Hasan is a graduate with a degree in Economics. He is twenty seven years of age and does not work for any fixed employer. However, this young man earns about two hundred thousand taka each month using his expertise as a writer. There are hundreds of websites on the Internet which look for freelance writers who can help a student, irrespective of locations, with his or her assignments. Hasan bids at a handful of these websites for writing assignments or projects like millions of other freelance writers across the world and upon completion of the task he receives enviable remuneration for his efforts. There are some websites which are willing to pay as high as thirty dollars per hour for such assignments, depending on the proficiency, quality of workmanship and punctuality in meeting deadlines of the contributor. One might have to write on multifarious disciplines and diverse topics. For example, if you think you are good at writing professional résumés, you might be astonished to find that many are looking for people like you on the web to help them in writing their ones.

It is not only writers who can think of freelancing on the Internet with their skills. Programmers have been prominent freelancers on the web, bidding for programming assignments and making handsome amounts each month. People with knowledge of software are also sought for. For example, if one has in-depth knowledge of the very popular CAD software AutoCAD, he might find himself earning large sums of money by helping those who require professional help with the software. Online tutoring is also becoming quite popular! A student in the United States might be willing to spend fifteen dollars per hour for you to help him grasp the basics of partial differential equations! It hardly matters where you are since with the astonishingly sophisticated communicating software nowadays; teaching is no longer restricted by the coexistence of the teacher. A freelancer from Africa might be helping a student in Europe with her interior design assignment.

In Bangladesh, since there is hardly any fair or disciplined scale of paying qualified graduates of different disciplines and that the employers exhibit despicable frugality when it comes to paying justly for effort, web freelancing presents for the ones with skill in our country with a wonderful opportunity to live an affluent life. Moreover, it is bound to create an inflow of foreign currency to Bangladesh. If freelancing becomes a dominant practice in Bangladesh, there is a possibility that the local employers might think of finally starting to offer the fresh graduates the salaries they rightly deserve. There are companies in Bangladesh who pay a graduate from Bangladesh University of Engineering Technology twenty thousand taka (about two hundred forty dollars) as a monthly salary. And freelancers like Hasan might earn twenty thousand in roughly three days! Hassan’s reluctance to work for a traditional employer in Bangladesh thus is elucidated cogently. Another important way working as a freelancer can influence Bangladesh’s economic condition by considerably reducing unemployment. So if you think you are good at something, you should take advantage of living in the era of technological advancement and start looking for things to do online. You are unlikely to be disappointed.

The writer is a columnist of daily sun.