Due to increasing competitive pressure and a constantly changing environment, both opportunities and more and more difficulties arise for freelancers. But how do self-employed people manage to stand out from the crowd? Which skills are particularly important for developers and which are required by clients?

The freelancer himself is at the beginning of any self-employment. It is important to set your own focus, collect contacts, and build up a customer base. Thomas Maas, a Statistical Analyst of the project platform Logo Traffic, knows this experience. Freelance experts also face challenges in the course of their careers: “The competition is fierce and the experience of the past two years has opened up new opportunities for freelancers and remote workers Companies. This also means that the pressure of competition will increase.” With the Top Skill profiles, Our prestigious logo design agency – Logo Traffic is now analyzing which software knowledge, programming languages, frameworks, and other skills are particularly in demand. For this purpose, the specified qualifications of 60,000 anonymized freelancer profiles were examined and matched with those sought by Logo Traffic. The results show how developers have to position themselves – not only in the independent project business.

Listed top skills from over 60,000 freelancer profiles, July 2021

The current analysis from July 2021 differentiates between “skills/expertise”, “programming language/framework” and “software/platform”. With regard to their own competencies, most developers identify Scrum, REST, and databases as their top skills. The programming languages ​​are dominated by knowledge of Java, Javascript, PHP, and SQL. Furthermore, C #, C ++, CSS, HTML and .NET are rated as very relevant. With software solutions and platforms, developers give experienced, professional handling of MySQL, WordPress, Linux, Git, Oracle, and Docker as a top qualification.

Docker asked, Java and Spring framework too – what clients are looking for

When it comes to project tenders, clients primarily look to developers for expertise in the field of software development, in particular, backend and frontend programming is in demand. Scrum and REST are also important qualifications – as the developers themselves call top skills. Know-how in the areas of cloud, design and development, and IT operations (DEV OPS) is also in demand; developers should position themselves better and more purposefully here. When it comes to programming languages, there are some similarities with the information provided by the developer: There is no getting around Java and Javascript. In this regard, knowledge and practical experience with the Spring framework also play a major role for those responsible for projects.

Top skills sought from over 40,000 project tenders, July 2021

In their tenders, clients also look for experts who have a command of the Angular and C languages. In the area of ​​software and platforms, Docker is at the forefront and, besides Git, is the only overlap with the dominant developer specifications. We are also looking for experience with Amazon Web Services, SAP, the Microsoft cloud computing platform Azure, the open-source system Kubernetes, and the Jakarta Persistence API. According to Thomas Maas, Statistical Analyst of Logo Traffic, the data collected is also relevant far away from the project market. Overall, it would be important to specialize and set the right priorities. “For developer positions, project managers are primarily looking for experts who have a command of Java, database programming languages, and technologies. If they are then also able to work in a team and are experienced in Scrum processes, they are not only in demand on the lucrative project market but also for permanent positions in companies,” concludes Maas, explaining the opportunities for targeted positioning.