Thank you Erik, it makes lots of sense. But where do you start if you want to create a business while also honing your developer's skills? Is it at all possible for a fairly new developer to bypass the "employment" phase and go straight to independent entrepreneur status without just being a freelance?
Honestly, in some ways I think it's probably better to go straight to entrepreneur if you want to build something like a SaaS. The obvious downside is that you'll be simultaneously learning business principles/practices and software principles/practices, which is probably kind of a firehose.
But the upside (and I say this as someone with over a decade of corporate programming experience) is that a lot of lessons that help you become a good corporate software developer teach you to be a bad business owner. You wind up with a lot of stuff to unlearn (like preoccupation with tools/frameworks/stacks, for instance). I wrote a post about this once, if memory serves -- if it's interesting, I can try to dig up a link.
Yes! Thank you. That would be lovely. Do you see many other developers desiring to become independent? Or they are mostly content with securing a corporate career?
In a sense, I'm the wrong person to ask about this. My readership demographic for my site skews heavily toward senior developers looking to become consultants/freelancers/business owners, and those folks write into me with reader questions pretty steadily. So, yes, I see a ton of developers who want to go indy, but I'm probably experiencing a lot of sampling bias, so caveat emptor :)
As for the post, I found it. Looks like I wrote it about a year ago, musing about how salaried work can teach you some bad lessons about going independent: daedtech.com/employment-teaches-yo...
Thank you, Erik. I have found your post quite original. It does relay a different viewpoint than what I have found so far. I am referring particularly to the subject of passion as a selling point. I image you would still want to be somewhat passionate about what you do, otherwise, it might be a drag, but I see how that would not be a winning business proposition for a client. I will read more of your content as I see you have a very practical and clear approach to the field. It is amazing that you have a content generation company. I come from content myself, having been the editor in chief and a journalist of some major computer magazines for a while. I know very well what you describe as priorities in content generation :)
For further actions, you may consider blocking this person and/or reporting abuse
We're a place where coders share, stay up-to-date and grow their careers.
Thank you Erik, it makes lots of sense. But where do you start if you want to create a business while also honing your developer's skills? Is it at all possible for a fairly new developer to bypass the "employment" phase and go straight to independent entrepreneur status without just being a freelance?
Honestly, in some ways I think it's probably better to go straight to entrepreneur if you want to build something like a SaaS. The obvious downside is that you'll be simultaneously learning business principles/practices and software principles/practices, which is probably kind of a firehose.
But the upside (and I say this as someone with over a decade of corporate programming experience) is that a lot of lessons that help you become a good corporate software developer teach you to be a bad business owner. You wind up with a lot of stuff to unlearn (like preoccupation with tools/frameworks/stacks, for instance). I wrote a post about this once, if memory serves -- if it's interesting, I can try to dig up a link.
Yes! Thank you. That would be lovely. Do you see many other developers desiring to become independent? Or they are mostly content with securing a corporate career?
In a sense, I'm the wrong person to ask about this. My readership demographic for my site skews heavily toward senior developers looking to become consultants/freelancers/business owners, and those folks write into me with reader questions pretty steadily. So, yes, I see a ton of developers who want to go indy, but I'm probably experiencing a lot of sampling bias, so caveat emptor :)
As for the post, I found it. Looks like I wrote it about a year ago, musing about how salaried work can teach you some bad lessons about going independent: daedtech.com/employment-teaches-yo...
Thank you, Erik. I have found your post quite original. It does relay a different viewpoint than what I have found so far. I am referring particularly to the subject of passion as a selling point. I image you would still want to be somewhat passionate about what you do, otherwise, it might be a drag, but I see how that would not be a winning business proposition for a client. I will read more of your content as I see you have a very practical and clear approach to the field. It is amazing that you have a content generation company. I come from content myself, having been the editor in chief and a journalist of some major computer magazines for a while. I know very well what you describe as priorities in content generation :)