Over the next few years, the job market is going to experience massive change. From job titles that don’t even exist right now to mega trends such as the rise of the slasher, or people who derive income from more than one source (if you ask them what they’ll do they’ll say they’re a “DJ-slash-interior designer-slash-columnist”). One of the biggest trends set to emerge over the next few years though will be the rise of the freelancer.
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The last one of those is possibly the most important. Some estimates suggest that by 2020, half of all workers in developed markets such as the US will make their money on a freelance basis. In order to see where the freelance market is going though, it’s not a bad idea to look at where it is now.
While we can’t provide a comprehensive look at the freelance world, we can get an idea of what Freelance jobs people are requesting online. According to online job market place Freelance.com, things are looking up for people in the 3D space, thanks largely to the rise of 3D printing, as well as content creators. Neither however are doing as well as mobile developers, buoyed by the massive popularity of games such as Flappy Bird and Candy Crush Saga.
Interestingly, employers in that space now appear to be putting Android first. In Q2 of 2013, the number of Android jobs on Freelancer.com (7 073 jobs) overtook iPhone (6 989 jobs) for the first time; now in Q1 2014, Android is continuing its reign with a 33.9% increase to 11 141 jobs versus iPhone’s 32.0% to 10 207 jobs.
While the number of jobs in the mobile space is still growing, it seems that anyone with an eye to the future should be looking to get into the 3D space now. Thanks to the rise of 3D printing, 3D Rendering employment opportunities leapt 43.9% (to 2 784 jobs), 3D Animation increased 35.7% (to 3 183 jobs) and 3D Modeling saw an increase of 34.5% (to 3 230 jobs). Thing is, it’s pointless printing something in 3D if it looks awful so related careers such as graphic design and illustration.
Employers are also starting to remember how important content is (we’ve deliberately avoided that overused cliché that involves it wearing a crown). Following a period of decline thanks to Google’s Penguin and Panda’s updates, Freelancer.com says it saw an extremely strong rebound in content writing related jobs. Ghostwriting for instance rose 41.5% (to 5 807 jobs) while Copywriting lifted 17.7% (to 8 029 jobs).
It’s worth noting however that these stats only give you an idea of the freelance jobs available online right now. It’s also unclear what the average length or amount paid in each of these fields is, but if current trends are anything to go by, it seems that fewer and fewer of them will result in lengthy careers.
