this skill, you can simulate and animate 2D and 3D designs. Again, visual content is popular, so this is an excellent skill to acquire.
Average National Salary: $49,215
25. 3D design
Freelance designers in general are one of the hottest gigs around. With technology like 3D printing becoming more prevalent, expect this job to continue to become a hot commodity.
Average National Salary: $50,647
Now that you know which skills are going to be in-demand, start developing your skills and start finding freelance gigs in the plentiful freelance marketplace.
(By Chalmers Brown)
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