Freelancing Trends for 2018

by Rhett Ahlander, Try Club

Freelancing is becoming a lucrative industry, where stay-at-home moms and college students are flocking. Anyone can be a freelancer, if they have the right skillset. It might be helpful for you to know what is in store for freelancing next year.

First off, millennials are looking for more flexibility. They’re sick of going to offices every day, where bosses ask too much, and where they can’t spread their wings.

The stigma around working remotely is disappearing. Companies are posting jobs that are completely freelance. This is how the business world is moving. It’s more efficient and cost-effective.

Job Competition

With this increase in freelancers, and the acceptance of the practice, job competition will surge. It’ll be harder to stand out online, when searching for freelance opportunities.

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, 15 million people in the U.S. were self-employed in 2015. That number jumped by 1 million from 2014, and it’s expected to keep growing at a steady rate. By 2020, another study projects 40% of the American workforce, 60 million people, to choose self-employment — freelancing, contract work and temporary employment.

New Technology

A bunch of new technologies are in the works. Artificial intelligence, augmented reality and virtual reality are being used by businesses to get work done and make standard processes easier.

“90 percent of all technology will have an AI component to it,” said Neil Sahota, IBM’s Master Inventor.

This new tech will require an entirely new skillset. There’ll be a greater need for more freelancers who can figure this all out. Coders, user experience designers, engineers and even scientists will be asked to freelance — and they will.

Think about it. You might work at a health company, and you want to roll out diagnosis software. This program will chat with people about their symptoms and give them appropriate diagnoses. But, you can’t create that on your own. You don’t have the time or the know-how. You’ll need an engineer and scientist.

You’ll see freelancers with these capabilities popping up soon enough. In fact, it’s already happening.

Wage Gap

With the increase in job competition and an influx of new technologies, we’re bound to see a wage gap. Those who know about AI will get the jobs, and those who don’t, won’t. It’s that simple. And for those who write, design or code well, but haven’t learned the new tech, they may have to accept a smaller pay rate than the people who have.

Times are changing. Next year will be an exciting time for companies and freelancers, and it’s probable you have projects coming down the pipeline that you can’t handle alone. There’s plenty of freelancers out there — you just have to know where to look.

The best way to find talented freelancers is on Try Club. The freelancers are so skilled, they’ll let you sample their skills.