Should I list my freelance programming work on my resume?

April 22, 2013 5:35 PM

I'm applying for jobs as a programmer and I'm wondering whether to list the freelance programming work I've done.

I have a day job as a programmer that I've held for the last few years. It was the first real job that I got after graduating college, but now I'm looking to move on. Since all of my professional experiences before taking this job have been temporary internships and the like, I'd really like to add the recent freelance work that I've done, because I think it shows some initiative, because my professional experience section currently consists of only my one "real" job and then just two short-term gigs, and because the people I worked with would be good references.

I hesitate to add it only because I'm under the impression that most companies have a policy against taking on side jobs. My employer doesn't have a policy against it, but I'm worried that if I list both my current job and this freelance work that prospective employers might assume that I did that freelance work in defiance of my employer's policy. What should I do?

posted by anonymous to Work & Money (9 answers total)

YES add it.

It seems you are thinking about adding your freelance as you would a standard job.

Freelance | Start Date - End Date | City
-blah blah

You DON'T have to do this. Resumes come in all forms and formats. You can list an "Additional Experience" section and talk about your Freelance work. Then it doesn't even have to have a start and end date. That gets rid of the fear that they will see you have done it during a current job. Instead:

Additional Experience:

Freelance Career Highlights (No date or location needed)

-Blah Blah
-list of projects
-names of websites they can go to to see your work.

You don't have to do the standard, Job, Job, Job, Qualifications resume.
posted by Crystalinne at 5:43 PM on April 22, 2013 [1 favorite]

(Oh and you don't have to call it Freelance either, you could call them "Programming Projects")
posted by Crystalinne at 5:56 PM on April 22, 2013 [3 favorites]

Add it. It is a big plus.

Anywhere that possibly views your enthusiastic professional involvement in your field as a negative is fucking insane, and you don't want to work there anyway.
posted by wrok at 6:13 PM on April 22, 2013 [1 favorite]

To amplify Crystalline's comments: Do not use the word "freelance." List specific projects that you are proud of in a section called "Additional Programming Experience" or something similar.

Anyone who hires programmers knows that programmers do outside work, even if it's just noodling around with a little indie game on the weekends or helping a college friend with a website, or a dozen other things.
posted by Etrigan at 6:47 PM on April 22, 2013 [2 favorites]

You should absolutely add it. The company I worked for last officially had a "no side work" policy, but everyone did it. I don't really think there's a serious downside. If you are concerned about how an employer will interpret your freelancing, just prepare a stock response when questioned. "I wanted to get more experience in [TECHNOLOGY] and [REFERENCE NAME] had an interesting project, so I agreed to do it as long as it didn't interfere with my normal work duties." Done. Play up the fact that you were able to successfully juggle a full-time gig and freelance at the same time.
posted by deathpanels at 7:11 PM on April 22, 2013

Anonymous Consulting (2010 - Present)
Highlighted Projects:

• Foo implementation for large financial company (Lisp, Python)
• Custom widget for intranet at services company (Python, Django)

-------

Be prepared with a response to the question, "do you plan to continue these kinds of projects"? Think about what kind of company you'd be comfortable telling "no" to.
posted by mkultra at 7:15 PM on April 22, 2013 [1 favorite]

I would not list it as "Consulting." It's a huge plus to have the initiative to do extra projects - speaks to energy, curiosity, accomplishment, boundary-stretching. But casting it as "consulting" means you consider it a second job, you do it for money, and you have clients to whom you owe deliverables while you're working your dat job. That would definitely give employers pause.

List it your projects under "additional software projects." Describe the work. Do not list the dates or the clients. If anyone asks, it's fine to say people came to you with needs and you took on the challenges because you were interested.
posted by fingersandtoes at 7:33 PM on April 22, 2013

They're "projects" and you should definitely add them.
posted by heyjude at 8:45 PM on April 22, 2013

Yes yes of course. This is totally normal. People at the prospective new company are more likely to be positively impressed by your initiative and breadth of experience than negatively impressed by your less-than-absolute devotion to your previous employer.

Bans on side projects are more common at larger corporations but they are by no means universal. The engineering firm I worked for two jobs ago actually encouraged employees to come in after hours and use the electronics lab and machine shop for their personal projects. If people at the new company look down on you because they assume that your side projects must have happened in violation of your employer's policies, they are... inexperienced.
posted by Mars Saxman at 11:53 AM on April 23, 2013