Freelancer for over a decade here. You will have paperwork and meetings with clients as a freelancer. In general clients are not "technical" so you will have t

Freelancer for over a decade here. You will have paperwork and meetings with clients as a freelancer. In general clients are not "technical" so you will have to engage more with their business and requirements, and learn how to fill in the blanks. I juggle a few long-term clients now, and probably half of my time is spent with emails, Slack, phone/Zoom calls, GitHub issues, etc. I have to fill in the project manager, tech lead, and programmer roles. I don't mind that, I like getting involved with the business, but not everyone wants to deal with that. You will still have to deal with other contractors and f/t employees working for the client. I freelanced for my last f/t employer for several years (just fired them in February), I think that's fairly typical. It's easy for the employer/client since you're a known value/risk to them, but may cause hard feelings depending on how you handle it. Anecdotally I knew other freelancers who quit as fte and contracted back to their former employer, sometimes it worked out, sometimes not. Programmers who think freelancing will free them up from annoying human contact and non-technical stuff will probably not like freelancing. It requires some marketing, self-promotion, talking to customers, making decisions with incomplete information, constant communication. You will give up all the perks and have to pay for insurance and deal with self-employment taxes. On the other hand you have more freedom and can (usually) charge more than a f/t salary.