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If they do push back they will be held out. Freelance labor has little to no power, even at the rockstar level. Perhaps only at the celebrity and political leve

If they do push back they will be held out. Freelance labor has little to no power, even at the rockstar level. Perhaps only at the celebrity and political level is there power. Certainly if you have open side channels with actual decision makers you will have some power, but it is a very soft and fickle one. Parallel work contracts are the most nefarious tool, these days you can pretty much assume someone else is working on a something that can stand in place of what you're working on, ostensibly in case you fail, but also as a power asymmetry that makes all freelance work completely disposable. More broadly the business can fail, and there are similar business out there to pick up the slack. Stop working and watch your company fall apart, it doesn't really matter and is perhaps the intended function of competitive capitalism.

JCDenton2052 8y ago
Michael O'Church, is that you?
- poulsbohemian 8y ago
  Oh man! I miss that guy! Yeah he could be verbose and preachy, but at least he made interesting arguments.
- haskellandchill 8y ago
  I'm a fan of his work, yes.
bitcoinisqueen 8y ago
>Stop working and watch your company fall apart, it doesn't really matter and is perhaps the intended function of competitive capitalism. What do you mean by "competitive capitalism"? I'm not aware of such a theory or what that entails. Capitalism is merely a system of voluntary trade of consenting adults. Nothing more and nothing less. Also this statement: >Stop working and watch your company fall apart, Can also be rephrased, to be just as true: "Stop working and watch your body fall apart" The reason it is true is simply because entropy increases with time and the thermodynamic laws appear to hold. No need to get to societal-level explainations when a simpler (mathematical) explaination is sufficient.
milesvp 8y ago
I'm not sure I understand why this comment is being downvoted. It's got a minor preachy tone, but I'm not convinced the game theoretic logic is unsound. There are benefits for both sides to being freelance, but that doesn't negate the general power dynamic which is the person with the most power dictates better terms in a contract, and if you're providing a commodity service you can't expect to have any bargaining power at all. The author of the article was in a very privileged position to be able to, both, afford to speak out, and have available outlets for it to make even a minor difference.
- haskellandchill 8y ago
  I deserve my down votes. This is explicitly designed not to be a political forum. I have come to the conclusion that there is no neutral pursuit of technology and my participation here is thus a contradiction. Still I want to get to 400 karma for that juicy downvote button. Thanks for the commentary I will work on being less preachy.
josephjrobison 8y ago
I’ve had the opposite experience. If you have a specialized, valuable skill and are a decent communicator with the client, it’s much more painful to replace you as a freelancer than to keep you happy. Of course there are tons of nuances depending on client, profession, location, project, etc. If client has paid you your 50% deposit on the project, you’re halfway through, and there’s a critical deadline, there’s no way in hell they’d want to jeopardize replacing you the freelancer! I’m not a developer, but I’d imagine it’s even more true for great developers on important projects.

JCDenton2052 8y ago

Michael O'Church, is that you?

poulsbohemian 8y ago
Oh man! I miss that guy! Yeah he could be verbose and preachy, but at least he made interesting arguments.
haskellandchill 8y ago
I'm a fan of his work, yes.

bitcoinisqueen 8y ago

>Stop working and watch your company fall apart, it doesn't really matter and is perhaps the intended function of competitive capitalism. What do you mean by "competitive capitalism"? I'm not aware of such a theory or what that entails. Capitalism is merely a system of voluntary trade of consenting adults. Nothing more and nothing less. Also this statement: >Stop working and watch your company fall apart, Can also be rephrased, to be just as true: "Stop working and watch your body fall apart" The reason it is true is simply because entropy increases with time and the thermodynamic laws appear to hold. No need to get to societal-level explainations when a simpler (mathematical) explaination is sufficient.

milesvp 8y ago

I'm not sure I understand why this comment is being downvoted. It's got a minor preachy tone, but I'm not convinced the game theoretic logic is unsound. There are benefits for both sides to being freelance, but that doesn't negate the general power dynamic which is the person with the most power dictates better terms in a contract, and if you're providing a commodity service you can't expect to have any bargaining power at all. The author of the article was in a very privileged position to be able to, both, afford to speak out, and have available outlets for it to make even a minor difference.

haskellandchill 8y ago
I deserve my down votes. This is explicitly designed not to be a political forum. I have come to the conclusion that there is no neutral pursuit of technology and my participation here is thus a contradiction. Still I want to get to 400 karma for that juicy downvote button. Thanks for the commentary I will work on being less preachy.

josephjrobison 8y ago

I’ve had the opposite experience. If you have a specialized, valuable skill and are a decent communicator with the client, it’s much more painful to replace you as a freelancer than to keep you happy. Of course there are tons of nuances depending on client, profession, location, project, etc. If client has paid you your 50% deposit on the project, you’re halfway through, and there’s a critical deadline, there’s no way in hell they’d want to jeopardize replacing you the freelancer! I’m not a developer, but I’d imagine it’s even more true for great developers on important projects.