With the AI hype, the market has gotten 1000x more saturated as now everyone vibecodes a few React projects and then lists themselves on fiverr or upwork or discord as a professional fullstack developer with 3-5+ years of experience. Annoying as hell. I cannot find a job for the life of me. I can't use Fiverr anyways, and so I'm stuck to finding clients on Discord. I met 3 a few months ago as a coincidence but I stopped working for a while due to mental health issues and now I can't find ANYONE no matter how hard I advertise. Damn dude
Freelancing Web Dev is not a viable income source in 2025
- Thread starter Seekehr
- Start date
noshiga
BANNED
- Aug 23, 2023
- 21
- 6
It’s a nuisance for sure, I do still think that relying solely on AI for development isn’t the way to go. You could get away with generating a surface level landing page perhaps but anything that has a complicated back-end structure would still need proper development expertise.
- Sep 10, 2010
- 11,811
- 26,653
Open-source contributions are what I think will set your career apart these days. Yes, you’re correct about there being too much competition.
Networking matters. I’ve been surviving pretty well in this industry for the last decade or more, mostly through physical jobs but also through freelancing. If you have the right connections, you’ll get some decent opportunities.
Other than that, yes, it’s a saturated profession to be a React/Vue developer. Maybe try something with less competition, like systems programming or similar fields.
Yeah for sure. I'm trying to say that most vibecoders don't care and think they know it all. Nothing against vibecoders, I mean we all gotta earn out bread somehow, but it's just frustrating the state this industry is in rn
Yeah they matter a lot for sure, but I know some guys who've been working on a really big and complex open source project (for reference, it's PMMP; a minecraft server software written in PHP) for years now and they struggle with employment too. Thing is, I don't know what 'networking' means... I mean, some say you gotta go to tech conferences but (A) they're pretty far from where I live (B) I took up CS so I could hole myself up with some cigarettes and a PC, I'm not built to network lmao
Yep I do some C++ work too, not much but I've made a device spoofer for ExitLag before and it required some tinkering with winapi and dll injection, but there is little to no demand for systems in the freelancing area. In terms of professional work maybe, but I can't do professional work atm Im too occupied with school
Builder Dave
Power Member
- Nov 4, 2017
- 653
- 654
The market is quite saturated, but there is still room for good devs. But you need to have skills that are beyond the average vibecoder and you need to make your track record obvious and trustworthy and you need to get good at branding and selling yourself. It's definitely going to be harder now.
OptiPickle
BANNED
- Sep 25, 2025
- 58
- 18
Yeah man, the market’s flooded now, gotta either niche down crazy hard or focus on building your own product instead of hunting clients.
Totally get it. AI hype flooded the market with quick “devs,” making it tough to stand out. Fiverr/Upwork are saturated, Discord is noisy. Instead of pushing ads, focus on building real connections and proving your value. Be consistent and authentic people notice that over time. Mental health breaks are tough, but keep at it. It’ll pay off.
zambakur32
BANNED
- Sep 25, 2025
- 70
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Too many beginners crowd the market, so standing out is tough. Skip aggressive ads build trust through real connections and steady effort. Take care of yourself and keep going; real growth takes time.
- Jan 17, 2015
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This is the real vibe.
- Mar 2, 2021
- 4,087
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It's difficult to stand out in the market right now because so many people are jumping in after the AI boom. However, don't let that deter you. Even so, genuine talent, reliability, and a strong portfolio stood out. Perhaps try concentrating on niche markets or creating something distinctive that showcases your abilities; these strategies tend to draw in real clients over time.
Yeah but it's like I signed up for developing not marketing lmao. Plus I don't know how to market myself honestly, I've tried taking some free courses but they delve too much on theory and not much practicality. I guess stuff like cover letters, but they don't matter on platforms like Discord. And IDK how to make a 'brand', someone told me to make a server and I did but now 35 of its 44 members are legit bots spamming random servers for jobs lmao
Yeah but even the SaaS space is so oversaturated now. There's probably 30 fucking resume builder websites that do the same thing, with the same "AI INCLUDED" features but with a different UI, and not just for resume sites lol it's like this for every damn SaaS out there. Niching is hard too because my primary platform is Discord and so it's a bit hard to send out targeted advertisements. Wish I could use Fiverr/Upwork but can't
Hmm? For freelancing gigs? Can you explain?
Great idea actually, but I'm clueless on how to market this. "I will fix your vibecoded apps" is niche enough but like, why would they hire a "vibecoding fixer" over just a webdev with good experience? Seems like such an unnecessary clarification
Builder Dave
Power Member
- Nov 4, 2017
- 653
- 654
I absolutely get that. But if you are going to be a one man show, you have to cover all the bases yourself.
You might consider offering a joint-venture here or elsewhere for somebody that is good at the selling part for a cut of the money you are making, so they can manage your accounts, your personal branding and bring in clients.
XaeroTools
Newbie
- Mar 31, 2026
- 1
- 0
I know this is a dead thread but I'm interested in your knowledge about the exitlag spoofer you created, is there a way that we can talk more about that?