Technosailor - Latest Comments in Can A Web Programmer Make a Living Programming?

Re: Can A Web Programmer Make a Living Programming?

Gerry — Thu, 16 Aug 2007 08:23:42 -0000

So guy's I guess from the perspective of somebody whos currently works in Senior Management for a Major Multi national (and has done so for 10/15 years) and is also looking at the prospect of a change of career into the Wed Development arena, you don't paint a very good picture from a Financial reward perspective. It would be nice to work for oneself and to be more flexible on time ?

Re: Can A Web Programmer Make a Living Programming?

Andy — Wed, 27 Jun 2007 14:30:01 -0000

Consulting is definitely the way to go. I have been self employed and supporting myself and family for almost 20 years.

I launched a new website to help freelance programmers find projects last month. Check out www.freelancelocaltech.com. You can post your services on the site for free!

I believe that smart freelancers want to bid for clients and not jobs. Most of the sites that I have come across don't allow you to market the consulting aspect of your work, just being the lowest cost provider. Big money doesn’t come to those who bid against cheap overseas work. Instead, the best $$ comes from finding local clients, building the relationship so that you’re the “go to” person whenever there’s a need in your area of expertise, and then building on that to land more clients. If all you focus on is bidding jobs you could find yourself living on minimum wage.

FreelanceLocalTech only supports clients and consultants in the USA.

Re: Can A Web Programmer Make a Living Programming?

Dave Starr — Wed, 31 May 2006 20:23:19 -0000

As someone who can't program his way out of a wet paper bag, but someone who has let millions of dollars in contracts for software and run the projects the software gurus were supporting, let me add my perspective here.

The ability to code, in any language, on any platform, is worth exactly zilch. It's on the same order of business usefulness as the folks who spend their time defining and learning the Klingon language.

The majority of programmers I have worked with have an inverse ratio between business acumen and coding ability. The deeper they get into code, the less interest they have in how that code might help the company earn money.

To make money in the free lance world you need to "imagineer" the way to solve a problem or fill a need and then code it. Google is a good current example. Alta Vista was built on the best computer platforms available, coded by some pretty darn good PhD's, and reached the otherwise unattainable goal of indexing every publicly available web site. They had no real business model; they were bright people from Digital spending tons of money to build something technically way cool.

Along came two college geeks who said, hey, let's build our own, but better, and while we're at it we'll develop ways 9many ways) to monetize it. Anybody looked at Digital's stock price lately? Is it still even traded? We know what Google is worth, and it's for sure that there is some fantastic coding talent within the Googleplex. But Google's value is based on "x" (the value of their technical skills) plus "y" (the value of their business skills) and I can guarantee that x

Re: Can A Web Programmer Make a Living Programming?

Aaron — Sat, 27 May 2006 20:56:17 -0000

Nice to see you drop by, Brandon. :)

Re: Can A Web Programmer Make a Living Programming?

Brandon — Sat, 27 May 2006 20:18:08 -0000

I guess you could consider me a "consultant" - I'm not that great of a programmer but am pretty much just an all around web developer. Design, programming, CSS, usability, e-commerce and business. I do it all.

I make a pretty nice living too. Between my own sites and businesses and consulting, we are able to keep the mortgage paid and food on the table. My wife is now a stay at home mom and it gets tough sometimes but it's going well.

As for just programmers, I have one programmer on staff and am looking for a few others (with proficiency in Ruby and Rails primarily). I think there is a lot of "freelance" work for good skilled programmers.

And about the "web 2.0" apps... there are a lot of unique ideas out there still. The problem is most people are looking at other services like MySpace and trying to come up with something similar. Solve a problem for yourself and chances are more people needed the problem solved too.

Re: Can A Web Programmer Make a Living Programming?

Aaron — Sat, 27 May 2006 14:49:48 -0000

Well, good! I got you to read the entry. Had I titled it "Can a Freelance Web Programmer Make a Living Programming", you may not have read it. :D

I agree with what you're saying about having a lot of bosses. I don't want to do freelance web development to save my life for that reason. I'd rather do something easy that just makes money whether I'm sleeping or awake or on vacation or out on the golf course. That's one of the things I like about blogging since I've learned how to monetize it (still can learn more, reading Steve Pavlina alot)...

I generate content. A year from now, it comes up in search engines, traffic continues to flow. I have no boss. And if one income well dries up, I've got others.

I'm not rich, but I'll tell you what, for the first time since I started blogging, I'm getting ready in the next month to break 4 figures a month on blogging income alone. Still not enough to be self-employed on, but certainly better than the two figures from two months ago.

Re: Can A Web Programmer Make a Living Programming?

Vinnie Garcia — Sat, 27 May 2006 14:44:39 -0000

Well I realized that when re-reading your entry. The title question

Can A Web Programmer Make a Living Programming?

Misled me for a second.

But then again, I like having a 401K and health benefits :)

If I were to go self-employed, I'd be doing a mix of things to keep a steady income stream. I'd build some software, offer services to clients, come up with some moneymaking sites on my own, etc. I do this on a somewhat irregular basis now as supplemental income. I'd lean more heavily on the non-client-focused work though, because in freelancing you're never really self-employed; you just have a lot more bosses.

Re: Can A Web Programmer Make a Living Programming?

Aaron — Sat, 27 May 2006 14:39:07 -0000

I suppose, then, that I did not connect my thoughts well enough. Thisa was focused more on people who are trying to do it on their own.

Re: Can A Web Programmer Make a Living Programming?

Vinnie Garcia — Sat, 27 May 2006 14:37:21 -0000

Yeah I'm not self-employed :)

Re: Can A Web Programmer Make a Living Programming?

Aaron — Sat, 27 May 2006 14:31:28 -0000

You have an employer, right Vinnie?

Re: Can A Web Programmer Make a Living Programming?

Vinnie Garcia — Sat, 27 May 2006 14:28:33 -0000

"Unique" is not CMS #43012941, nor is it a Myspace clone script, nor the next dating script or blog.

There really aren't many niches that haven't already been plugged up a hundred times.

The money is in consulting, you're both right. It's in figuring out what your client needs, then integrating and customizing it to fit. Only rarely do you need to write all new code yourself nowadays.

That said, I make a living writing custom code full time, and I'm nowhere close to the top 10% of coders so maybe I'm just dumb lucky.

Re: Can A Web Programmer Make a Living Programming?

Eric Coleman — Sat, 27 May 2006 13:53:22 -0000

I fall under the consulting portion.

When providing a server or even a downloadable app, the hard part is all the "extras" you have to account for.

So, now you need to provide support, trouble shoot issues, fix bug reports, prepare and roll releases, handle sales, specials, coupons. Don't forget about PR and advertising / marketing.

When you look at it, unless you have some money to get started when your providing a script or server, your up shits crick. Your going to have to handle all the above yourself which is by far no easy task. Unless you can afford to employe some people to help you with this, your going to feel like your drowning under your own work load - something that is not very fun.

So, my opinion is that it isn't worth it for him. Aaron, your exactly right that the money in is consulting.

- Eric