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Was self employed and worked as contractor programmer for the longest time until a couple of years ago. Thought I would work less. Boy was I wrong. Chasing clie
by racl101 3y ago
Was self employed and worked as contractor programmer for the longest time until a couple of years ago. Thought I would work less. Boy was I wrong. Chasing clients, doing taxes, invoicing people and praying they'll pay on time. Got sick of the not very dependable cash flow which was feast and famine cycles. Went to get a corporate job and even though the work is not as exciting and the codebase is legacy, at least I don't sweat the next paycheck.
- JamesBarney 3y agoYeah did the same, and I'm also enjoying the corporate life. Learned a ton of lessons, the first of which is starting a consulting shop for general development is fools errand. You can kind of make if worth it if you're decent at sales and offshore everything. If I do it again I'll slice our niche down thinner than prosciutto, something like CRM integrations for real estate agents, and have contracts that allowed us to own the IP.
- zoomablemind 3y ago> ...and have contracts that allowed us to own the IP. Is it a dreamland or such clause is really possible in the present day cookie-cutter contracts?
- JamesBarney 3y agoIt depends. Large enterprise clients would never let you own the IP. But those gigs are usually pretty profitable because they're large and they can afford high rates. Small clients mostly don't care unless they are planning on selling the software. And mid sized clients it seems to depend on whether or not they see it as a cost savings measure or competitive advantage. If it's the latter you can usually justify higher rates.