5 ms·

I haven't had a job in over a year because I've been living at home in the middle of nowhere, but I have no dearth of purpose in life. It is a great time to com

by zanny 13y ago

I haven't had a job in over a year because I've been living at home in the middle of nowhere, but I have no dearth of purpose in life. It is a great time to commit to open source, learn new technologies and I developed a plethora of sysadmin skills in that time I never had anything close to when graduating college with a java degree while still dual booting Windows and Ubuntu. While I intend to seek out employment this fall in Texas, right now I have a dozen foss projects I want to work on and have a larger issue finding the projects that most need the development effort and are willing to accept new contributions than finding things to do. I have patches in the works for 4 projects right now, in varying levels of bug tracker hell, and I'm eyeing another 3 for this weekend. I'm much more concerned about looking lost after spending 6 months writing some java crapware for a faceless company 8 hours a day after losing all my passion. So you are right, the money and the purpose are completely distinct, and for some they can completely conflict with one another. I always intended to try freelancing instead of going into a droll office setting to grind myself to hate my profession, but I've realized it takes way too much networking and social engineering to get a start that I just don't have, which sucks.

dllthomas 13y ago
I just want to thank you for your contributions.
scarecrowbob 13y ago
Hey, I'm in TX, too (Fredericksburg, though I used to be in Lubbock and Amarillo)... I found that about 8mos of stupid job BS was all I cold take. I haven't had a W2 job in 5 years, though I did spend 6mos getting screwed as a "1099" 9-5 on-site "contractor". It really isn't hard to find a normal salary level of freelance gigs if you like working with other people making software, though you do have to want to do it and you have to be both open minded and (oddly) selective about the kinds of projects you take on. Not to mention that you do have to send out a lot of feelers and try and learn how to read prospective situations. Most of what I do isn't as nice as adding features to FOSS projects, but it's fun in the same way. ... just an attempt to encourage you to freelance (even if you take a job first). To be honest, it doesn't take "social engineering"... it just takes a while to learn how to present yourself better than the alternatives and learn it as a business (it took me about 2 years). I work 3-6 billable hours a day, and spend the rest of my 8-10 hour work day (when I don't have a gig or go hiking) learning new stuff (which I find fun). Personally, I like freelance developing a lot more than "passive income" strategies... I spend a lot of time working for people trying to flesh out those strategies, and sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. But I think I have more fun, and will keep on this path until doing it when I'm 75 doesn't sound appealing.

by zanny 13y ago

dllthomas 13y ago

I just want to thank you for your contributions.

scarecrowbob 13y ago

Hey, I'm in TX, too (Fredericksburg, though I used to be in Lubbock and Amarillo)... I found that about 8mos of stupid job BS was all I cold take. I haven't had a W2 job in 5 years, though I did spend 6mos getting screwed as a "1099" 9-5 on-site "contractor". It really isn't hard to find a normal salary level of freelance gigs if you like working with other people making software, though you do have to want to do it and you have to be both open minded and (oddly) selective about the kinds of projects you take on. Not to mention that you do have to send out a lot of feelers and try and learn how to read prospective situations. Most of what I do isn't as nice as adding features to FOSS projects, but it's fun in the same way. ... just an attempt to encourage you to freelance (even if you take a job first). To be honest, it doesn't take "social engineering"... it just takes a while to learn how to present yourself better than the alternatives and learn it as a business (it took me about 2 years). I work 3-6 billable hours a day, and spend the rest of my 8-10 hour work day (when I don't have a gig or go hiking) learning new stuff (which I find fun). Personally, I like freelance developing a lot more than "passive income" strategies... I spend a lot of time working for people trying to flesh out those strategies, and sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. But I think I have more fun, and will keep on this path until doing it when I'm 75 doesn't sound appealing.