Weekly Journal of a 33-year-old Unemployed Rural Programmer's Self-Help Journey (Part 3) - Finding My Position

Hi, I’m Xianmin, 33 years old, a programmer living in the countryside, unemployed for two years.

This week, my income broke through a thousand yuan, achieving a milestone goal.

This Week’s Self-Help Actions

The first four days of this week were busy.
I had to wear multiple hats - salesperson, customer service, after-sales support, and writer, doing everything myself.
I won’t elaborate much on computer skills as they’re my bread and butter.
Moreover, I found that my jack-of-all-trades technical skills are particularly suitable for small jobs that professionals might overlook.

Being needed gives a sense of value.
On my busiest day, I communicated with more than ten clients while handling four tasks simultaneously.
Although the money earned isn’t much, it’s at least a validation of my personal labor.

Let’s Talk About Failed Cases

The first one was a remote printing job.
The client was very nice to me, first giving me a small task with a tip, then assigning me this job.
As luck would have it, I had two unfinished projects at the time.
After pondering for two hours, I realized remote printing wasn’t that simple, and with other ongoing projects, I had to refund the payment.
It was quite awkward, as it consumed the trust placed in me.
Well, accepting payment is a guarantee of trust - if you don’t have time or confidence, don’t take the money carelessly.

The second case was developing a webpage modification plugin.
The client described it simply - just changing 1 to 2 in a table on a webpage, so I quoted a low price.
Later, I discovered it was a foreign government website, and just the key login took over an hour, with modifications being not so straightforward.
I had to refund again.
This client was quite cunning, describing an apparently easy task that was actually much more complex.

As for successful cases, I won’t say much, but here’s one touching feedback:

“What I couldn’t solve in a week, you fixed in an hour. I’ll come directly to you next time.”

Phase Summary

In February, after the Spring Festival, I reassessed my situation.
I clarified my direction: focusing on freelancing to solve survival needs first,
with content writing and personal projects as my second trajectory for personal development.
Although this choice remains high-risk, it’s shaped by past experiences - there’s no good or bad about it.

Looking at the results from the past three weeks, this year’s short-term self-help plan seems feasible.
As long as freelancing can solve survival needs, I don’t need to look for a job for now.
I’ve now repositioned myself as: Your Personal Technical Handyman.
In other words, I’m like a temporary computer technology plumber.
Can’t fix a bug? I’ll repair it; Can’t set up development environment? I’ll help remotely;
Don’t want to handle legacy projects? No problem, let me do it; Need a small application? I can make it in three days.

For larger projects, unless particularly interesting, I probably won’t consider them for now.

Some reflections:

1. Efficient communication, no prolonged battles. Directly reject grey industry requests. End conversations early with those seeking cheap labor. No need to continue talking if requirements and budget aren’t clear within 10 messages.
2. Organize and master communication skills. Friends say I’m too rigid - yes, you can see it in my writing style, my EQ is quite low. But in sales and customer service, attitude and awareness are needed, so I’ll have to let AI teach me how to communicate with clients.
3. Improve pricing skills. This can only come from experience. Some small jobs are simple but take 3-4 hours, making low prices very unprofitable. Some issues could be resolved earlier through prior communication.

This Week’s Income

Total: 1720 yuan.

The duration statistics above are rough calculations, as communication usually takes considerable time.

I feel that publicizing income might not be very appropriate, so I might reconsider doing so in the future…

Closing Words

If you have any thoughts about this middle-aged unemployed programmer’s self-help journey, please feel free to leave a comment, thank you! 🙏