Hi there,<p>i&#x27;ve been a freelance developer on Upwork&#x2F;oDesk for 7 years, and gradually i realized that my income stopped growing (some 4 years ago). I tried to do everything i could think of and yet, there was no further growth, i hit some ceiling at about $100K a year. Trying to figure out what was wrong, i did a study using Upwork API to find who the top developers are and what are they doing to get there, and the answer didn&#x27;t please me: i am one of the very top developers (#10 at the time i did the study) and there isn&#x27;t much room above. Yes out of hundreds of thousands.<p>Which makes me think that freelance sites aren&#x27;t for me: it is that proverbial room where i am the smartest guy in, and when you are the smartest guy in the room, you are in the wrong room. If i am comfortably within top 0.1%, i will definitely make a lot more in the environment where i will be the average one.<p>Question is: where is that room? I am in the EU (can be anywhere except UK&#x2F;Ireland). Anyone who had a similar problem please share your experiences, what did you do to grow from there?<p>One obvious idea is to do my own startup, which i am now trying, but that is another story. Trying, but i am not sure startups are for me, i&#x27;d better work for hire.
Ask HN: Freelance developer hit the ceiling: what to do next?