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> "I've been CTO of two startups" Congrats on being a developer! Joking aside, I'm in a similar situation as you but my experiences have been much different.

> "I've been CTO of two startups" Congrats on being a developer! Joking aside, I'm in a similar situation as you but my experiences have been much different. Here's what I've experienced: I moved from California to Calgary, Canada in April of this year. In California I called myself a consultant and everything was cool. Moving to Calgary, where Oil and Gas dominates the marketplace and so do the scummy Entperise Consultants it seems the title of consultant rubbed people the wrong way, given I'm trying to do work in Ruby. I recently went back from referring to myself as a Consultant to Freelancer in my conversations and I've had much better conversations with people. I also can speak more confidently in myself calling myself a freelancer. Consultant has always felt really cheesy and if I don't feel comfortable saying it, then I won't sell it very well. Long story shory: Go with what you truly believe in and your ideal clients are receptive to. In my experience, small to medium sized clients are far more receptive to "Freelancer" than "Consultant." YMMV.

dublinclontarf 12y ago
You know, the coding part was by far the most fun but was only about 30% of my time. From meeting with regulators(fintech startup), bankers, government officials, investors, interviewing, compliance, procedures, speaking at and organising events the coding was the easiest part. Sadly I've only recently come to understand the importance of a personal network and only in the last few months began to develop mine. I imagine this is common among many people who (like myself) prefer the digital side of things. I can't speak for other startup CTO's but I'm not just someone who can only code, the human/sales side seems to be my weakest link though. edit: wrote this before you'd filled out your comment in full.
- rubiquity 12y ago
  > Sadly I've only recently come to understand the importance of a personal network Ditto. I'm working hard on growing mine now as well. I imagine this is the stumbling block for most developers turned freelance/consultant/whatever.

dublinclontarf 12y ago

You know, the coding part was by far the most fun but was only about 30% of my time. From meeting with regulators(fintech startup), bankers, government officials, investors, interviewing, compliance, procedures, speaking at and organising events the coding was the easiest part. Sadly I've only recently come to understand the importance of a personal network and only in the last few months began to develop mine. I imagine this is common among many people who (like myself) prefer the digital side of things. I can't speak for other startup CTO's but I'm not just someone who can only code, the human/sales side seems to be my weakest link though. edit: wrote this before you'd filled out your comment in full.

rubiquity 12y ago
> Sadly I've only recently come to understand the importance of a personal network Ditto. I'm working hard on growing mine now as well. I imagine this is the stumbling block for most developers turned freelance/consultant/whatever.