If you are a good web designer then there are huge opportunities for you in today’s business world, you just need to find them. One of the most difficult decisions you need to make is the kind of workplace you’re searching for.

Should it be a freelance gig or a job in a real web studio? Each one of them comes with advantages and disadvantages and we take a look at both of them in this article.

Freelancing

Let us start with the advantages and disadvantages of the freelancing jobs.

Advantages

There are huge opportunities in the freelancing field and I would like to say it is also easier to work here. You find the gig on the internet or anywhere out there, you work, deliver and then you move on. Simple as that! You design, you develop, you set deadlines and prices and you do all the communication and marketing for yourself. You are your own boss and at the same time your own employee, responsible for the above-mentioned things.
Sure, you can also work in collaboration with other freelancers and only do the developing, or design, or whatever it is you like to do, but the bottom line is that you will decide what happens with all these. There is no boss to say that a specific deadline he sets has to be met. This is probably the most appealing thing about going freelance.

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Another one is that you can work from home and therefore be comfortable at your work place. If you want to eat at 11 and not at 12 you can do it; as long as you are on schedule you can do whatever you want to.
Being a freelance designer means you can also make the big decisions yourself. There will be no limits to your creativity. This can lead to better final results and more work for you in the future. We all know how important it is to be allowed to do what you want and like. You can enjoy that if you are a freelancer.
Another advantage of being a freelancer is the fact that you can choose your own work. You will probably not be able to do this in a studio, where a specific task will be assigned to you. Take on every job that looks interesting to you and avoid the other ones. Don’t forget, as a freelancer you have to find jobs for yourself too. The decision is in your hands.
If you are talented at doing magazine covers, then search for this kind of work. As said before, this will probably make you deliver better results, as you do only what you are good at. In a studio you will not be so free.

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You don’t want to work with people from your own country? No problem, get Skype and go worldwide. It can be a Chinese football club or a German pub, it is up to you; the internet has no limits.
Networking is one of the most useful concepts on the internet today and therefore you have to use it to its full potential. As a freelancer you can. Not so much in a company, unfortunately, as you would recommend your studio and might not get the job yourself. If you are a freelancer and market yourself really well, then the job is yours. You can build working relationships outside in the real world, on Facebook, Twitter or any other social media webpage. Like I said before, you are free to do whatever you think will help you.
The last advantage is that you can actually have a freelance job while still working in a studio job from 8 to 16. If you are still in the mood for a bit more work, go online and find something for you. But be aware of overworking.

Disadvantages
Well, it is no secret that freelancing life brings its own disadvantages too. One of the most problematic ones is that being a full-time freelancer does not offer you a constant paycheck. You can make few hundreds this month and jump to several thousands next month; or to nothing. It all depends on how much you work; keep in mind that there will be periods in which you will not find so much work as in the others. On the other side, there may be huge opportunities for you arriving in the same short period and you will have to decline some of them. It hurts when you think of it, but you can’t handle them all. This is the biggest disadvantage of being a freelancer, in my opinion. You can never be sure of how much money you will make.

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Another huge problem, which happens all the time, is the freelancing burnout. Just read the article I linked to above and you will understand what it means. It is another big problem freelancers need to avoid, therefore be careful with how much you work. Sometimes you might want to take on a huge project only because you know you need some more money at the end of the month. Even if you would want this in a studio, you might not be able to get it. If you work way too much, you will also start to deliver worse results than if you put quality first. Working too much might lead to stress and can affect your whole life, not only your work. Also, deadlines are usually not so relaxed, even if you set them yourself (this doesn’t happen always, by the way). Therefore taking an afternoon off might result in you spending the whole following night or the weekend recouping.

Studio job

Now, let us move to the studio jobs good and bad points.

Advantages

A job in a webdesign studio is also a very good option for a talented designer, because it brings along so many advantages. One of them is the fact that at the end of each month the paycheck will come anyway. You might get some bonuses too, but you will never get less than what the contract says. This way you know that, at the end of the month, you will have a specific amount which you can build on, if you need, with some more freelance gigs.
If you freelance, everything from taxes, marketing, communication, networking, client relationships to work-related expenses and so on will have to be handled by you. If you are a studio employee, everything takes care of itself (or at least there is someone there hired to do these things). This way you can concentrate better on your work and deliver better results. This also helps increasing your paycheck sometimes.

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Being part of a team will also help you develop skills faster, because you have access to different areas of knowledge in an instant. You need some CSS tips? Michael, the web developer who learned CSS in the 10th grade is in the other department, one office from yours to the right. Now this is way easier than searching on Google or posting on forums.

Disadvantages

Now there is not too much to tell here, not because there are no disadvantages, but because I already named most of them above when talking about the advantages of being a freelancer.
Having a boss and a team that you work for might reduce your happiness and creativity at work. Depending on yourself, you might also feel under the pressure of being fired. If you do not provide for one or two months in row, you will probably be fined or warned, which only happens once. As a freelancer getting fired only means the opportunity to move onto the next client (that is if you have another one).

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As a freelancer, as long as you find some clients to work with, you can be sure you will bring home a decent income each month. In these tough financial times it is not easy to be employed, because you are always on the verge of being fired, unless you are the boss. Maybe it sounds unfair or wrong, but it’s not. As said before, if you do not deliver, you are on your way to the backdoor.

Conclusion

Now I know there is no right or wrong opinion to write here, but I would rather have a studio job instead of being a freelancer only. This is because having a job from 8 to 16 allows me to do some freelancing on the side, but being a full-time employed freelancer does not allow you so much freedom. Freelancers are well known for having huge workloads and not getting too much free time, therefore I would personally prefer to have a studio job and some freelancing gigs on the side.
As said in the opening, there are advantages and disadvantages to each one of them and as long as you get the needed amount of money at the end of the month both are good, but before jumping into one of them, try to think twice and make sure you take the right decision.
What do you think about this topic? Where is it you work or you would like to work and why?