

Ask HN: Thinking of quitting to start freelancing. Crazy? - blowup12345

I co-founded a small startup a few years ago. We were acquired last year by a much larger vendor in our space. It was by no means a financial windfall, but we did get decent salaries, benefits, and autonomy. That being said, I'm terribly bored with the position, product/market, etc. After so many years, I just feel like I need a change at this stage to recharge. My cofounder is also leaving which makes the prospect of staying much less attractive.<p>Lately I feel totally unmotivated which concerns me. I've now started actively searching for opportunities and contacting some people in my network to see what might be available. I'm hoping to start doing freelance Rails development now.<p>When does it make sense to take the leap? I have cash in savings, and I could go do freelance .NET or Java work in a pinch given it's abundance in my area, but I'm really seeking to stick with Rails as it's been my sole focus during this time and I personally enjoy it much more than the alternatives. I'm a bit constrained in that I'm seeking remote Rails projects as there just isn't much demand where I reside.<p>I feel pretty confident I could go out and pay my bills to maintain my current standard of living even if the work wasn't very rewarding. Part of me wants to just cut bait and put myself out there rather than keep teetering on the fence between a full-time job and wannabe.<p>I'm interested to hear others experiences here. How did you do it? Any thoughts or advice?
======
polyfractal
Well, I recently quit to become a fulltime freelancer and I'm absolutely
loving it. Here's a quick brief on my background:

Until about 8 weeks ago I was an academic neuroscientist. For a variety of
reasons, I quit and started working as a fulltime web developer.

I had just about $8k in my bank account at that time. This may seem low (it
is!), but it was about 1/4th of my yearly salary so it is a lot for me. I'm
don't need a lot of money to survive, so other than taking the girlfriend out
every now and then I can live on a fairly tight budget.

I've found several clients through Hacker News, which is pretty awesome. I'm
charging a low rate right now to make up for my unorthodox background and lack
of professional experience. I imagine you'll have a much easier time since you
have real experience to put on your resume, whereas most of mine were side
projects.

I'm not sure what else to write, but if you have any questions feel free to
ask!

~~~
aymeric
I am curious to hear how you found your clients in a place as competitive as
HN?

~~~
polyfractal
Not sure! =)

I have a handful of side projects in both programming and "soft" skills such
as running a newsletter. I got some leads through various HN posts about my
side projects, and a few from the "Freelancer?" monthly thread. You can see
the projects that I listed if you search last month's thread.

But yeah, I find it a little surprising myself. Probably some combination of
the following:

-public projects

-right skill set (PHP instead of more trendy Ruby, etc)

-cheaper price

-good environment for developers right now

-luck

If you think about it, there are a lot of brilliant people on HN...but many of
them already have jobs. Of those freelancing, a lot probably already have a
solid client load. Of those that still need clients, not all are going to be
working in a specific skill set, and I'd wager many don't want to work with
PHP.

