From an Engineer to a Freelance Frontend Developer
My name is Hamza Ahmad. I am a freelance frontend web developer, JavaScript (Node.js) programmer, and Shopify Theme Developer with an engineering background, focused on solving real-world challenges, delivering projects on time, and providing a great customer experience to my clients. Currently living in Sialkot, Pakistan, I provide my freelance and remote services mainly in the EU and US regions.
Since I started coding at the end of 2020, I've been progressively optimizing my skillset and solving new problems every single day. While I have a technical background in mechatronics engineering with MATLAB, PLCs, and other tools, getting into web development was a bit challenging for me. To overcome this, I discovered building projects as an effective method of learning any new tech for me.
Freelance Journey
In my first year of web development, I created some basic landing pages for friends and built an advanced portfolio showcasing skills that would help me secure future jobs or freelance gigs. I also took the MERN Stack eCommerce course by Traversy Media on Udemy. This course taught me how to build complete applications and deliver projects at a production level. It played a crucial role in landing my first gig on Upwork in November 2021, and fortunately, that client became a long-term collaboration, with their project still featured in my portfolio.
Continuing on Upwork, I connected with amazing people, consistently received 5-star reviews, and eventually earned a top-rated badge. My frontend skills continued to improve as I faced new challenges, and I specialized in React.
Additionally, I've been working on Shopify theme development using Shopify Liquid, focusing on enhancing the user experience of websites by collaborating with cross-functional teams.
Year of Growth - 2023
In early 2023, I had a month of downtime, and during that time, I reconnected and collaborated with one of my old clients. He turned out to be my mentor, a senior developer. Over six months of collaboration, he boosted my collaborative skills to a level I couldn't reach alone. Together, we worked on the Vue and Laravel ecosystem. He gave me the freedom to experiment with new things on the UI, and we successfully launched a couple of platform websites in that collaboration.
With my keen attention to detail, I've maintained long-term working relationships with almost every client, including startups and businesses throughout the years. My ultimate goal has always been to provide a great customer experience. As I gain more experience, I am becoming more and more confident in my skill set.
Content Creation
For a developer, it's important for your career to engage with the community to follow up on standards and meet the demands of the market. I've been active on social media platforms, sharing my ideas and continuously seeking inspiration from experts.
While Google is our best friend for finding solutions to our problems, the real heroes are the ones who share their experiences with the community through blogs and articles. Following in their footsteps, after redesigning my new portfolio, I've started writing articles where I'm sharing the solutions to the problems I encounter in my day-to-day work.
