Types of Online Freelance Work Available for Mariners
Introduction
Having talked about freelancing work for mariners to utilize their free time when not on a ship, and about ways to identify fake sites, we will now learn about the Good Samaritans now. There are hundreds of genuine websites which offer freelancing work opportunities and though it will not be possible to list of them, I will like to tell you about a few popular ones (there could be others equally popular and reliable and I do not claim to know about every one of them). But in our discussion below, we will focus of classifying them on the basis of work available rather than listing individual websites which will not be feasible practically due to their large number
Types of online freelance work
Programming
Most people are afraid of programming which I think is just something similar to a Maths phobia in school or college level. But I can tell you that you only need a keen interest to become a programmer. Start by taking a few lessons online (there are several websites for that) for the field that you choose such as C, Java, .Net and so forth and then can learn more advanced tactics from a local institute or personal tutoring from a programmer.
This is really a hot field these days and moreover it is a very creative job which lets the artist in you come out. But let me also tell you that advanced animation especially 3D animation using advanced software applications such as Autodesk Maya and so on does require a bit of time to learn and master, yet if you have the aptitude and the approach you can surely benefit from it in the long run.
Technical/Creative Writing
Writing is an art as well as a science and though it seems that it should not be very hard to write, you certainly need quite a bit of practice to put your thoughts in a proper organized manner for others to read. This is especially true of creative writing such as stories, novels etc. Technical writing could include anything from writing a product support manual to a project proposal and requires specific technical skills apart from writing capabilities.
Consultancy
If you are really good at what you know you can really advice others for a fee and several websites offer this capability. This consultancy could be related to legal advice, business advice and even health advice. Genuine sites take proper care to ensure that only registered medical practitioners are giving advice to people. There are also psychologists which offer advice.
Horoscope/Future Analysis
Now this may seem to be a very grey sort of area and many people may believe that there is no money to be made in this but you will find it hard to believe that some of the most lucrative business on the web (apart from other businesses which we wont discuss here for sake of decency) is that of fortune telling and horoscope analysis.
At this stage you might say that we were talking mainly about mariners and most of them may not have the skills mentioned above. It is true to a certain extent but then most of the skills mentioned above should not take you more than a few months of training and a keen interest to have a good hold at them. personally speaking I don’t think that is too much to ask if you can earn at least your pocket money (possibly much more depending on how much you concentrate on this) while on leave.
You will also notice that I haven’t mentioned name of any specific website above. Well actually most of the genuine websites have all the above types of skill categories for you to register and be a part of the expert community. Some of these websites include Guru.com, Liveperson.com, Elance.com, Rentacoder.com, Outsorcerer.com and the list is literally endless.
Just remember one thing that it is your real ability to do a certain type of work that will earn you money in an online freelancing job. Most of these sites wont ask you much except paying an small fee or commission and it is not much difficult to register at any of these. But whether real clients and real monies flow in depends on how efficient you are at your work. It normally takes a bit of time to start up and then when you have build a good network, work normally flows automatically sufficient to keep you busy during your free time.
