

Thirty-something freelance developer. What next? - odev

I&#x27;m a 37yo freelance developer - Ruby, Rails, Backbone.js etc. I&#x27;ve been a J2EE developer, turned project manager + agile methodologies expert, fired,  turned freelance website developer, turned Rails developer, rich JS app developer. I&#x27;m coding since I was 14 so I can code anything basically. Having sort of midlife crisis - most project managers I work with are 10 years younger, which is frustrating. Would love to create my own software and start selling it, but everything&#x27;s been done already :) Any advices? BTW I&#x27;m in Europe, freelancing for EU and US clients.
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hopeless
I'm very similar: same age, skills, background.

Off the top of my head:

1) You've got to stop calling yourself a "freelance developer". Start using
"consultant" (and then read lots about what that means and behave
accordingly). You are not a hammer.

2) You seem jealous of younger project managers. Are they paid better? Have
they more prestige? More control? More influence? What specifically bothers
you? And then…

3) Stop _just_ coding. It's a great skill to have but you and me can be coded
under the table by a 22yo who costs less, drinks more Red Bull, has more
energy and fewer commitments/distractions.

4) We can keep learning new technical things but there's _far_ more value in
learning how to apply our existing skills to specific domains. Get closer to
the "business". Learning more about marketing. Understand sales. Use your
coding skills in those areas and you can side-step comparison to younger
developers and the typical software project hierarchy.

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odev
ad 1) I even have this in my LinkedIn profile

ad 2) you're right... maybe it's because I used to be a PM and I still
perceive this position as more prestigious

ad 3 and 4 and generally) you are right that I have non-technical knowledge
and I can apply it with success, but the two main problems here for me are is
that

a) finding projects as a 'software developer' or 'software engineer' is much
easier (although finding new leads is the hardest part for me at all)

b) I cannot market myself both as a 'just a developer' and 'top notch
consultant' at the same time, and because of a) I have to keep the 'developer'
profile

basically finding new leads is the worst part for me. I could be a
'consultant' and manage or cover myself most of such a project areas, but
finding such consultanty gigs is tricky for me.

anyone has an advice on finding such projects? frankly 99% of mine come from
referrals and sometimes I found some accidentally on Twitter. cold emails,
responding to job offers etc never works for me.

how about you, @hopeless, what is it you're doing right now and how does it
work for you?

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odev
I have to add this:

Probably I'm just an old spoiled fart having an early midlife crisis. I know
exactly what I don't want and I know more-or-less what I want:

* I'm used to working remotely from home and flexible hours and that works super for me

* I love responsibility and independence: I don't want to be part of a team where a couple of people do the same thing. I can do the whole solution on my own OR I can be a part of a team with clear responsiblity separation, where for example someone does the backend, I do the frontend etc.

* I could come back to management only when I'd succeed with my own product and had to handle company growth.

* So essentially, in the end I would prefer to end up with my own product, but for the time being, I'm seeking opportunities that allow me to work independently (or semi-), take reponsibility and work from home. Freelancing does that, but as I said: most PMs are in their twenties, and finding well paying client that wants to invest in a quality remote developer is hard.

* Maybe I'm just whining.

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hank_tepaliu
I am very much in the same position (same age, Europe, nearly two decades
experiences in the tech industry, both in management and engineering, turned
freelance three years ago).

Here is what I did in the last months: I trimmed down my consulting revenues
to 2 workdays a week and am now building a lifestyle software business. After
a couple of false starts I picked a product that a.) would bring me immediate
benefit once it is built b.) already has competitors out there. That second
part is important to me: It minimises my risk picking a product idea without
market. If there is enough demand for my variant of this product is a
hypothesis to be proven, but I am willing to take that risk.

tldr: I would not look for something that has not been done before. I would
take something you use everyday and make it better (for you). It sounds like a
platitude but I think there is some truth in it.

good luck

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odev
thanks. have you gotten out of stealth mode yet?

~~~
hank_tepaliu
nope, it's gonna take a while until then. hence the consulting: 2 weekdays is
OK money-wise and there is still enough time to build a product.

~~~
odev
well I have a family and 2 days / week would not be enough. 3 - 4 would be
better. you have to have a good rate :)

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s3nnyy
I doubt that "everything's been done already". There are people who would kill
to get the skills you (probably) have after 23 years of building things.

Everyone wants to "make something people want" (you can do the "make" part for
sure) and "be relentlessly resourceful".

~~~
odev
As I already mentioned in
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8343827](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8343827)
sent some resumes, always rejected at step 1.

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mnort9
"Would love to create my own software and start selling it, but everything's
been done already"

You need to get this idea out of your head. Maybe a lot of "obvious" ideas
have been done already, but there is an infinite amount products to be built.
Society's needs change very quickly, in turn, products will built to
accommodate. Look at ProductHunt, new products everyday.

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percept
If you really want to build your own products, I'd encourage you to continue
pursuing your own ideas until you find one that works--there is always room
for one more.

Another thought is that if you're comfortable as a manager, and are already
freelancing, then perhaps you could explore replicating yourself and building
a consulting/services business.

~~~
odev
I've tried replicating myself and have dropped that. I was spending too much
time managing things than building them.

Pursuing my own ideas sounds best to me, but as I said - seems like everything
has been done :)

~~~
Gustomaximus
Everything has been done! Hell no. I'm in the exact oposite boat where I see
so many options and finding time is the hard part.

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czbond
Become a principal or senior software consultant or architect. Many enterprise
consulting houses are looking for senior people with a lot of experience. Go
the route of software architect - not just coder and you can earn a very nice
salary. You can look at large orgs in Europe, eg: Amaazon Web services
consulting arm.

~~~
odev
I have thought of that. I sent a couple of resumes and I was always rejected.
I don't know the exact cause, but potentially it could be that I have mixed
skills - some years as a project manager, some years as a developer, some as a
freelance developer. I suppose most employers want to see a clear path.

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motyar
Start packaging and selling your services and when you get too busy. Automate
it with software.

No one want to buy a software, they are looking for solutions. Solutions that
saves them time or money or both.

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arisAlexis
If you want to do some % of your time as an experiment, working for a pre-
launch very early startup for some future equity with no immediate payment, we
are looking for people like you. drop me an email

