I tried freelance and realized I hate it more than any other type of programming work.
I can tolerate being an employee where I do what I'm told. After a month I get a feel for the environment so it becomes low stress and then I can keep my head down programming. Or I can tolerate selling software or having a SaaS. If I'm CEO I decide the direction of the product and then just have to handle customer support.
But the BS and stress of dealing with clients, contracts, undefined specs and getting paid... I have no f-ing idea how people tolerate it. So good luck with that. It took me way too long to figure out that I absolutely hate working as a contractor.
You should only have to do that in the beginning and strive to earn more so that you can hire an accountant or a firm to keep the booking and calculate your taxes for you. Invoicing is a matter of minutes and some apps even do it for free. Once you've set up your templates for each type of contract and document, you should be good to go. The only true problem in freelancing is generating new (good) leads. That's it. Admin stuff is a piece of cake with today's technology.
> Admin stuff is a piece of cake with today's technology
Do you mean something like deploying every client with the same stack which is easy to admin?
I noticed I started this freelancing thing not giving a second thought about how I would mantain systems running for my clients. I should at least include some kind of monthly fee... (otherwise documentation so they can admin it..)
I never had problems finding a job, but I was really bad at finding good clients.
I especially hate, when I've been brought in for my expertise and I tell them what they should do with the least risk and best outcome and they refuse, because no. I realize there might be some important technical constraint I might not know about, but most of the time they just want to respect something their boss said once, some constraint that wasn't that important at all but makes my work 10x more complicated.
May be true in the US but in Europe you can't just increase your rates. Too many policies are involved with especially larger customers: they have a specific maximum rate they are willing to pay. In addition some agencies usually required to get into larger corps have a limit, too.
Usually contractors are hired to fix rotten stuff that in some way is a commodity. You can find 10 other contractors with the same skillset, maybe cheaper.
For me the nice part of freelancing was the end date. I knew I would be gone in a month or two so could detach myself from the politics and bullshit and just observe. I used to try and think of it in terms of a trip to the zoo.
I hate watching dying orgs or poor performing teams/management. I can't mentally disconnect. It often feels like visiting a poor 3rd world country with an ongoing civil war. You know that you can and will save some souls but also that it won't change/stop the dying.
I think there is a difference between contractor/freelance and consultant. With the latter the client bring you for a general expertise on a type of problem. They don’t care which tech you use (they usually have requirements on the hosting though) as long as you solve the problem for the agreed cost.
I can tolerate being an employee where I do what I'm told. After a month I get a feel for the environment so it becomes low stress and then I can keep my head down programming. Or I can tolerate selling software or having a SaaS. If I'm CEO I decide the direction of the product and then just have to handle customer support.
But the BS and stress of dealing with clients, contracts, undefined specs and getting paid... I have no f-ing idea how people tolerate it. So good luck with that. It took me way too long to figure out that I absolutely hate working as a contractor.