From full-time to freelance

[sgrilux]

Hello everybody,

sorry if I write in English, but my Swedish is really bad.

I am an AWS Cloud Architect working as full time for a consultant company but I really want to go freelancing. I am tired of all companies protocols, processes, etc. I want to make my own decisions, choose which project I want to work on, working side projects. In a company everything you want to do, you need to ask permissions, wait weeks or months to get an answer, contact a lot of people just to get a “maybe”, “but”, “no”.

I want to start my own business and unfortunately my company doesn’t allow me to have a side hustle, I even tried to ask them if I can freelance for them (of course, the answer was a clear “nope”.

Unfortunately the market lately is not really great, I’ve been contacting all brokers with basically no answer.

I know this is an hot topic and many have been in my same shoes, so any advice, any help would be great.

Thanks in advance.

[Anna]

Hello @sgrilux and thanks for your question! I really feel you and your situation. Have you updated your CV so that it is the best it can get? I have written guides about consultancy CV:s here: Jobba som frilansare 2025 - Börja frilansa med frilansguiden. Bottom line is that if your consultancy company can find you assignments for you as an employee, then you can find those yourself as well on your own two feet too, but it can be tricky and you need to contact ALL brokers basically with a kick-ass CV. Maybe call them too? They usually have their phone numbers on their websites. I have gathered all of them here: Lista På Konsultmäklare i Sverige | By Anna Leijon. It could be that in this shitty market, they can prefer people who also speak swedish so that would of course suck… However, the market is going to get better soon. There are lots of indications of that. Have you followed my guide that I linked above? I think you should and as soon as the market is a little bit better, you are ready to take the leap how long is your notice period? Best of luck and keep it up!! It will be over soon

[sgrilux]

Hej @Anna

Thanks for answering. Yes this is killing me

I’ve read you articles and send my CV to many brokers, nobody has replied. Only a couple of them but there is no assignment yet, yeah the market is pretty shitty right now. My company gets a lot of assignment directly from the customer or from AWS, so less and less brokers are involved. I am looking at job posting everyday and don’t see much.

As you mentioned the fact that I don’t speak Swedish is also a weak point for me, I am trying…

I have two months notice, which can be negotiable depending on if I have an assignment or not and in the meantime I can’t start my own company as it’s not allowed by my company’s agreement.

I’ve updated my CV as per your suggestions but I’ll go through it again and see if I can make it more “kick-ass” if I can and check if I’ve missed any brokers.

Thanks again

[Anna]

Ahh I see! Yeah, the market really is the customers’ or the brokers’ right now. hm, have you tried reaching out on linkedin? I have lots of friends who landed assignments that way and even contacting the end customer right away on their website. For instance, if they are looking for an employee wiht your profile, you can send in your freelance resume and say that you might not be an employee, but that you can start tomorrow with minimum administration. That is also a way that I have heard of people landing assignments from. Or - sit tight right now and wait. You have a good job with a good salary and you are accumultaing competence and experience along the way. You really are screwed in the worst possible way at least! It will come soon. I believe the market will shape up really soon. The prognosis are saying slight growth during spring so a little sun is around the corner! Make sure to really contact all brokers and dont give in until you have received an answer from them. Sometimes they just take the ones they have top of mind and you need to make sure that you are that top of mind person. BEST of luck!!! have a nice evening! BR, Anna