Hey Everyone,
I wanted to pose a question for the developers and designers out there about their thoughts on working Freelance vs having a steady job (startup or even a more corporate setting). I've heard all the stories about what exactly you need to do to be successful in freelance and how its not as glamorous as some would think. So try not to think this is some college graduate trying to decide between working from bed or sticking with his 9-5 gig in the bay area. I Don't live in San Francisco, I've never had a 9 to 5 job, I could never stand working from bed, and at this point I don't think I'm considered a college graduate. Perhaps after hearing the specifics of my situation, your thoughts or feedback may change.
What would best describe me now is to say that I am currently a Freelance Web developer making my living by developing Ruby on Rails sites. The majority of my work comes from a single design firm at this point, that is supplemented by a few one off jobs and by the Social Media Marketing I also do for local businesses. I have been freelancing exclusively now for about a year and have no real savings to speak of. I pay the bills, but nothing is ever consistent enough ( or pays well enough ) to really allow for savings. I never willfully chose to become a freelance developer and I think that fact is what makes me slightly different from most other developers in my field. Perhaps I would feel differently if this has been something I had chosen. I applied for a few dozen junior developer positions last year and made it very far into the interview process, but was told I needed more real world experience before they would justify hiring me. I tried to follow and contribute to open source, but the majority of that work left me little I could be proud of. I have to admit I was underprepared for how intimidating working on some open source projects could be, so I looked elsewhere. I started looking for work on Odesk and Elance to get that experience. The problem I am having, is that now, a year later, I am still considered under qualified it seems and due to some NDAs and non applicable client work, I have very little to bolster my resume over this year. Despite that fact, I feel more qualified than ever to actually take on a "real job" or ask more from clients. I've tackled ridiculous problems, obscure bugs, and delivered sound code, but it's hard for that not to sound just like hot air. In case anyone asks, I do not have a CS Degree as I couldn't really afford college.
Now this is not meant to be a sob story and I really hope it doesn't sound that way, but I wanted to know if anyone else ever found themselves in a similar position or if they have any thoughts or advice. I wouldn't mind making a career of freelancing if it felt like one, I can't see a way for me to effectively use freelancing as a career option and make enough money for it to be seriously considered. I also don't have any qualms with actually taking a normal job, but at this point, being a self taught solo developer, I'm sure my skills are odd to say the least. I do not feel I'd be unqualified, but I just know that I probably don't do things the way a CS graduate who has worked in a startup for 3 years would approach a program or style/organize their code.
Thanks for your time and input.
Sent from my iPad
