Can You Freelance with ServiceNow Skills? Here’s What the Data Says
In case you haven't noticed, we're living in the gig economy era. Thirty-six percent of the U.S. workforce calls themselves independent workers, meaning they're freelance or contract workers. "Skilled Tech" gigs can be found on all freelancing platforms: cloud migrations, cybersecurity triage, and IT Service Management (ITSM) projects are all increasingly being done on a limited contract basis. And the hourly rate for some of these contractors can be extremely attractive.
Upwork's most talented "enterprise ITSM consultants" bill $200 an hour and are booked out for months. So why are companies suddenly turning to contract support? There are three likely culprits:
Post-Pandemic Cost Control: It's more attractive to buy talent in bite-sized chunks than long-term salary investments.
Project Sprawl: Cloud, SaaS, and PaaS rollouts create waves of tasks that don’t justify a permanent increase in headcount.
Skills Gaps: When they can’t fill full-time requests quickly enough, managers often turn to contractors.
Freelance work is undeniably booming right now. One of the fastest-growing sectors of the contractor scene is ServiceNow and ITSM management and consulting.
What Does the Data Say?
According to one industry survey, ServiceNow gigs are quickly growing in popularity. There was a 55% year-over-year increase in contract roles tagged "ServiceNow," while full-time openings grew at a slightly slower rate of 32%. Translation: companies want contractors who can help them implement their ServiceNow platform now.
Visit a labor marketplace like Upwork, Freelancer.com, or LinkedIn, and you'll find plenty of job openings for someone with ServiceNow administration background. Some job titles to look for:
ServiceNow Developer
CMDB Specialist
ITSM Workflow Designer
Platform Consultant
SecOps Contractor
Senior Architect
There are too many variables with each post to come up with a solid estimate, but depending on the job, experience, and credentials required for the position, the pay range for these ServiceNow freelance positions ranges between $55 and $120 per hour.
ServiceNow Skills That Travel Well
Not every ServiceNow administrative task converts neatly into gig work. Hopefully, no one is out there hiring a day-rate contractor for resetting passwords. But, there are plenty of ServiceNow skills that fall into export-ready buckets.
ITSM Module Cleanup: When tickets get stuck in purgatory or SLA rules misfire, companies pay outsiders to unjam the queue.
CMDB Discovery and Service Mapping: Unfortunately, internal teams tend to avoid ugly, time-eating work like this, but if you like it, it's yours for the taking.
Integration Hub and API Stitch-Ups: Connecting ServiceNow to Azure, SAP, or an ancient mainframe requires a rare blend of process and code. You can arrive out of the blue to provide specialization support that internal teams often lack.
GRC, IRM, and SecOps: If you're in the compliance world, you're familiar with the audit season panic. When companies get worried about passing inspection, freelancers are welcomed to build out the necessary paperwork and incident playbooks.
App Engine Scoped Apps: Freelancers can leverage successful implementations from previous projects, drawing on broader experience than most internal teams, to launch quick and custom apps for niche processes.
If you speak ServiceNow lingo, you can probably tell that when the job is gnarlier and more specialized, it wears a steeper freelance price tag. That suggests that generic, entry-level familiarity with ServiceNow administration isn't as valuable as tailored and specialized experience. But even the skills that come with the ServiceNow Certified Systems Administrator (CSA) are enough to get your application to the top of the list.
What are the Pros and Cons of Freelancing with ServiceNow?
The freelance life isn't for everyone. But most people on the outside don't know what it's like, or they don't have the opportunity to think about the trade-offs that come with "being your own boss". Contracting as a ServiceNow administrator isn't hugely different from contracting in other industries. It's worth thinking carefully about them before you get started.
The pros of freelancing as a ServiceNow admin include:
Premium Rates: Companies call in contractors when they need problems fixed right away. That almost always means that even mid-tier freelance administrators are making more than their salaried counterparts.
Remote-First Projects: ServiceNow is a cloud-based platform, and there's very little difference between making updates and tweaks to the platform from home in your underwear than doing it in a corporate office at a desk. Most clients don't care where you're sitting when you're doing contract work.
Project Variety: Unlike salaried employees, who tend to get siloed and corralled into a particular kind of work, contractors tend to be spread across the most urgent projects. That could mean that one month you’re taming a CMDB and the next you’re automating an onboarding flow.
Skill Compounding: Once you're working with a client, they'll throw everything your way they can, and that means you learn new solutions to old problems or old solutions to new problems. And each problem you solve becomes good resume material for the next gig.
Of course, there are some negatives to working as a freelancer. Cons to this work setup include:
Irregular Cash Flow: Freelance work often feels like a feast-or-famine situation. When the work is going strong, you're making all the money you need. When things slow down, it can feel like they really slow down.
Security Gauntlets: You're dealing with companies' deepest, darkest secrets and most important folders and files. Clients will sometimes require freelancers to undergo background checks, VPN verification, and laptop lockdowns.
License Handcuffs: You only have admin rights while a client grants you a paid seat on their instance. When the engagement ends, your user record and any personal artifacts disappear. If you forget to package up your update sets, scoped apps, or any other documentation outside the platform, you can lose code, test logs, and portfolio proof overnight.
DIY Benefits: There's a reason employers don't want you on their books: at least in the United States, you have to cover your own health insurance, taxes, and retirement.
How to Start Freelancing with ServiceNow
Working as a ServiceNow admin freelancer isn't for everyone. But, if you're looking for a well-paying, flexible career that will keep you on your toes, it's worth considering. Here's how to get started.
Lock In The Basics: CSA and At Least One Specialty
Nobody wants to hire a "ServiceNow enthusiast". Take a good Certified System Administrator course, earn the CSA, and follow it up with a badge in the arena you want to specialize in. Streamlining day-to-day tech operations, smoothing out HR onboarding, tightening an organization's security response? These are all directions you can go in with the right ServiceNow specialization.
Curate a Mini-Portfolio
Package a story that tells your experience and expertise. Take screenshots of dashboards, export a redacted update set, and build a one-pager on how you sliced mean-time-to-resolve by 40 percent. Host it with a place like Notion or GitBook.
Pick a Marketplace (But Don’t Get Married To It)
Each labor marketplace you put yourself on takes up precious time and energy to manage. Think carefully about where to advertise yourself. Upwork and Freelancer provide instant exposure, but their fees can be a drawback. LinkedIn contracts and places like ThirdEra, GlideFast, or Cask often pay more but require a networking hustle. Start where you feel like you can build momentum, and then diversify.
Price by Value, Not Fear
The start of your freelancing career is scary, and many new freelancers are so desperate for a paycheck that they underbid just to get anything. Check your competition. Place a sizable value on niche badges. The best clients are willing to negotiate, so be sure to leave yourself room.
Master the "Quick Win"
It's easier said than done, but try to move rapidly on your first contracts. Look for short, easy contracts that can result in your solving an annoying problem in two weeks or less, and then over-communicate the results. Nothing markets a freelancer like a relieved stakeholder bragging to colleagues.
Conclusion: Is Freelancing with ServiceNow Skills Realistic?
Short answer? Yes, as long as you're aiming at the right problems and treating it like a business, not a side hustle powered by hope. There's a real demand spike for ServiceNow admins, and the hourly rates are healthy. Still, fortune favors the organized.
On the other hand, if you crave a steady paycheck, prefer one boss at a time, or have a panic attack at the thought of quarterly tax estimates, you might want to stay full-time. ServiceNow-savvy employers still need full-time staff, and enterprises that adopt the platform aren't getting rid of it anytime soon.
No matter what you plan to do, full-time or freelance, you're going to need solid ServiceNow skills. The best place to start is with the CBT Nuggets course on ServiceNow.
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