Got paid by an international client after 2 months of no work

[Sohan]

I've been working as a full‑stack developer for the past 6 years, mostly with local companies. Even with the experience and the trust I'd built, I was only making around ₹30k a month. Eventually the routine started to feel quite frustrating.

About 3 years ago I gave freelancing a try and earned ₹10k in just 5 days – that's when I realised I could probably do better on my own.

So roughly 3 months ago I decided to quit my full‑time job (they actually pushed me to resign) and go all‑in on freelancing.

The last 2 months were really tough. I had no work, no income and felt pretty low.

But today I received my first payment from an international client.

I can't fully describe how good this feels. With clients being skeptical about developers and everything shifting towards AI, earning through freelancing still feels challenging, but today I finally made it happen.

Just wanted to share this small win and hope it's just the beginning.

[Aarti]

Congrats! What's the currency, by the way?

[Juhi]

How did you land the international client?

[Chitra]

Will you work together on freelancing? As partners?

[Monica]

Congrats, buddy, really happy for you. Hard work pays off. How did you get your first international client? I'm also trying to move into freelancing and struggling a bit, so would really appreciate any advice.

[Mahesh]

How didn't they charge? I usually get charged about £7-8 each time.

[Nandini]

May I DM you?

[Tarun]

What's your tech stack, buddy?

[Pradeep]

Congratulations on your success, brother. Can anyone suggest something for someone with my experience?

I've been working with the MERN/PERN stack so far, dabbling a bit with Next.js and other tools. Should I keep focusing on that or shift to Python frameworks to get into the AI space? I really want to learn AI, but is it safe right now? Or should I sharpen my JavaScript skills more?

I'm a college student, final year after this semester, and I'm pretty stressed about what to choose. I started building my skills in December 2025 because I didn't have a laptop before. So far I've built:
1. Todo App
2. Student Attendance portal (college project) using PHP
3. Resona music app that uses the unofficial JioSaavn API (I didn't want to pay for Spotify)

All these apps are production‑ready and follow industry standards (at least I tried). I still work on the music app to optimise it. I do use AI for help, but I review everything it writes and I know the workflow, so debugging is easier.

How can I get clients initially (internships count too)? Does social presence matter? I don't post anything on LinkedIn and I don't have a profile on competitive programming sites for DSA.

[Nisha]

Can we collaborate?

[Riya]

This is amazing! I did the same a couple of years ago and I totally get the feeling. I only managed about $300 in total after doing a few $20-$50 gigs over 4 months on Upwork, then I went back to a full‑time job. But I'm thinking of getting back into freelancing now, at least part‑time.

If you haven't already, treat yourself to your favourite biryani or ice‑cream with this money – it'll taste out of this world, trust me.