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Comment by vishaldpatel | Hacker News Reader

People usually like to see a portfolio of pretty projects if you're a UI person. Got a website with some work on it? It would certainly help having one. In fact, you might even get a few jobs from here! =)

Once you have one, print a nice business card with your website on it.

Start networking. Meetup.com has programing / startup / business type meetups... go them all! Be nice, have fun, listen to what people say, and when the opportunity comes up - usually when they ask you what you do (people are interested in you if you're interested in them), tell them you're a UI designer. Give them your card. Take their card. Send them an email telling them how glad you were to meet them (which, you were).

Place an ad on Craigslist / other popular classifieds sites. I know someone who started getting UI work this way.

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I cannot stress this more. Portfolios speak volumes, and if you have yet to start on a project with your new found skills the obvious course of action would be to create your own to start with.

When I was starting out with Python I wished to work with Django projects, so I thought myself the framework. Then I created my first web app in Django, http://www.cvstash.com, and with it I scored a couple of Django projects just by showing it. Now I work full time. If I'm going to switch technologies or would like to get some freelance gigs on other frameworks and/or languages, say RoR, I would do the same. Work experience is better, but being able to work on something on your own to start says a lot.

Off-topic: If you put time in examining a possible market with your website it might even turn out to be a win-win situation, with you getting passive income from it.

To summarize, you need a portfolio like vishaldpatel said. If you don't have one yet, then get started with doing something for yourself. Buy a domain if you don't have one yet, and show off your skills there.

Thanks - that's great advice.

The networking strategy makes sense to me. The more I learn about the business world, the more I realize the importance of networking. Deals seem to come out of friendships more than anything.

In terms of websites with my work, I didn't want to include them in the original post because this is about getting advice rather than trying to spam my services, but I did design http://www.concertwindow.com and http://www.tunesinthechurch.com. UI, design, development, the whole deal. Would love to hear any feedback!

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