u/BrogrammerAbroad

I started freelancing last year (iOS/Swift). Most of my work right now is small gigs like bug fixes on AI-generated apps and payment integrations. I have one client with bigger projects, but everything else is inconsistent.

At the moment I can’t fully support my family with freelancing income alone, so I’m curious how this played out for others.

•	How long did it take you to reach stable income?

•	Did you niche down or stay generalist?

•	Where did most of your serious clients come from (not one-off gigs)?

•	Did anyone here try to switch back to full-time recently? How realistic is that right now?

Also: I’m applying to roles, but response rate is low and often feels automated. Not sure if that’s just the current market or something I’m doing wrong.

Would appreciate real numbers or timelines instead of general advice.

Just for context:

I did my Computer Science Bachelor in 2021 and also worked as a dev before AI got a popular coding tool.

Of course I went with the time and integrated LLMs into my coding routine. I often use perplexity for research and the coding Assistent integrated into the IDE.

However even though my speed increased and I can now ship more complex features faster and stuff I have never done before as well, I feel like I get dumber by using it as I noticed I start to rely on it more and more.

I‘m not saying it‘s a bad thing to use AI and if definitely has a lot of perks, but on the same side I feel like I loose my sharpness.

How do you feel about this? Can you relate or notice other disadvantages?