According to a report by the Association of Independent Professionals and the Self-Employed (IPSE), there are almost 2.2 million freelancers working in the UK, with over 1.9 million reporting that freelancing is their main source of income. Freelancing provides freedom for individuals to choose projects that align with their interests, while being beneficial for companies that require specialist skills for one-off projects. Here Ashmita Das, CEO of science and engineering freelance platform Kolabtree, highlights the benefits of being a freelance engineer and offers tips for getting started.
It’s no secret that engineering businesses are facing a skills shortage, with many companies flagging access to talent as one of the biggest challenges they are facing. According to some estimates, the STEM skills shortage costs UK businesses £1.5 billion a year. With the rise of the gig economy, this once traditional industry is starting to be able to benefit from the work of freelance engineers — meaning one person can solve engineering challenges in several organisations.
Freelancing provides a world of opportunity. It offers the freedom to choose what projects you work on, while enabling you to set your own working hours and salary. With remote working now the norm for many businesses, the age of the “digital nomad” is here — you can now apply your skills around the world and earn a living without being tied to a particular institution or organisation. This reduces travel and allows you to work around other commitments, like family.
Flexibility
In traditional employment, you either have a job or you don’t, and your working hours are determined by business needs. With the knowledge and expert economies on the rise, more highly specialised experts are moving into freelancing because of the versatility it offers. In a recent study ‘Understanding the work of independent scientists’, conducted by an international social science research team with the University of North Carolina, University of Michigan, McMaster University and the University of Calgary, over 90 per cent of freelance scientists said that flexibility was highly important. Although many projects will have a timeline and involve scheduled meetings with the client, you will generally have the freedom to work when you want during the day.
Choosing projects
The types of freelance roles available to engineers is broad: in 2021, top LinkedIn listings for freelance engineer posts in the UK included project, site and electronics engineers. The desire for flexibility also applies to the work itself: the previously mentioned freelancer survey found that 85 per cent of respondents said they choose to freelance because they wanted to select the projects they work on. People also value being able to use their knowledge in a variety of areas — 42 per cent said their independent work was a mix of gigs both inside and outside of their specialization. Again, traditional full-time employment provides little room to manoeuvre here.
Freelancers are in the unique position of being able to choose the clients they work with and, consequently, the projects that they take on. As well as this, they can set their own conditions and select clients that share their values and priorities.
“I take on a wide range of projects as a freelance expert, but I really like working on projects that focus on relevant problems in society,” explained Dr Hugo Lisboa, one of Kolabtree’s freelancers. “For example, turning polysaccharides extracted from food waste into medical devices was something that greatly appealed to me, since you’re solving a problem whilst simultaneously creating something out of it.”
There are no limits to the projects that freelance engineering experts could take on. Once the project has been won, the freelancer can discuss the project details, like budget, timeline and conditions, with the client before beginning work.
Building skills
According to CV Library’s 2020 Candidate Behaviour Barometer survey of 1,700 employees, 35 per cent searched for new roles while at work due to boredom in their current jobs. Improving engagement is key for both boosting productivity and ensuring workplace satisfaction, and one way to do this is by injecting more variety into work schedules.
By moving into the world of freelancing, you can take on multiple projects at the same time, each bringing something new and giving you the opportunity to broaden your horizons. Not only can you offer your skills and expertise to those who need it, you can also continue learning and developing on the job — building and refining the skills of everyone involved while meeting the project’s objectives.
Being your own boss also means you can innovate and experiment with your skills, applying them in all sorts of ways. Say you are recruited to help with developing a particular product, like an internal combustion engine or fuel cells. You could join the project at the preliminary design phase and then offer your services right through to the beta and release build stage by assisting with technical challenges, providing advice on product development, and helping with the actual assembly.
With over two million people in the UK now signed up to the gig economy, there’s never been a better time to join the world of freelancing. In contrast to traditional in-house jobs, freelancing allows you to pick and choose how and when you work, select what projects to take on and continue learning on the job.
On Kolabtree, our freelance experts help companies publish research papers, develop products, analyse data and more. Register your services for free, visit https://www.kolabtree.com/.
