[throwaway2016a]

You are making an assumption here they want to freelance or take a consulting position. There are plenty of web development positions available on teams or at agencies that find the customers for you. There is no need for someone just learning web development to go straight into consulting work. In fact, I'd highly recommend against it. You'll get the most out of working with other developers and improving your skills before you go out on your own (if you ever go out on your own).

Edit: To summarize, not every web developer needs to be an entrepreneur.

[SketchySeaBeast]

> In fact, I'd highly recommend against it. You'll get the most out of working with other developers and improving your skills before you go out on your own (if you ever go out on your own).

I often wonder at the whole "gotta be a contractor" mentality. I understand there's more money there, but I think that there's a huge value in learning to be a team player where you're building something you are actually invested in, if even for only a 1-2 year period. As a contractor, the skills you build and lessons you learn are important, but they aren't as concrete as living and dying with a particular team and a particular solution for an extended period. In addition, I feel like you are more likely to get vital mentorship at the critical early part of your career as a member of the team instead of a replaceable contractor cog.

[nnd]

If anything it seems that to be successful at freelancing you need to specialize even more compared to a traditional job. Otherwise, your skills would become a commodity in a market saturated with "web developers".