3 Ways Programmers Escape The Corporate Grind

If you're tired to the deadlines, pressure, and unrealistic expectations - it may be time to take programming for money into your own hands. In this episode, I share 3 ways you can escape the corporate grind and make money in tech yourself.
Being a solopreneur isn't easy, but it's very rewarding if you're willing to learn things like digital marketing. I weigh 5 aspects of considering being a solo IT consultant, starting a solo software product company, or selling what you know about technology through online courses in this episode.
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CHAPTER MARKERS
0:00 Introduction
0:34 1. 3 Ways To Escape The Corporate Grind
0:48 1.1 Solo Consulting / Freelancing
3:23 1.2 Build a Software Product
5:49 1.3 Sell Education Online
10:01 2. 5 Aspects of Each Method of Escape
10:12 2.1 Effort vs. Income
15:20 2.2 Marketing Effort
21:42 2.3 Dependence on Others
27:19 2.4 Transition Cost
34:53 2.5 Learning Required
#programming #entrepreneur

[@HealthyDev]

Are you tired of the politics, deadlines and unrealistic expectations? Which of these 3 ways to go solo are most appealing? What resistance are you facing? ►► Know your options! Access my FREE data hub for the top 25 software industry roles, TechRolepedia → jaymeedwards.com/access-techrolepedia/

[@arcadia1081]

I have learnt enough to develop a simple yet powerful full stack app using SQL, HTML, and Java.How might I go about finding someone to work for? I am a newbie at this, but I know my coding.

[@tekhed9346]

You’re kill’n me. Feel like you’re in my head.

[@jhanalexander5377]

thanks so much for the advice, going through it right now, might have jump the gun trying to go solo but what you said gives me an idea of where I'm at and what approach to try. Really helpful.

[@burningquestion2396]

Contracting. Cloud consultancy.

[@HealthyDev]

@@arcadia1081 I would recommend trying to get a front end, or backend position first. Less technologies to grapple with, and less to need to demonstrate during an interview.

[@synfiguring]

Im so glad I got to program through the 80s and 90s, and I can watch these great videos safely from my meager but comfortable retirement cabin.

[@blackcitadel37]

how old you were when you retired, if you don't mind me asking?

[@monterreymxisfun3627]

Stoicism prevents the corporate grind. The key is to be willing to be fired. Just refuse to work overtime. There are millions of employers and getting another gig isn't as hard as it seems.

[@StephenBuergler]

has the big tech layoff made it harder to get another job?

[@randoanon]

@@StephenBuerglerDoes it look hard, yes. Will you still definitely get a job, also yes.

[@monterreymxisfun3627]

@@StephenBuergler For now it has. That's why being keeping a cash reserve is important. However, this frees up time to get certifications and contribute to open source projects to boost both technical skills and your professional network. Play the long game, always.

[@ThoughtfulDane]

"It's just a job"

[@josevargas686]

Yes but it can be more complicated than that. I was finding a new job every 6 months on average due to necessity. It can be done, it pays the bills, it lets me keep most of my dignity, but maaaan, it gets exhausting really quickly and I was really close to having a big sanity issue. Thankfully I moved my ass in a different direction. The only way to win the game is not to play.

[@user-xf7ov8gb4g]

Free tip guys: If you want to escape the corporate grind by building a product, don't build another job for yourself. Make sure it requires way more passive than active involvement once its built (at the beginning it will be mostly active). Automation is your friend. I remember having a job aggregator SaaS making like 1k a month and working 1-2 hrs per week in maintenance until google cut out the SEO traffic after a VPS migration (this is another lesson I learned, lol... Don't rely on SEO as your main source of traffic otherwise you can get busted out of nowhere)

[@_Lumiere_]

Google cut out the traffic?

[@user-xf7ov8gb4g]

@@_Lumiere_ Yes. It was heavily dependent on SEO. I did a VPS migration to a cheaper host and suddenly my traffic dropped to nothing. Probably Google flagged it as a spam. I left it online for a couple of months, tried to debug everything possible, but nothing changed.The system was functional, but google simply stopped sending it traffic.

[@j-r-hill]

Google weighs search engine results by the "performance" and "quality" of a website

[@user-xf7ov8gb4g]

@@j-r-hill it would be gradual, if this was the case. The drop was from 3k to around 100-300 after the VPS change. I still don't know exactly what happened. Maybe the new host used some shared blacklisted IP

[@familyshare3724]

I make half of what I could, but live peacefully far away from the grind on a farm lost in the mountains. Must visit the capital five days a month (stay in an AirBnB).

[@go_better]

Sounds awesome. Speaking of the pay - what's better - earn the exact amount right away or earn more and spend half on therapy, medicine, and fixing burnout? Speaking from experience here. Happy for you

[@sealsharp]

What surprises me the most is what's missing, and i can only guess why that is: Just work for a smaller company. So here in germany, there are ton of smaller companies ( anywhere from 10 to 50 people ) who employ programmers. It's possible to just ditch the whole corporate stuff and work a nice job with a few colleagues, where you address the biggest boss in the company by first name and while small company means very little room for promotion, it's perfectly normal to feed a family with it and live a good 9-to-5 life. But then again, as a european, i don't need half a million spare just in case me or my wife get cancer, so the idea of just not earning a shitload of money may seem more unacceptable and frightening in other parts of the world.

[@RiversJ]

Depending on the company even a big corporations might still have a relatively small IT team that is nice to work in. But I'm sure the corporate culture had some differences between Europe and the US, the things i hear in these videos happening would be illegal in many places. Not that i much care for excessively legislation of labor but the other extreme isn't without it's issues as well.

[@manishm9478]

Small companies have their own issues too. Bosses ignorant about good software engineering, lack of technical expertise to help you out, dysfunctional business practices

[@sealsharp]

@@manishm9478 that happens. While I was very lucky, others I know had to search for a while to find a good one.

[@jaaguitar]

Agree. In small/medium companies you can actually talk to someone. No "we can't do anything, it's corporate policy". And the wages are not necessarily worse in Europe. Only until the small company gets bought and ruined though.

[@HealthyDev]

@sealsharp that's definitely an option. The tradeoff there is smaller companies sometimes have a select few who wield all the power, and there aren't checks and balances. But yes, the politics can be less widespread (more centralized) and there's less people to deal with. I much prefer small to medium sized companies myself, but I've also worked for fortune 500s (and a little for FAANGs through consulting).

[@tacorevenge87]

Been solo consultan for 15 years. Nothing different to the corporate grind, just better pay and ofcourse more expectations from the client

[@AlbertCloete]

Freelancing is a lot worse than corporate grind. Speaking from experience in both. Most people will burn out at 5 times the rate doing freelancing or contract work. Because you're not just doing the work. You're also having to fight with clients to get paid and get paid on time. It creates a lot of uncertainty, having to build new relationships all the time.

[@HealthyDev]

How much experience did you have with contract negotiation before you went into it?

[@j2csharp]

Yes, the accounting and legal side of the business could be challenging too.

[@monterreymxisfun3627]

Having a W-2 arrangement whether it be with an agency or direct employer gives you the power of the government to be your collection agency. Getting paid for EVERY hour worked as a contractor creates a barrier to being expected to work overtime.

[@Coufu]

I agree, having been in a similar situation (10yr freelancer before, 8yr corporate now). Although, I do miss the creative and impactful side of freelancing (being able to work with multiple clients across many different businesses).

[@josevargas686]

If freelancing is worse to you, then you might be too low on the necessary skills to find a good freelancing gig. It is all about finding the right clients who want to pay the right price without complaining. One of your priorities must be to work exclusively with people that pay on time, that's one of the most important ones. Want to hear something funny? I had to chase my last full-time employer to get my last payment before they fired me, it took them over a month. My next contract was a freelance gig, and shockingly I got my first payment for the freelance gig before I got my last payment from the full time position. Imagine!

[@comp20B]

Tip: Don't use a client as a pet project. Focus on their need and capability.

[@bennyswayofficial]

Really awesome video Jayme, I was actually programming a software when I bumped into this video. I am on my way to escape the grind. My issue is I didn't start this project alone, but with a friend. He handles the lawyer stuff and the finances. The issue is, he is treating our project as a (higher level) start-up, like having investors and extreme company polices. We are transparent, I know what he does but he will over-promise clients that "our" software will have this feature etc etc. Even the ad he made, when I saw it, I was like damn, am I gonna program this?? The worst part is the investors need their money back, and I am still in my regular job so my time is limited. The invested money, I have received zero dollars from it, and he ended up making a report to the investors showing that we made a loss. After asking him, he says the money goes to legal and marketing (and I know he hires expensive people for video ads and legals). I dont expect a response but if anyone is reading this, they should watch out for pitfalls like this. My advice to him was to get out of financial obligations until our software is satisfactory

[@manishm9478]

Oof. That's a dangerous situation. I think for a startup, a developer needs to be a part of every sales meeting. I split with a potential co founder over this but I've seen salespeople overpromise too often to be burned by this. Hope you can rein in the expectations!

[@HealthyDev]

This is why having a co-founder is a double edged sword. It can super help to have a partner, but if you aren't on the same page about strategy it's a big problem. I can't really offer meaningful advice on what you should do next with this much context (appreciate all the sharing) though. It sounds like a pretty complicated situation. My hope is that you get advice from multiple people and make the best decision based on what sits right with you. "Wisdom is in a multitude of counselors" as the Bible says.

[@misha130]

Ive started my business 2 years ago and my advice is have a co founder. Each of us have short comings and making decisions is very difficult without anyone to check on you. For me I am good as an architect and product but am terrible at networking, sales and client management. So it makes life real easy that someone handles the other side of the business

[@HealthyDev]

The first product business I tried to startup it was just me. The second one I got a co-founder. Agree completely, it really does help alot! With that being said, I still think it's possible to do it on your own if as you said, you're disciplined enough (and it's not too big of a scope of product).

[@zullottrocker]

My advice is to not have a co-founder. The last thing you need is back stabbing, envy and a lost friend in your own business. Sometimes business partners save each other from mistakes sometimes push each other into it. I've seen good friends turned on each other after money starts flowing in the company.

[@lemuEuD]

Thank you so much for your videos and your channel - I ran into my first burnout last year, 30 years old as a senior developer, after my work load doubled. Your videos helped me a lot to establish hard limits and distance myself from my employer.

[@HealthyDev]

Great to hear. I wish I would have learned to do it at your age! You're well ahead of me in your career in that regard, congrats!

[@eightsprites]

Meetings and code reviews killed the fun for me. Now solo developer.

[@chaccmi1358]

yep, and "agile" and all its useless methods turning us into modern assembly line workers.

[@daviddickey9832]

This is the 8th status update we have given today, we have become exceedingly efficient at it.

[@Meritumas]

Man, I feel exactly the same! Over last 20 years I've been writing software I worked twice with team of colleagues that could have meaningful engineering conversations. I am done with dealing with folks with 2-3 years working with java and thinking they know everything about the world. Plenty of folks have basics problem with they identity, psyche and are emotionally week! Having rainbow flags in the office and changing branch names from master to main seems to be more important to them than actually QUALITY of work and software. It's sickening. I basically practice quite quitting - doing work that I ma supposed to do in the best way I can do. I don't give a f... about others. Where my energy goes is working on side hustles.

[@eightsprites]

@@Meritumas Sounds that we worked at the same place 🤣

[@chaccmi1358]

@@eightsprites I worked in several places as a contractor, most places are like that. Software engineering has become software cheerleading.

[@genericdeveloper3966]

I've been a freelancer from the jump as a software dev and absolutely no regrets on that. I'm doing the software product route now, and yeah it's been a lot of work.

[@kahoycrafts]

Thanks for preparing such an excellent guide! It's good to know there's hope for devs who didn't join fang companies or never went into the engineering management track.

[@ally6438]

It’s also great to hear about this stage of people’s career. I had you down as a employee for lifer and I love that you explored this side of a career which is exactly what I’m trying to go down, so I can relate a lot, thanks for the helpful info.

[@HealthyDev]

Happy to help! I was an employee for 20 years. It's still a good, safe way to make a living. Until it isn't...

[@adkocol]

You made my day! It is great to hear I am not too naive to think there is a hope to have fun on working solo in software dev.

[@madsonmac]

You did a perfectly amazing job summarizing those three options! I was almost taking the wrong direction and you just saved me, who knows, a few years before I would realize. Thank you so much!

[@vulpixelful]

I don't work in "corporate", just small but plucky companies consumers have never heard of. Personally, I just want to work at a company that doesn't lose its work-life balance vibe two years in. Happens to me like clockwork 😂 I have to mentally shield myself from the politics to keep from being too emotionally invested

[@arcadia1081]

How do you find these small companies?

[@vulpixelful]

@@arcadia1081 They post on LinkedIn and tech-specific job boards. Their postings are just not as popular

[@go_better]

An awesome career desicion

[@MrFlynn-bt6mt]

I appreciate your analysis and happy for your success.

[@jhonatanjacinto]

I'm really glad I found this channel. Your videos are gold, man. Thank you very much for all the advice and encouragement. That's what i was needing to have more confidence and risk to take the next steps. I'll gladly come back here to say another thank you if everything work out well in the near future (hopefully) and share the results with you and others that might only needing this kind of push. All the best.

[@leo_dipp]

Amazing video, thanks for sharing

[@nii-san5485]

the video i've been waiting for ❤

[@bilaleyrik8680]

Thank GOD finally SOMEONE who knows what they are talking about and also practices what they preach , will watch ALL of your videos thanks Sir !!

[@HealthyDev]

Welcome to the channel!

[@FernandoJS]

I watched the video and really related to the content! I've been through various experiences trying to escape the 'corporate grind'. I've tried many types of work mentioned in the video and, now, I'm back to working on my own SaaS. Additionally, I'm venturing into the world of game development to diversify my income streams. It's a challenging path but incredibly rewarding!

[@luizfcavalcanti]

Hey, thanks for exploring this. My career has been mostly in leadership in ITSM, first 12 years managing an MSP service desk, later 5 years as internal management for 2 companies. 2 years ago I had to leave my current job to prevent a worse burnout, caused by problems in the company and in myself. Been doing consulting since then, as you commented, you can control the amount of ours you put in, lower marketing effort and the free time is mostly towards updating my knowledge on software development and improving my EQ. I've been pondering between returning to the market now in leadership in Software but also building something of my own. It's been a hard discussion with myself to chose a path.

[@kernelpanic5672]

There are plenty of opportunities with hardware and embedded software That will be the last thing AI can replace

[@josevargas686]

AI will replace all the inept employees, and you should already fear being an inept employee anyways. Everything else is snake oil.

[@chaccmi1358]

How do you transition from full stack to embedded? what path do you recommend, getting a masters/cert in hardware first? or? I have been interested in embedded for a while but having a hard time knowing the right path to take to shift.

[@kernelpanic5672]

I'm not sure what to recommend I was working with MCU before switching to flutter/android I would recommend starting with STM32xx demo board And some bunch of sensors + LCD screen I think it's much easier to get a job in embedded because that's not what the IT hype is about You may even get a job with both android and embedded stack@@chaccmi1358

[@go_better]

Took my time to watch it completely and process it. Thank you for this info, especially about tradeoffs and hardships along the way. I wanted to start my products eventually, but yeah, you confirm that marketing is a must-have there. Another baseline takeaway is empathy. A skill to get out, talk to people, and learn what they need. Thank you for the options again. The reward at the end outshines all the obstacles. I personally feel informed and inspired. Also, for anyone who needs this, I collected a Markdown table for options and aspects. | | Effort vs Income | Marketing effort | Dependence on others | Transition cost | Learning required | | ---- | ---- | ---- | ---- | ---- | ---- | | Solo consulting | High | Low | High | Medium | Medium | | Building a product | Low | High | Medium | High | High | | Selling education | Medium | Medium | Low | Low | Low | Lots of love ❤

[@HealthyDev]

Nice. That would be cool if KZbin rendered markdown in comments!

[@DiogoMudo]

"Don't pick a new technology when starting a software product". That's exactly the dumb idea that I was considering right now... thanks for the warning! We talked on your very first free career coaching on instagram, and I was really considering starting freelance on the side. But now I also have a software product Idea that I already pitched to some friends and their referrals and it looks like a sellable product. SO I would like to hear more about the nuances of the legal and bureaucratic stuff around getting an LLC operational in the US

[@HealthyDev]

Hey Diogo. It's not really dumb, it makes sense to us programmers who are often trying to widen the number of technologies we can work in to make us employable. Stepping back, I just realized it wasn't a good idea (in my opinion) in this situation.

[@-Jason-L]

An llc takes 5 minutes to form. It is just a simple form you file with the state government.

[@DiogoMudo]

@@-Jason-L even for non-us citizens that are not in us territory?

[@go_better]

Oh my God, thank you so much for this video!

[@shlxng1787]

New episode! Yes yes 🙌

[@jamesthumb4656]

Love the studio!

[@LilSyl05]

im hyped up! I want to be a solo-preneur in mobile development. I can build API and mobile app with technologies that I know properly, so I think i can do this. I have a potential first client that should confirm in the next 2 weeks. If that doesnt work ill just keep working on my portfolio and search for client casually

[@bigneiltoo]

I have 30 years programming experience and I made several great software products that are totally working, but don't know how to sell them.

[@simpleandsuccess]

I literally spent 2 years deveoping an application that I brought to market, got 2 customers on it, and then it collapsed (I had a kid, app was too complicated, too much work to change, etc). I may not have made money on the product, but I will tell you, because I built that application, I now earn perhaps 80k more per year now than I was before I built it. So building things (depending on where you are in your career) isn't entirely pointless. I learned a lot of engineering principles, how to focus on customers, what not to do... I built up my instincts a LOT on that project. All while working a real job (where I was also applying what I was learning from work to the app). It really helped propel my ability to be more impactful at my day job, which translated to more dollars in compensation.

[@itshsilva]

hey Jayme, I hope you're doing well... thanks for your content, it's great! I work as a software engineer since 2009, and I have a primary passion: Music. In 2020 I decided to try to make a living through the music industry, regardless if via software engineering, as a musician, or both. I've been taking slow steps towards building a business with some ideas I have for people who make music, play music, or produce music. My goal is to have it launched by the end of 2024.

[@HealthyDev]

Thanks for sharing!

[@chazzman4553]

Taking a gig having a job means that you are mediocre at what you do, you don't get a top dollar like a pro. But even if you go to freelance or build your own projects - you are sacrificing something - no friends, no love, no life - just a grrind. Remember that success is rare and life is Short. Think!

[@tzimpel]

Started working on selling courses a whole ago, but some repeating mental health problems held me back a bit. Also I was recently diagnosed with an autism spectrum disorder (in my 40s). But slowly I’m crawling towards my goal. Now that I have the technology to build, host and market courses, I’m working on learning content marketing and figuring out some legal stuff (Germany has some pretty high legal requirements especially for coaching businesses). I’m glad for any good resources around online marketing. I can say that I really enjoy every step I’m taking in that direction. I also love my corporate job, but I know I’ll be struggling with mental health issues again and again if I stay in that kind of work.

[@HealthyDev]

Frank Kern, Miles Beckler, Graham Cochrane, and Seth Godin are a few people I can recommend around marketing.

[@tzimpel]

@@HealthyDevthanks for the suggestions. I knew of Seth Godin, but the others are new to me. Will take a look. I‘m also currently looking at the stuff from Gary Vaynerchuk, Russell Brunson and Jeff Walker.

[@HealthyDev]

@@tzimpelJeff Walker is great as well! Gary V says some good things but I believe he is too focused on the hustle. That doesn't mean he's not worth looking into. Russell Brunson created ClickFunnels and is mostly known for that, I'm not sure how much overall marketing strategy he offers I never really looked much deeper.

[@theoceanman8687]

Heyy, HealthyDev. Just got off my meeting with my manager, and I am conviced to quit my corporate job. Gonna hone my skills to dive into game development.

[@gregorriusadolphus2729]

Great informative video! I got burned out on corporate life and am giving it a go at freelance software testing. I just can't get any clients at the moment and I've been cold -emailing and reached out to my small network. It's a grind but it's been fun....I may need to step back into the corporate world soon though....because I like a roof over my head and eating LOL

[@ally6438]

Good stuff, I’m at the stage of trying to escape the corporate grind. I do now freelance which is great setting my own hours (which tends to be every hour of every day) and trying to build a software product at the same time, which so far has cost a ton of time and money (on marketing). It’s a slog but I’m enjoying it. The dream is to be able to work on my own software projects full time, but it’s gotta make money to do it. It’s like a chicken and egg situation. I need time and money to work on projects. But to earn money I have to sell time.

[@HealthyDev]

For sure. And I needed to keep my relationship with my wife and kids intact on top of all of it. Definitely made some mistakes there the first couple times I tried this by doing product startups. I did much better this time around with the career coaching and courses.

[@JoeDoe1]

Thank you.

[@sandrodelacruz8125]

Being a consultant doesnt mean you escape the corporate grind at all. You are there to make up the numbers without the overhead of a permanent employee. You may side step the career bs but you definately have to join in the kira ticket circus.

[@HealthyDev]

Yeah that's true if you're an individual contributor. I worked for a consulting agency at first, and moved into more of agile coaching / architecture roles. Then when I went on my own, I made sure to put stuff in the contract that prevented me from being part of all the JIRA nonsense. I realize that won't be realistic for everyone depending on what they plan to consult on. Either way - it's an excellent point! Thanks for bringing it up.

[@gzoechi]

Don't wait until you have enough experience. If you really dig into something you will have more knowledge than 95% at that specific topic in no time and you will get great feedback about where you are lacking. That makes it easy to close the gaps. Nobody knows everything anyway and so you also don't need to. There is just no more efficient way to become good at something. I found it often really painful to get such feedback about mistakes. I think the most important part is to embrace that pain. The other side of the pain is the promised land 😉

[@nothere.northere]

Thanks for sharing these topics. (: Also TDD For The Win!

[@marcusbird777]

Thank you for the video! I work fulltime as a Machinist and I'm also in college fulltime for software development at a tech college. I make more where I'm at now than what is projected for me to make right after graduation. So this thought has ran across my mind often. I'd like to eventually do solo dev things but I'm not exactly sure what to do or how to approach it being so new. Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Again thank you for the video! Love the channel

[@HealthyDev]

My advice, which should be taken with a grain of salt (as with anyone on the Internet) would be to work a few years in the industry through an employer first. You'll have your eyes opened to a lot of things education can't teach you that can really empower you to be more effective should you choose to go solo. My two cents.

[@maloukemallouke9735]

i am addict to your videos. Thanks!!!

[@HealthyDev]

Glad you like them! As long as they aren't stopping you from doing stuff you need to do :). Glad to have you here.

[@maloukemallouke9735]

@@HealthyDev 😂 i am data scientist working in corporate company and i ask my self when i can quitt

[@iolss]

Just commenting that this should be a good ride! Want to hear Jayme's take on escaping the corporate grind

[@shellcatt]

35:34 Well, I would right out disagree, but TBH, there are nuances between one tech and another. Generally, you're right. However, a software piece usually has a sweet spot for a specific tech that we're not always (usually never) familiar with right off the start. This overlaps with a different topic, which is "know when new tech is too big of a sacrifice". :)

[@Cognition-Lane-AV11]

he knows what he is talking about , i like this a lot .

[@GirishVenkatachalam]

I am developing Photoveda image editor tool and API. I hope to market it soon. Nice video thanks.

[@tekhed9346]

You’re using Laravel!? I don’t ever hear this unless I’m dealing directly with that community. I’ve been in and out of Laravel over the past 5 years. Very cool watching it grow. Live on PHP.

[@HealthyDev]

Ha! Yeah originally I just used straight PHP in 2008 when I first built my site on wordpress. Then I changed it to use pug-php. Then I redid it as a remix app. And eventually came back to using roots.io's "acorn" package that enables you to use laravel with wordpress - using htmx for minimal interactions. I do use react for one of my courses, but only because it truly is necessary for one part of it that needs to work like an instagram story with animated timers and stuff.

[@attribute-4677]

Everything ok? Your voice is a bit shakey in this one :/ Thank you for everything you do!

[@HealthyDev]

Thanks for noticing! I didn't sleep well at all before recording this one. You can actually hear me clear my throat once.

[@alfx4356]

Thanks buddy. But can you keep the runtime < 15min?

[@boot-strapper]

I really want to build a product, but man its hard to find the right idea., thats been my biggest problem. Been searching for years. Tried a couple but they didnt seem to catch on.

[@HealthyDev]

When you say you tried a couple and they didn't catch on, how did you determine they weren't catching on?

[@boot-strapper]

@@HealthyDev we didn’t find customers!! We were all developers. I think getting good at sales and marketing is definitely a must.

[@HealthyDev]

@@boot-strapperah OK. Then you know what to do next time!

[@chaosopher23]

I'm on SSI, and getting my code work might get me out of just SSI. I can't work for someone else, never really could.

[@user-fv1cg7ff6v]

I have been trying to get into solo contracting, no luck, 😢

[@frstchan]

My problem is that I have 1 quadrillion ideas and end up doing nothing because there is SO MUCH that could be done. What path should I take? What if I take the wrong path and waste years on a project??

[@HealthyDev]

Which problem solves the most pain for your customer? Which one will they likely actually take ACTION to pay for? Which one is easiest for you to deliver? Which one is easiest to convince them you can help with? Focus on that.

[@darthnegativehunter8659]

basically become a contractor or an indie dev

[@walterprorok7986]

What about the situation were you have a years worth of savings and quit your job to spend all your time building a SaaS project?

[@HealthyDev]

Of course do what you feel is best. I can only offer my perspective. Personally, I would spend time speaking to as many potential customers about the product idea I have first before I build anything. One thing I learned is you'll be tempted to ask if the product you plan to build will be helpful to them. What you really want to do is ask them about the problem they have that your product is intended to solve. Listen for everything they share and take a ton of notes. You'll be armed with a ton of data to help steer how you build the product. Only if the product will really help them with that pain, and you can get them to quantify in dollars what it will save them (or make them) can you figure out if it's worth building. Then quit the job! Check out the video I did on business model canvases a few years back if you haven't already, it helped me a LOT when I learned this, and directly contributed to my ability to do this career coaching stuff I do now. kzbin.info/www/bejne/iWG5iY2Nocief68

[@walterprorok7986]

@@HealthyDev Thank you for the response and insight. Keep up the good work!

[@HealthyDev]

@@walterprorok7986happy to help. It was hard coming from an engineering background transitioning to learning the business side for me.

[@szeredaiakos]

AAA rated MMO for a single developer is totally doable nowadays. You can get it down to 5 years and maybe have it marketable in 1. Hell, I could do it probably... have 3 years of modelling background, 15 in programming, doing sound engineering since I have the hole on my but formed, wrote my first netcode in early 2000's... BUT Tooling for game dev is hard especially high content games. The art and feel is problematic to get it right. Nail in the coffin: Even the best MMOs out there can have financial problems. MMO as a genre is almost as bad as puzzle platformers.

[@gaiustacitus4242]

Anything that generates passive income grows stale. Some of the passive incomes schemes over the past few years didn't have a shelf life of 90 days before the income dwindled. The first few people who got into the latest fad made good money for a few weeks, but the real money they made was in scamming others into thinking they had the inside track on making easy money. Always remember: if it sounds too good to be true, then it is.

[@0runny]

If you don't figure out a way to make money whilst you sleep, you'll be working until you die. - Warren Buffet. Scary but true. I realised this years ago and in 2015 I retired at 45, after programming for 25 years. It is possible, hard work, hard work, focus, focus, maximise your income, invest, invest, invest, retire.

[@HealthyDev]

That's great! I unfortunately had such bad burnout 6 years ago I lost everything - including my retirement. Unfortunately time is not on my side as much for investments, so I've had to explore some different strategies.

[@0runny]

@@HealthyDev I’m sorry to hear that, your videos are unique and inspiring- you tackle a rarely talked about subject in our industry. Burn out and mental health issues impact so many developers, but many keep silent.

[@HealthyDev]

@@0runnyit's OK. If it hadn't have happened, I wouldn't be on KZbin or coaching developers!

[@chaccmi1358]

​@@HealthyDev respect for your resilience, I had a brutal sudden collapse in my business 4 years ago and unlike you, it has broken me hard. Now starting to stand back on my feet, videos like yours are giving me hope. Thank you and much respect

[@Alex-hr2df]

Being a consultant is harder than working for others

[@rozenberg314]

How’s AI fit into all of this? Seems like there’s a shift happening that might start to make it hard to create value in the Era of ChatGPT and other generative AI tools…

[@HealthyDev]

Building products, selling courses, or helping other companies with technology will become even easier with AI. There's never been a better time to do your own thing in my opinion. Especially considering how much it can help you with marketing!

[@bigneiltoo]

@@HealthyDev Can I train AI to be a USER of my software? To do QA, etc? Can you train AI to use 3D modeling tools to make objects?

[@deepblackoutlaw9640]

24:35

[@tudogeo7061]

Why is that guy in front of the windshield 😂😂😂

[@HealthyDev]

That's not the only thing wrong with the image :) DALL-E is all kinds of crazy.

[@chukukaogude5894]

I have a great niche idea. Due to my lack of knowledge and skill it is dependent on people to input the information for others to see. Cutting out the people for that information and going directly to the source would save time and energy for everyone using it. However, I have to get that source to want to use my software. Otherwise, the information will have to be shared and placed by users. Software like it already exists so it will take zero brain power to build it once I up my skills. It's just that those softwares tend to be more general. Mine is going to be very specific. I will make the software skeleton a simple social media site then start shaping it from there. If I can get enough people using it, I can make the direct source PAY me to use it because an audience is there. If it never grows that large, then it just sits being user driven. Which isn't too bad lol. Since it's a specific niche I can avoid the other problems general social media comes with.

[@curtainsavatar]

In the video thumbnail, a person is driving a car - but shown as in front of the windshield. I assume this is and AI image. It doesn't make sense to ever create such an illustration.

[@HealthyDev]

You are correct. I love it. It's obnoxious, but definitely makes the expression of the driver front and center ;)

[@M3talr3x]

"you set the terms for how you want to work with a corporation", lol LMAO

[@josevargas686]

It would be good if you work on giving people a more positive perspective, your content is good, but a lot of times it feels like you are saying... "This sucks! Maybe you can help yourself". Let me give you a very specific example, at 4:45 you say "get your first few customers to hopefully pay for it", it sounds like wishful thinking! It also doesn't give any insight that would help people accomplish that goal. Of course, it WOULD BE GOOD to have my own product. That's not news to me or anyone else, the problem is HOW do I have my own successful product. What do I need to do? What obstacles should I expect? When should I give up? How do I know if I am succeeding? These are the HARD questions. Anyone can tell me that something would be good, very few people can answer any of those questions in a way that feels insightful.

[@josevargas686]

I notice through the video you keep saying "can be extremely lucrative" along with phrases like "it is too much effort". It is... kind of depressing lol! Even you realize that this is what you sound like because right afterwards you have to amend your narrative by saying things like "I am not saying that this cannot be done" 15:00

[@josevargas686]

It is all so gloomy, I will make a product, I will hire people to make content for me, the company name doesn't matter, I would be stoked to sell to someone in person if they are interested in my product! You make it sound like the most exhausting and depressing chore. You talk so much about everything you hate and dislike... How much you don't want to be in the corporate hell... Where are the good parts?!?! You make it sound like the most exciting part of the journey is the work that you get to avoid... lol!

[@HealthyDev]

Hey jose. This video can't possibly get into detail on all the aspects of running a successful software business. It's purpose is to highlight 5 aspects of ways to escape the corporate grind that are common between the 3 methods of escaping that I mentioned. If you're unsatisfied with the content here, I will be making more videos this year that may answer some of your questions. I also have many past videos about product management you can watch (if you haven't already).

[@ally6438]

@@josevargas686 I prefer this, keeping it real, it's hard. And I can't stand the grifters on KZbin that make everything sound easy. So I'd rather have some emotion that communicates how actually really tough it all is.

[@yli8888]

LOL you can’t just give the audience the crystal ball in one straight shot, can’t you😂

[@Alex-hr2df]

KZbin is becoming Twitter

[@gambawn]

Programmers are the delusional Karens of the corporate world. Money isn't wealth and wealth isn't money

[@bigneiltoo]

Most programmers are lemmings, yes. Occasionally you meet a Steve Jobs. I found that any time I was able to not only get hired, but sell management on my own custom tools, that some HR lady or female software manager (funny how they all seem to be in management while I have 30 years experience and no management) would get offended by my climbing the corporate ladder too fast and they would create some issue, like getting me fired for complaining that the bathroom was always locked.

[@gambawn]

@@bigneiltoo never meet your heroes, 🍎 stevie was annoying and not that interesting, but I get what you mean. Modern business is about dealing with spam and inclusion/diversity. Problems keep the product never making profit, just cryptic sadness. Sadly, it's always luck and about who you know in the corps..

[@sarun37823]

There are some useful info in your video but the clip is unnecessary long. The gist of it could be said within ten minutes without losing quality; the content could be better in other formats aside from a guy giving a really long speech. For this type of content, it is probably better suited as a blog post where reader can skim through the unnecessary fluff. I can't skim through your video; the best I can do is 2x.

[@mybackstage.io.]

I want to build an Internal development portal (Platform Engineering). I know that there is a market for it since DevOps is here and it evolves. People tell me that don't do it because companies don't want to outsource this and they hire internal Platform Engineers to build this. Yet, I see these companies like Covery or Roadie that manage IDPs and are making money. Yet, I am also motivated not only by making a lot of money but also by building myself as a great Platform/DevOps Engineer. But, I agree, it's a hard thing and it will be hard. I've never chosen an easy way though, that's my fallacy by design I guess. Thanks for this video and your help overall!

[@thefakewitchdoctor]

Is it what techies want or what managers want? I learned late in late that managers use Gartner to choose a product and they do not consult the techies at all. Techies don't have procurement privileges, so it never matters what they want. If you look at successful products, you'll see that the founders are often former senior enterprise salesmen who left their employer to build a product his former clients wanted but his former employer didn't want to pursue. The former salesman then grabs a former enterprise CTO and the latter hires techies that he knows and trusts to build the product.