A year in the life of a Rails freelancer
19 Mar 2008Many moons ago I wrote a quick status report on my first 100 days of Rails consulting. Now that it has been over a year since I joined the freelance world full time, I figured it was a good time to reflect again on that experience.
I said it then, and I’ll say it again—this experience has been a blast. I may go to work for someone else again at some point in the future, but for now I’m loving being independent. I’ve learned to manage the stress of worrying about where the next check is coming from, and I’ve gotten into a rhythm with the ebb and flow of client work, so life is good.
If you happen to need someone to help you build your web application, drop me a line. My schedule stays pretty full, so don’t wait until the last minute to get in touch!
I’m looking forward to seeing what the next year will bring. :)
Hi, I’m a freelance rails developer too. i’m working two months and I love my work. I think the beast thing of be freelance developer is the independence and the free time to made other project. so… congratulations for your first year.
I also hope to fulfil my first year :)
I started doing Rails freelancing full-time last May after spending 20+ years in corporate I.T. I couldn’t agree more with what you. It’s not that I work a lot more hours now than when I was at a big company, but it seems that the hours that I am working are much more creative and intellectually exhausting. Its a good thing, because I am intellectually stimulated, yet, for the first time in my career, it has me desiring to adopt hobbies that have nothing to do with computers (which is also a good thing!).
The other challenge has been setup and maintenance of the whole business infrastructure that goes along with freelancing, from accounting to healthcare insurance, etc.
But I wouldn’t change any of it. I’m living my dream and working on stuff that is 10 times more interesting than anything I ever did at a corporate job. And there is something about the fact that I control my own destiny, that my success or failure depends on me, not on some corporate bureaucrat, that is very liberating.
Anyway, I’ve rambled on long enough. Good to hear you are having a blast. I know just how you feel!
I couldn’t agree more. I left my employer of 11 years last January with 2 friends an the three of us started a small consultancy doing rails work, training, team mentoring and process improvement, and it has been a fanastic experience. I wish it was easier to get started with all the corporate stuff – taxes, corp structure (we’re an S-corp), etc… at the time I wanted to spend all my time learning and keeping up with developments in the rails community I found myself having to simultaneously deal with details about insurance, taxes, etc.
Sounds like there is a need for a website to provide resources to freelancers starting their own businesses. Thoughts?
@Adam: http://freelanceswitch.com/