I’ve been building Bubble apps for quite some time now and not too long ago I had the liberty of being super selective of who I work with; but that’s not the case anymore. I feel like the number of jobs I can apply to, or the number of people approaching me has gone down a lot. Is it just me or do you guys feel it too?
PS. I primarily gain clients from Upwork (sometimes LinkedIn as well)
I think it’s temporary though, expecting requests to spike later this year
Yes and no. I’ve come to feel that Bubble is cyclical, maybe not by months or anything time related, but to their own efforts in marketing I believe. I’ve seen drops in template sales in the past around times when Bubble began new marketing efforts that saw less emphasis on their template marketplace.
I expect right now all bubble marketing is going toward AI and mobile.
There is definitely less easy pickings though, something I had been expecting for the past 18 months as the rise of AI was going to detract the more DIY types, who would be more inclined to use freelancers for smaller tasks or to take over a project, from engaging paid development help, and when AI is not able to build fully, I imagine, the user would be more likely to turn to a larger agency with a better client funnel.
It is more important now than ever for Bubble developers to be actively seeking client work through their own continued efforts and a big part of that is developing a solid client funnel, and not relying on the ‘rising tide raises all ships’ mentality that Bubble as it grows will continue to bring in enough new clients for freelancers to continue to have the same income.
This will not just continue due to AI or Bubble marketing, but also because as developers get faster at shipping bubble apps to clients due to AI improving their speed to development, the costs of projects will dip, which for me, would mean, that a developer earning 100K a year last year on 10 client projects, might need 20 client projects to earn the same 100K next year because each project will bring in less money as agencies and developers begin to charge less.
I could be wrong and my ability to read the tea leaves may be fading as is my normal eyesight, but at least for me, that is what I am expecting and how I am focused on pivoting my approach to earning a living as a bubble developer.
Interesting take. Any tips on how I can develop a solid client funnel?
Pick a niche and go after it. There are so many different ways in which a bubble developer can create a client funnel for themselves. Most of the ways in which you do it will depend on who you target for clients and why. The why part should be mostly answered as because you enjoy working on the project types or for the client types. You would want to know what type of projects you enjoy and which you’d excel at and which would be needed in the AI environment. Highly technical feature set additions, or debugging broken AI developed Highly technical features may be the types of projects that are plentiful, but may or may not suit your desired style of working.
And a lot of what should you do to build a client funnel for your business depends a lot on you and what you want to do to earn a living. One thing I believe not many are focused on now, is realizing as a highly skilled Bubble developer, your ability to earn a living leveraging that skill is not solely dependent on your ability to develop apps for clients, as you can have various approaches to how and for what you charge clients.
I also feel that. Is summer usually slower?
Thanks for sharing your perspective
I’m curious to hear your thoughts on this especially since I have just begun my no-code journey a few months ago:
Do you think the demand for freelance Bubble developers will significantly decrease over the next 3–5 years as AI tools get better and more founders try to DIY, or do you see the nature of the work just shifting (e.g., smaller budgets, faster turnaround, more backend/API-heavy tasks)?
I don’t think this is a question to be concerned with. The skills that make a good Bubble developer a good AI-assisted developer are pretty much identical and transferable. If you become an expert Bubble developer, you will also have accidentally become an expert AI-assisted coder as you think about engineering concepts in the right way. So, if that happened and Bubble dev demand did decrease (which I don’t think it will - the demand for expert Bubble developers has never been higher, and I know no 1% developers that aren’t already packed with work), then it wouldn’t be a problem for you professionally anyway.
Yes, this is just expected for any industry that is being affected by AI. I’ve been expressing these opinions since AI and especially as Bubble announced integrating AI into the platform. And do not just take my opinion on this as something to believe in, just look for statistics on how this is already playing out in real time in tech industry.
I watched a youtube video on the subject recently that shows data points that are concerning. Firstly, it is harder for recent college graduates to get a job in tech and other industries that often have entry level positions that AI is handling fine now. The numbers show that there are a greater percentage of new graduates without jobs, and there are less jobs being posted online for these entry level types of jobs.
Another worrying statistic is that there are around 34% less internships available in tech this year compared to last, which is the idea that, less internships is equal to less job offerings for entry level, which equates to less demand for the entry level worker.
Another thing to keep in mind is that currently, the jobs that are safer are those that are for more experienced roles. This means in regards to Bubble that
the idea of the top 1% of developers area safe is true, but that doesn’t equate to a trickle down effect of less experienced freelance developers still being in high demand. The jobs that are the safest right now, are those that are roles that require more experience and the person performing that job is incorporating AI in that role. What that means is even though they are safer, they are actually not, especially if there are not incorporating AI into their work.
AI for more experienced professionals, is speeding up their work, which means companies, whose work requirements remain equal, when an employee begins to increase productivity through AI, the company can lay off workers in the same role, since the AI assisted worker is 3x-5x faster at their job than they were in the past. In some instances that can be as much as 9 out of 10 employees being redundant.
How that plays out for even the most experienced Bubble developers? That means, they are able to if using AI, work faster. That means, they will start to be able to be more price competitive with one another. So, since, it might make them 3x faster than before AI, they can offer the same end product for 1/3 the cost and stay at the same HOURLY income rate. What that means is they would then need to 3x their number of client projects to complete, just so they can remain at the same ANNUAL income level.
How does that play out in the real world outside of the Bubble? That means, because it is happening right now, that even the more experienced roles are seeing some less available jobs, some layoffs and a stagnation or in some cases even reduction in Salary offered.
So back to Bubble. Even if the demand for Bubble projects remained the same, and the same number of Bubble apps are getting built, they will likely be getting built at a lower cost than in years previous since developers can build them faster. In the 3x faster scenario, that means with a steady demand for Bubble apps, there is only a need for 1/3 of the Bubble developers that exist today.
What I do think will happen in Bubble development for developers, is that Bubble may very well be able to 3x the number of clients coming to Bubble in need of a developer to build an app for them through their efforts with AI and Mobile. At least, I would hope all the time, effort and money put into both of those would provide for such an increase in paying users for Bubble.
If Bubble is able to generate more leads for projects, than I think experienced bubble developers are going to be able to retain their same annual income levels as years passed. But, I do not see newer or less experienced freelance developers being able to. Part of the reason is that due to AI in Bubble, a lot of projects may be requiring a more experienced developer because they can do what AI can not, but the AI likely can do what a less experienced “junior” developer can. There is most probably a way to still earn a decent income as a “junior” developer, and the chances would be greater if a “junior” developer tried to focus and niche on a particular theme and become an expert in that, rather than attempting to be a ‘jack of all trades’. What I’m talking about there is maybe specializing in a specific app type, or feature set. And they would need to be confident and capable of creating their own client funnel.
You are smart to be concerned with AI, everybody should be as it already is and will continue to impact people’s earning potentials and the way in which they are able to work.
Another horrifying issue related to the entry level job thing, is that in 10 years time, when the experienced professionals filling higher level roles start to exit the workforce, there will be a shortage of workers with enough experience to fill those roles, because all the entry level jobs are going away right now. That means for everybody who interacts with corporations will be worse off because the experience levels of all higher ups will be lower than in decades past, resulting in less innovation, lesser quality outputs and overall a real world situation everybody should be thinking about.
Thank You, @georgecollier
I also checked your post “How to Get Hired As A Bubble Developer” which provides a lot of insights
Really insightful
Are there any beginner-friendly niches you’d recommend that are still in demand and realistic for juniors to break into?
Appreciate your take on this — trying to think long-term too.
Just think about a particular app type or feature set and maybe start focusing on that…could be something that you specialize in educational apps or AI chatbots that use app data. Lots of different things, and if short on ideas, just ask AI to give you some ideas.
You’re consulting with the parrot now? 
Yeah, a Parrot on strong digital psychedelics and hallucinates often to help with conjuring up ideas.
I’ve used AI to choose the right cat breed and my cat is cool.
