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Another disadvantage of freelancing is generally lower bar of requirements and less interesting work. There are always exceptions, of course, but it's usually m

Another disadvantage of freelancing is generally lower bar of requirements and less interesting work. There are always exceptions, of course, but it's usually mind-destroying disposable CRUD work or building iOS clones of existing web apps, don't expect to eat "rich programmer food" [1] as a freelancer. Besides, you will rarely have an opportunity to learn from other/smarter people, so growing professionally will be a challenge. I may even go as far as to say it's very easy to see your programming skills deteriorate unless you apply a conscious effort to mentally stay in shape. There are always exceptions of course (especially for a specialist vs generalist) but this has been my experience being on both sides of the table. [1] http://steve-yegge.blogspot.com.tr/2007/06/rich-programmer-food.html http://steve-yegge.blogspot.com.tr/2007/06/rich-programmer-f...

CM30 11y ago
On the other hand, I would point out that sometimes the opposite is true. Working alone (or perhaps in a place where you might be one of the best in the room) means you learn more about programming and how to solve problems than you would otherwise. Why? Because if you're the only one working on something, you have to be the one to solve all the difficult problems. On the other hand, if you work with other/smarter people, it's also possible to end up not really doing as much challenging work, as they'll take over anything you see as too 'difficult' or too much effort to learn. It's definitely recommended to learn from others, but you have to make sure you're not just letting them do all the work.
michaelbuddy 11y ago
you can definitely get some weak projects but if you like for example to see small businesses grow and you do web / graphics / marketing you can take them and see them through a campaign that is above what they've ever had and get results that they only hoped for. I've seen from my work a company go from a low / medium player in their market to near top dog because they became more visible. It wasn't just marketing of course, their service was always good just they didn't stand out amongst the clutter. I've also had a lot of uninteresting work at companies too. Because the areas I consider fun, planning, strategy, communicating with the clients are handled by account managers and designer devs get 2nd hand info after the meetings. In a lot of ways the luster or shine of the project is gone and it quickly turns into a digital todo list.

CM30 11y ago

On the other hand, I would point out that sometimes the opposite is true. Working alone (or perhaps in a place where you might be one of the best in the room) means you learn more about programming and how to solve problems than you would otherwise. Why? Because if you're the only one working on something, you have to be the one to solve all the difficult problems. On the other hand, if you work with other/smarter people, it's also possible to end up not really doing as much challenging work, as they'll take over anything you see as too 'difficult' or too much effort to learn. It's definitely recommended to learn from others, but you have to make sure you're not just letting them do all the work.

michaelbuddy 11y ago

you can definitely get some weak projects but if you like for example to see small businesses grow and you do web / graphics / marketing you can take them and see them through a campaign that is above what they've ever had and get results that they only hoped for. I've seen from my work a company go from a low / medium player in their market to near top dog because they became more visible. It wasn't just marketing of course, their service was always good just they didn't stand out amongst the clutter. I've also had a lot of uninteresting work at companies too. Because the areas I consider fun, planning, strategy, communicating with the clients are handled by account managers and designer devs get 2nd hand info after the meetings. In a lot of ways the luster or shine of the project is gone and it quickly turns into a digital todo list.