Whether this is true or not, there's much better ways to phrase this.
> Your online presence is dreadfully low for a web developer.
Just dropping "Sorry to say" makes it sound less condescending.
> Your online presence is really low for a web developer.
Dreadfully -> really. Could argue that this changes the meaning somewhat, but I think the change is more in tone (again, less pretentious/condescending sounding) than in actual meaning.
> Your online presence is really low for a web developer, you should consider expanding it to increase your exposure/get more interviews
Explicitly making a suggestion is more constructive and makes the tone more friendly.
Not op but I appreciate the detailed rewrite. I do find your notes confusing though.
The claim that your last sentence is more constructive seems a bit weak. what is constructive about it, you basically just derived a logical consequence that touching the website yields a result? Also, what does 'expanding' even mean in this context? At no point did you give any constructive feedback (what should be improved, why is it low, why is it 'really low' etc).
on the note of 'really'. i find 'dreadfully' much more useful than 'really'. much stronger, gives a clearer indication of how bad it really is. 'really' doesn't do anything in this context, let alone be less pretentious.
> you basically just derived a logical consequence that touching the website yields a result?
The suggestion was pretty implicit in the original comment but I think making it explicit makes the tone of the comment friendlier. It shifts the focus away from just pointing out the bad to also focusing on how to be better.
> Also, what does 'expanding' even mean in this context? At no point did you give any constructive feedback (what should be improved, why is it low, why is it 'really low' etc).
Well sure, if I was the one actually giving the feedback, expanding even more would be even better. Even just the gestural focus on how to be better still does help the tone I think, though.
> on the note of 'really'. i find 'dreadfully' much more useful than 'really'. much stronger, gives a clearer indication of how bad it really is.
"dreadfully" is stronger than "really" but that doesn't make it clearer or more useful. "This is 5.6 bad points" is stronger than "this is 3.2 bad points", but without having any standard for what a "bad point" is, it doesn't really communicate any meaningful information. I think "dreadfully" similarly shifts the tone of the comment to being more negative without adding any real content.
> let alone be less pretentious
The pretentious-ness isn't as strong, but I think there's a hint of it that comes from using a "fancier" word without adding much actual content.
I used to think I needed an amazing online presence in order to sustain a freelance career. In hindsight, that time would have been better spent reaching out on job boards and building relationships with real people.
As a freelancer I've had zero online presence, not even LinkedIn. I have almost only ever got assignments through connections and reaching out to businesses myself.
Seconding this; you don't need to pimp yourself out with a showcase, website, or linkedin (although linkedin does help you connect with a lot of recruiters and many of them will have contracts that are probably suitable).
Until a month ago, there was plenty of work for everyone. We will see what happens now, but don't waste time building a fancy website; go to some meetups (oh wait.. maybe don't) or speak with some recruiters and I'm sure the snowball will start to form :)
Not the OP and I like your profile page. If you do find you want to mess with your profile page I personally had good luck with this theme:
http://ttleadx.wpengine.com/freelancer/
I didn’t make it nor am I affiliated with it - but it was a quick and easy way of generating a polished freelancer page for myself.
Good ways to find gigs as a freelancer are toptal, moonlight, yunojuno, bark, stack overflow (get a good score by answering questions).
Bit of advice a friend gave and I have yet to try out: If you want to find local clients go to meetups, networking stuff where you would likely be the only software developer and people will likely be interested (obviously one for after this crisis has passed).
Sites that fade and pan in content as I scroll down the page can die in the hottest of hellfires. I do appreciate there are less harmful "modern" design cues I can take for the new version of my site, though.
> Good ways to find gigs as a freelancer are toptal, moonlight, yunojuno, bark, stack overflow (get a good score by answering questions).
I recall trying Moonlight a couple years ago and finding they could do absolutely nothing for me. Perhaps it's time to give them another look. I do have a SO presence, but their job board doesn't let me filter by contract positions. I will check out those other sites, though.
> Bit of advice a friend gave and I have yet to try out: If you want to find local clients go to meetups, networking stuff where you would likely be the only software developer and people will likely be interested (obviously one for after this crisis has passed).
That's a good tip. I used to be active in a couple groups around here but it got disrupted by some family stuff. I should get back into it again once this all blows over.
