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While I sympathize with the author and faced the same kind of attitude while I was freelancing, it's a simple truth that it's easier for freelancers to change w

While I sympathize with the author and faced the same kind of attitude while I was freelancing, it's a simple truth that it's easier for freelancers to change what they're doing and join a startup than it is for most employees. You're already used to weird hours, you like having decision-making power, can wear many different hats, you can deal with a little financial uncertainty, you're not leaving any colleagues hanging and so on. It's a good profile for a startup engineer. Yes, it's presumptuous to think that you can't possibly be a freelancer because you want to be. No, that doesn't mean you should get upset because someone thinks you'd be a open to a recruitment pitch.

k__ 13y ago
If you're an employee, you quit your job and get going. If you're a freelancer, you have to get rid of all of your customers, which is much more troublesome than to just quitting a job.
- random42 13y ago
  It is more than _just_ troublesome. Once you out of "freelancing game" your leads start to dry up and if in future you want to go back to freelance consulting, will have to do all the hard legwork you have already done long back to re-establish yourself.
  - 7Figures2Commas 13y ago
    I disagree completely. If you have been successful freelancing (or consulting) in the past, chances are you are comfortable with running your own show and selling yourself. As such, an experienced freelancer won't be intimidated by the prospect of having to build a new client base. It will require work, but it's not new territory. The person who has always been an employee, on the other hand, is far more likely to find the transition from employee to freelancer to be a challenge. Beyond relationship building and sales, there are a number of skills and traits that one needs to have to be successful as a freelancer and many people who try their hand at it find that they don't have those skills or traits.

k__ 13y ago

If you're an employee, you quit your job and get going. If you're a freelancer, you have to get rid of all of your customers, which is much more troublesome than to just quitting a job.

random42 13y ago
It is more than _just_ troublesome. Once you out of "freelancing game" your leads start to dry up and if in future you want to go back to freelance consulting, will have to do all the hard legwork you have already done long back to re-establish yourself.
- 7Figures2Commas 13y ago
  I disagree completely. If you have been successful freelancing (or consulting) in the past, chances are you are comfortable with running your own show and selling yourself. As such, an experienced freelancer won't be intimidated by the prospect of having to build a new client base. It will require work, but it's not new territory. The person who has always been an employee, on the other hand, is far more likely to find the transition from employee to freelancer to be a challenge. Beyond relationship building and sales, there are a number of skills and traits that one needs to have to be successful as a freelancer and many people who try their hand at it find that they don't have those skills or traits.