Freelance Software Development

India is experiencing an acute problem of providing suitable employment for technical personnel.

The industries in India are by and large in financial crises and are struggling for survival in competition with mighty multinationals. They cannot provide employment to the large number of unemployed computer literates on reasonable salary. As a result, many students are trying to find jobs outside India but very few succeed in their effort.. Industries also cannot utilize the modern techniques of advertisement and new technology because of the financial burden of regular recruitment of experts in the field.

Freelance software development has a potential in meeting the needs of industries and for employment generation. With the rapid increase in internet facilities, reducing cost of surfing and wide spread computer education, India may soon become a fertile ground for Free lance working.

Right now, there are many jobs available on the net in various fields. Most of the software companies in India are flourishing mainly by providing skilled manpower of computer professionals to foreign countries. Except where onsite survey and data collection is needed, many these jobs can be easily handled by individuals by staying in India through internet on free lance basis.

Many industries and small firms are inclined to get the work done on contract basis rather than employing the people on permanent basis if the job is small and infrequent. The jobs may include typing, data entry, copyediting, web design, software programming, market survey or even marketing.

Though the free lance jobs offered by Indian industries are very less now, the situation will change as they realize the advantages in getting the work done through people located at different places and doing jobs part time at comparatively very low cost. The costs of advertisement are exorbitant on Radio and TV and can be afforded by few Indian firms. Use of internet for advertising on the web is a low cost alternative and may become popular. The situation could be utilized beneficially to exploit job opportunities for budding software programmers.

There are many Indian computer experts working in U.S.A. and other countries and can lend a helping hand for the new generation of software consultants by assessing their work, suggesting modifications, providing resources in their leisure time.

However, there are some difficulties in the development of Free lance culture in India.

1. Unless a software developer is expert professional, the work of software development is not be given by companies.

2. On the other hand expert software professionals are usually engaged in working with some software company and are too busy to take up such assignments on their own. Many companies also discourage such practice.

3. The novice software developers do not venture in Free Lance jobs, as they are not fully equipped with necessary knowledge, have limited experience and they do not have professional outlook. Even if they decide to take up such assignment no software help is available to them to complete formalities of commercialization.

On the other hand, there is no dearth of computer programmers who are expert in C, C++, Java, Visual Basic etc. and Web Design. There are countless software packages developed in different fields by students during their project work and small utility programs and applications by software interested people.. In fact, there is a large degree of duplication of work with no compilation or application.

There is a huge communication gap between such developed software and user community, which can modify and commercialize these products. Most of these software programs remain unutilized and soon are forgotten. Unnecessary wastage of time, effort and money can be avoided in developing the software when similar software is already developed by somebody, somewhere and at sometime.

It is necessary to collect such information and make it known to fresh free lance software developers. This will help in developing joint projects in specific areas by those who have already worked in that field and have common interest.

Dnyandeep Education & Research Foundation, Sangli wishes to launch such a website for coordinating the efforts of software development. The schematic flow diagram of the work is as shown below

The objectives of the site are

1. To prepare a categorywise database of available software projects, utilities and applications which are developed with academic interest and are not commercialized yet. The database will include developers address, topic and degree to which it is developed with limitations of application.

2. To identify the topics and applications for novice software developers and prepare a database of small project needs from market. It is observed that commercial software is too costly for small firms and individuals. Moreover the requirements and procedures need tailor made solutions.

3. To promote development of software in regional languages. In India, there will be a great demand for such work in near future. At present, there are many difficulties in such programming New software developers can contribute a lot in this field. Many organizations are using regional language for their day-to-day functioning like correspondence and accounts and hence rely on manual work. They can do computerization if suitable software in regional language is made available.

4. To seek help from software professionals in assessing, modifying and commercializing the software developed by fresh candidates.

5. To act as a resource for all software help for the free lance developers.

6. To undertake joint projects and coordinate the efforts of individuals.

The interested software developers will have to register by paying requisite fee. There will be a mutual agreement for undertaking joint project and separate charge for the services rendered if developer wishes to carry out the job independently.

We hope that we will be able develop a resource base for new software developers who would become Professional Free Lance Software Developers in future. This will help in bridging the gap between software literate job seekers and plenty of jobs available in India and abroad on Free Lance basis. We shall be happy to receive comments on the proposed resource base.