The number of people in favor of remote jobs is increasing quickly these days, as the idea of working from home and being independent sounds great and working remotely has a lot of benefits. If you’re trying to decide between working remotely or being a freelancer, you’re probably struggling to determine which one would suit you and your lifestyle. Or maybe you don’t know what the main differences are between them. For that reason, I’m going to tell you the pros and cons of each job type.
To many people, a remote job and a freelance job mean the same thing, but that’s not right. A freelancer is an independent contractor working for multiple clients on a per-project basis and your jobs end when the project is over. Meanwhile, working remotely means you are a full-time employee at some organization who works outside the office.
Now that we’ve clarified the main difference between them, the next step is picking which one is better for you.
Freelancer
As a freelance worker, you are your own boss, which means you can create your own working schedule. That’s good because there are morning or night people, and you can work during your most productive hours. Also, your work is task-oriented, which means that if you’re done with what you have to do, you’re free to do whatever you want. As a freelancer, it’s better to work fast because clients normally pay you for completed tasks — not working hours.
You have the freedom to choose your clients and the type of projects to take on. There is no boss to decide which jobs you do or the client you work for. So you can work on the specific technology you are comfortable with and you can decide if you want to accept a project.
You can work wherever you want. With a computer and internet connection, you can work from almost anywhere and for clients in any part of the world. Some remote jobs need you to be in a specific location even if you’re not going to be in an office. But as a freelancer, you don't have that issue.
Disadvantages
You get paid for the projects you do, so if you finish a project and don’t have more, you’re not going to bring in any more money. So you have to be actively looking for projects to work. If you don’t have a fixed number of clients per month, the constant job search may cause anxiety or stress.
You don't have a fixed salary either. Your salary depends on what project you’re working on and how many clients you have at a given moment, so you can’t have a fixed budget. As such, you can’t make plans until you have your money for the month and you have to work hard to pay the bills.
A freelance job doesn’t come with any benefits — you only work for money. You must pay for your taxes and take care of all the legal details. You must also pay for your own insurance. You will not have paid vacations or bonuses.
Normally, working whenever you want means that you’ll have to work weekends to deliver assignments on time. When you work as a freelancer, you are the one who decides when to rest, and we usually forget to because we want to get money fast or we have many assignments.
As a freelancer, you should also know all the technologies with which you’re going to work since you typically won’t have anybody to consult.
Remote Job
One of the biggest advantages of having a remote job is having both the pros of a freelancer (working from home) and the pros of a full-time employee (a fixed monthly salary). It’s like a traditional office job that’s not in the office. Compared to freelancing, I think that one of the best things about a remote job is having a budget because you know how much you earn per month.
Since you’re an employee of that company, you can have benefits such as vacations, bonuses, and health care. You are not responsible for paying taxes since the company does it for you (in some cases, you’ll pay even less because you don’t have to pay the self-employment tax).
As an employee at a company, you have colleagues who are working with you. This means that they divide the work that they have for the day, there is a manager who will organize the tasks depending on how the team works, and you don’t have to do everything by yourself. Also, your coworkers can help you in case you encounter any problems while trying to solving a task.
Disadvantages
As a full-time remote employee, you have to work according to a schedule. This means that even though you enjoy a greater degree of flexibility than most, you still have to meet the schedule. If you’re done with your job for the day, they can give you more work. In some companies, you have to report your daily hours or even use time-tracking software on your computer.
Some companies require you to be in a specific location. Even though you can work from home, you need to be in a specific country or state.
The job often involves a constant virtual presence via communication channels like Slack, Skype, and Google Hangouts, so you need to be active and can’t go at your own pace. It will depend on the company. Their work will be evaluated from time to time and they will be communicating continuously with everyone working on the project.
You don’t have the autonomy and liberty to make decisions about projects and/or clients. You have a boss who decides what technology or structure is better for the project and you have to work with it. If they want a different technology, you have to learn about that as well.
So which job type suits you best? Do you know other benefits or disadvantages of remote jobs or being a freelancer? Let me know in the comments.