Chris Heilmann, Daniel Cranney & Anselm Hannemann

WeAreDevelopers LIVE – AI, Freelancing, Keeping Up with Tech and More

Is AI a threat to your freelance career? Discover how to shift from a task-based coder to an irreplaceable strategic partner.

WeAreDevelopers LIVE – AI, Freelancing, Keeping Up with Tech and More
#1about 3 minutes

The changing market for freelance developers

The freelance market has shifted since the pandemic, with more companies favoring full-time employment over hiring external contractors.

#2about 2 minutes

The role of a freelancer integrated within a team

Integrating freelancers directly into teams allows them to provide an external perspective and challenge established workflows from within.

#3about 5 minutes

Recreating React components using AI and dev tools

A new technique combines AI with browser dev tools to reverse-engineer and recreate the source code of React components.

#4about 8 minutes

How AI threatens the open source documentation business model

AI tools scraping documentation are disrupting the business model for open source projects like Tailwind CSS that rely on ad revenue and UI kit sales.

#5about 5 minutes

Europe's push for digital independence from US tech

A growing movement in Europe aims to reduce dependency on US technology giants by promoting local alternatives and European cloud initiatives.

#6about 6 minutes

Building a JavaScript generator for Cistercian numerals

A fun project demonstrates how to use JavaScript to programmatically generate SVG representations of 13th-century Cistercian numerals.

#7about 8 minutes

Exploring modern JavaScript performance and new CSS features

A look at modern web development tips reveals that JavaScript `for...of` loops are now fast and new CSS properties offer advanced text styling.

#8about 8 minutes

The challenge of keeping up with modern CSS

While modern CSS is powerful, many developers struggle to keep up and often don't know fundamental techniques like stepped gradients.

#9about 9 minutes

How AI is changing the freelance developer experience

AI code generation is shifting the freelancer's role from writing code to focusing on high-value tasks like planning, specification, and architecture.

#10about 7 minutes

The strategic value of hiring freelancers in the AI era

Companies can hire freelancers to fill hiring gaps, provide specialized expertise, and help internal teams adopt new technologies like AI effectively.

#11about 3 minutes

Final advice for developers adapting to AI

Developers should stay curious and experiment with AI tools without getting overwhelmed by hype, focusing on solving problems to find joy in their work.

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From learning to earning

Jobs that call for the skills explored in this talk.

Software Developer

Code Healers LLC
Hinesville, United States of America

Remote
20-30K
Junior
Intermediate
React
JavaScript
TypeScript
+1
Software Developers

Code Healers LLC
Hinesville, United States of America

Remote
30-40K
Intermediate
Senior
.NET
React
JavaScript
+2
AI Developer

Laterite
Amsterdam, Netherlands

Remote
2-3K
Unix
DevOps
Python
+4