We obtain data from Upwork global freelancing platform using public API. Last data update was in April 2016
All data is anonymized and stored in local database, which includes around 2500 skills, 1 000 000 freelancers and 80 000 latest job posts
It is allowed to select from 1 to 10 skills by typing them in the input field or choosing from the most popular
Including lower paid skills will result to lower avg rate due to assumption of utilizing all skills not only highest paid
We use our own smart hybrid algorithm to analyze and process data for the chosen set of skills
Set of all freelancers was divided into 3 subsets: junior - worked from 1 to 40 hours, mid - worked from 40 to 160 hours, senior - 160+ hours
We show hybrid average hourly rate for each subset: junior, mid and senior
We show most popular skills appearing in job posts and freelancer's profiles including average rate among all freelancers
The problem isn't simple. E.g., total number of all combinations of 10 skills is C(2409,10) = 1780252821155653340971915440
We are planning to launch a challenge to find the most valuable combination of skills, since even we don't know the best combination
Let’s assume you've just learned the basics of one of the programming language. E.g. C# and average hourly rate among freelancers worked more than 160 hours is $25.60 per hour. You could also learn a language with a similar syntactic, let’s say JavaScript, which has an average hourly rate $25.41 (all future rates are for 160+ hours). The good news is that by combining those 2 skills you get a $26.48 rate, which is higher than each of them.
Try adding skills in the same manner, but get ready for some difficulties.
Learning more technologies is a good idea, but stay reasonable. Trying to be successful in everything can be out of the right way. For example, mixing previously learned C# language ($25.60) with JavaServer Pages (JSP) rated $23.58, which uses the Java programming language will result to $22.17, which is lower than each of the skills. Explanation for that is simple, it is better to go deeper into details than surface learning for that case.
Another example, adobe-photoshop: 13.97, database-adminstration: $12.49, but adobe-photoshop + database-adminstration: $11.56.
What should you learn next? The most popular skill used together with C# ($25.60) is a asp.net ($21.73) web application framework designed for web development. But adding it to your list will lower your hourly rate to $23.27. Strange, right? But it doesn’t mean that after learning something new you will be paid less. In real life knowing only one programming language without any additional technologies will not allow you to find a job. By learning more you may succeed in your job search. The lower rate for chosen combination just means that combination of c# and asp.net is not as well paid as other combinations of skills used by highly paid c#’ers.
The same applies to python ($34.14) and django framework ($32.66), when combining them gives you $33.11.
If a popular asp.net is not profitable combination for C#, what is better? Make a brief aside. Freelance is not like a big company where you have developers, testers, designers, administrators and coordinators for all of them. Clients prefer to hire a single person, which fits all their needs. So sitting on two seats might be a good idea if you can find a client who needs exactly yours combination of skills. So continuing with C# ($25.60) you could try forex-trading ($15.82), which is not well paid. But combination gives you a high $35.09 rate.
Another example is when it can be expensive to have a ruby developer $36.06 and linux-system-administrator $33.88 and probably spend time on coordinating them, and it can be a good idea to hire one person with both skills for a $40.40.
But it doesn’t mean that provided examples will work for you. That niche can be already taken. So search you own combinations.
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