3 ms·

The problem with freelancing is that you are essentially becoming your own company and shifting the burden of finding continuous work, as well as absorbing all

The problem with freelancing is that you are essentially becoming your own company and shifting the burden of finding continuous work, as well as absorbing all the inherent risk of running a business, on to your shoulders. Given that there are practically zero social safety nets in the US, this is a large undertaking not to be taken lightly. Simply put, it will add to the amount of hours you are working per day, not reduce them.

explosion 11y ago
Going from working for a company to freelancing has definitely increased my number of daily work hours. However, in between contracts I have the ability to take long breaks to work on my own projects or travel. Overall, the benefits have outweighed the risks for me, but then again, I'm just one data point.
- mtbcoder 11y ago
  Unfortunately, in this scenario, since a freelancer does not receive paid vacation time, they suffer 100% of the opportunity costs of missing out on billable hours as well as lost funding for things like retirement, paying for healthcare or the rising costs of housing. These are all exceedingly high costs that they must burden just to take time off. The situation gets even worse when there are large gaps between contracts. If a freelancer is young, he/she can absorb this for a while, but eventually it will become unsustainable and then they are right back to where they started from of working 40/50/60+ hours a week without vacations. From my point of view, being a consultant/freelancer/contractor, whatever you want to call it, isn't a solution to the "Overkill Cult". If anything, it exacerbates the problem in the long run. What we need (in the US) are cultural shifts and at minimum basic policy changes such as mandatory maternity/paternity leave and increased annual leave that matches other western countries.

3 ms·

The problem with freelancing is that you are essentially becoming your own company and shifting the burden of finding continuous work, as well as absorbing all

by mtbcoder 11y ago

explosion 11y ago
Going from working for a company to freelancing has definitely increased my number of daily work hours. However, in between contracts I have the ability to take long breaks to work on my own projects or travel. Overall, the benefits have outweighed the risks for me, but then again, I'm just one data point.
- mtbcoder 11y ago
  Unfortunately, in this scenario, since a freelancer does not receive paid vacation time, they suffer 100% of the opportunity costs of missing out on billable hours as well as lost funding for things like retirement, paying for healthcare or the rising costs of housing. These are all exceedingly high costs that they must burden just to take time off. The situation gets even worse when there are large gaps between contracts. If a freelancer is young, he/she can absorb this for a while, but eventually it will become unsustainable and then they are right back to where they started from of working 40/50/60+ hours a week without vacations. From my point of view, being a consultant/freelancer/contractor, whatever you want to call it, isn't a solution to the "Overkill Cult". If anything, it exacerbates the problem in the long run. What we need (in the US) are cultural shifts and at minimum basic policy changes such as mandatory maternity/paternity leave and increased annual leave that matches other western countries.