[Israel.pm] Thoughts about Whether to Become Independant

Tue Jul 18 15:14:25 EEST 2006

Hi Uri!

Thanks for the advice. It makes a lot of sense.

Regards,

	Shlomi Fish

On Tuesday 18 July 2006 12:55, Uri Bruck wrote:
> Shlomi Fish wrote:
> > Hi all!
> >
> > This is a new essay I wrote a few days ago, as a way to brainstorm an
> > idea I'm having. It's written from my personal perspective but has
> > implications for many other tech workers. Please read it if you have the
> > time and nerve. Flame away!
> >
> > Regards,
> >
> > 	Shlomi Fish
> >
> > =============================
> >
> > It used to be commonly accepted that one has to find a permanent
> > full-time (or possibly half-time) job where he works for a salary. Yet,
> > recently I came to know many people who are already freelancers and work
> > as consultants or contractors. In this essay I'm trying to brainstorm
> > with myself about whether I should become one too, but of course, other
> > people may wish to consider it.
> >
> > -----------
> >
> > Carla Schroder has written an excellent essay encouraging female
> > programmers to
> > become freelancers:
> >
> > http://lxer.com/module/newswire/view/47357/index.html
> >
> > Despite the fact that it is directed towards females, it makes a good
> > read by men too, and what she says there is pretty much gender-neutral.
> > Another factor that caused me to need to reconsider working as a salaried
> > employee is Paul Graham's recent "Startup"-themed articles:
> >
> > http://www.paulgraham.com/hiring.html
> > http://www.paulgraham.com/opensource.html
> > http://www.paulgraham.com/wealth.html
> > http://www.paulgraham.com/start.html
> >
> > Now in one of them Graham says that running a startup is hard, and one of
> > the students that took it said something like "I imagined it would be
> > hard, but I didn't think it would be that hard.". And here's the problem
> > - I cannot handle pressure too well:
> >
> > http://mirror.hamakor.org.il/archives/discussions/06-2006/3376.html
> > (link in Hebrew).
> >
> > So I'd rather not start a startup. But often what Paul Graham says is
> > just negative aspects of working as a regular employee, rather than
> > supporting starting your own startup.
> >
> > This got me thinking that maybe I should try to make my living as a
> > consultant, contractor and/or trainer or private teacher rather than work
> > as a full time employee.
> >
> > Here are some good and bad points (in no particular order) about such a
> > change:
> >
> > 1. I'll have to do my own accounting, taxes, etc.
> > -------------------------------------------------
> >
> > Being a salaried employee has an advantage of not having to worry about
> > taxes, because the company has an accountant that takes care of that.
> > Being a freelancer means one will have to manage his own taxes, by
> > reporting to an external accountant.
>
> You need to get a short tutorial from an accountant once so you know how
> not to make a mess of things, and then spend some time with him once a
> year for the annual report. Whatever you pay him is deductible expense.
>
> > I find taking a care of my finances a bit intimidating at the moment
> > (most probably due to the reputation it got in the media), but I guess I
> > can learn how to do it. Many people are doing it, some of them not very
> > intelligent, and there's always GnuCash for help.
> >
> > 2. I can do what I choose
> > -------------------------
> >
> > Being a full time employee means that I have to work on one certain
> > project that doesn't seem to end, day after day.
>
> It also means you don't need to spend time on marketing yourself, which
> is part of what a freelancer does.
>
> You need to set yourself goals. What's your desired income? How many
> hours do you think you should work for this income?
> If you can get enough work to meet these goals, and if you can do that
> work in the time you set for yourself, then you do what you choose.
> Also keep in mind that as a freelancer you do not get paid vacation.
> Every single client believes that his project is the most important
> project you have.
> You recently posted a long letter about job interviews, if you plan to
> subcontract work, then many individual projects will start with a mini
> job interview.
> You will also need to spend time that you will not get directly
> compensated for, accounting, marketing.
>
> > As someone once told me this "causes
> > the mind to run in circles.". Naturally, I still have after hours and the
> > weekend to do things I prefer to do (like working on open source
> > software, essays, my web sites, etc.)
> >
> > However, it's still not too much, and I often feel guilty for not working
> > on the work's project more. While I'm very happy with my current
> > workplace (see http://shlomif.livejournal.com/9563.html for instance), I
> > find that I dislike monotonous work.
> >
> > I used to like working between the times I was a high school student and
> > the time I started studying in the Technion. However, back then, I was
> > much less experienced and as a result constantly learnt many new things.
> > During and after the Technion I became heavily interested and involved in
> > the Free and Open Source Software world, which also proved to be very
> > exciting. At most days, I used to do a lot of different things, while
> > still being able to get a lot done.
> >
> > Thus, right now a permanent job seems a bit like some kind of slavery.
>
> Wage slavery is one's default condition in a capitalist society. It is
> the condition where one must hire out his own labor merely to be able to
> be able to survive.
>
> > Yes,
> > it is interesting, but I feel that I'd rather not commit to doing the
> > same thing every day for 8 hours.
> >
> > Being a freelancer has the advantage of working on several different
> > things, and often on areas that I'm interested on in general and in the
> > moment. I can set up a good price, choose only projects that I know will
> > not take too long,
>
> There are some advantages to long duration projects. You secure work for
> a certain duration and spend less time marketing. Having regular or
> semi-regular clients is a good thing.
>
> > work on different things as time goes by. I can also say "No." if
> > something does not interest me or I have a bad feeling about the company.
> >
> > 3. I would need good contacts and publicity
> > -------------------------------------------
> >
> > Audrey Tang, a very famous Perl hacker (see
> > http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Audrey_Tang ) who now makes her living as
> > a consultant, told me on IRC that as a consultant "The first year is
> > always tough.". Before I joined my current workplace, my parents
> > supported me (and I'm still living there - [Footnote: LiveAtHome]), and I
> > also made some money off some programming gigs. Not enough to support
> > myself without my parents, but I still made some.
> >
> > I advertised my availability as a person for hire:
> >
> > http://www.shlomifish.org/work/hire-me/
> >
> > And received some interest, but nothing final. I received some interest
> > also after I started working.
> >
> > I already have some reputation among several Israeli and International
> > circles, and with some work I can build more and become more well known.
> > It is possible my web-site and other online resources currently have some
> > usability or SEO problems that prevent me from being noticed. (For once,
> > most of my site is in English, including the hire me page).
> >
> > I guess everyone can get contacts, especially in today's Internetworked
> > world. If I commit to be a freelancer for a long time (which I didn't so
> > far, just was looking for a job), I might get lucky.
>
> Contacts are good. But you also need to actively market yourself.
>
> > 4. More time to do the things I like:
> > -------------------------------------
> >
> > There are many things I like to do in my free time. See my homepage for
> > a tentative list - http://www.shlomifish.org/ . Working as a freelancer
> > will enable me to have more time to do the things I like.
> >
> > In fact, while working on voluntary or independent projects is a burden
> > when working as a full-time employee, it is a big advantage as a
> > freelancer. That's because that way one gains newer insights about
> > programming and the world, and also makes one gain some reputation.
> >
> > Another point are various ideas I have for projects, that are both
> > open-source, and have a good commercial value. After a full day or week
> > of work, I'm too tired to do anything remotely commercial, but if I'm on
> > my own, I believe I'll be more willing to try.
> > And I also have a selfish interest
> > in developing such solutions, because they may mean more revenue, and
> > also may bring more consulting opportunities for me.
> >
> > 5. I can see the world:
> > -----------------------
> >
> > A final note is that being a consultant, contractor and trainer means
> > that I have greater opportunities to see the world: from conferences to
> > offers abroad. A freelancer I know often has to travel abroad (on the
> > expense of his clients) to give training courses, because his clients
> > cannot find a better one.
>
> I don't think most people do that.
>
> > I'd really like to visit different places, at least sometimes. I often
> > feel that staying in one place is too boring. I also would like to go to
> > conferences, even such that are not directly related to my specific job.
> >
> > Conclusion:
> > -----------
> >
> > After I finished writing it, it seems that the advantages outweigh the
> > disadvantages, which are very small. Obviously, I may be missing some
> > things. Some people who read it are probably already freelancers, and
> > most others probably interacted with them, and so may know things second
> > hand.
> >
> > Some people think that it may sometimes be too immature for someone to
> > become a freelancer. But it's hard for me to tell whether this is the
> > case for me.
> >
> > Thoughts, anyone?
>
> The first rule of wing walking : Don't let go of you've got until you've
> got hold of something else.
> It's not always possible to follow that rule. Starting a company may
> take more than a full time job. Prodiving consultancy and developments
> services is something that you can do part time. If you can make move
> gradually it might be better.
> You may need to do this in addition to your full time regular job at first.
> I don't know your current job requirements, but you did write that you
> do it partly offsite. If your offsite commitment is to a number of hours
> rather than specific hours than you can use some of the "normal" working
> hours for contacting people.
>
> The first step in becoming first employed is getting your first client.
> If you can get a regular client, even better.
>
> Good Luck!
>
> > ----------
> >
> > [LiveAtHome] - Note to American and other international readers: in
> > Israel there is much less a taboo against children living in their
> > parents' house even after graduation from college. I am not the only one
> > in my age that lives in his parents' house.
> >
> > ---------------------------------------------------------------------
> > Shlomi Fish      shlomif at iglu.org.il
> > Homepage:        http://www.shlomifish.org/
> >
> > Chuck Norris wrote a complete Perl 6 implementation in a day but then
> > destroyed all evidence with his bare hands, so no one will know his
> > secrets. _______________________________________________
> > Perl mailing list
> > Perl at perl.org.il
> > http://perl.org.il/mailman/listinfo/perl

-- 

---------------------------------------------------------------------
Shlomi Fish      shlomif at iglu.org.il
Homepage:        http://www.shlomifish.org/

Chuck Norris wrote a complete Perl 6 implementation in a day but then
destroyed all evidence with his bare hands, so no one will know his secrets.