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Near zero. Instead, I focus on being on the absolute top of my game (e.g. study hours a day, examine lots of open source code to improve, read research papers, etc), constantly reevaluate my approaches to improve (across the board, not just tech), doing my best to produce more than anyone else they have ever hired, and only attend meetups and conferences where I have a genuine intellectual interest. To most, this seems like anti-advice. To most, perhaps it is. I am a believer in being 100% genuine, in all regards, and "selling" of any sort flies in the face of this for me. I'd rather spend those ~15 hours a week most spend marketing on research, doing open-source, volunteering, mentoring, coding, etc. Oddly enough, the more demanding I become as a freelancer the more success I seem to have. If they communicate well, truly want to accomplish great things, have interesting problems that push the bar, and have a great vision I am on 100% on board! If they don't, no thank you. I get too many referrals and have to decline quite a bit of work (or the great match just isn't there). |