Freelancer, Milano, Italy. They reach to me either for taking over existing projects or to start new ones. Of course it can be selection bias but it extends to the other developers I'm in contact with.
Just searched Milan on https://it.indeed.com - Node.js 123, Django 26, Rails 11, ASP.Net 133, Laravel 67. As Node is a web technology comparing it with general purpose languages such as Java and C# is apples to oranges.
Almost always word of mouth. They start looking for somebody experienced in what they want to do (development and/or software architecture) and some eventually find me.
He said word of mouth, obviously through a business network. It's a good thing to keep in touch with people and maintain business links for both parties. I do it all the time.
