Freelancing isn’t all about lounging at home eating biscuits and throwing in the odd hour of work every now and then. The flexibility I get is great – after a mid-week deadline I can decide to blow off an afternoon to go out for coffee – but it does have a flip-side. If you take on work it’s up to you to get it done, and that means if you take on a short-term contract on 22nd December you are going to work long hours on Christmas Eve. I did an 18-hour day on Christmas Eve, crawling into bed in the early hours of the 25th.
But I did choose to do it. Of course I did – I didn’t have to take the work. I signed up for two software design components on TopCoder knowing I had a good shot at $4000 for two days’ work. And frankly, that kind of opportunity is hard to turn down when you’re just getting set up as a professional freelancer – if I were working in a 9-5 job that’s nearly a whole month’s salary!
December 28, 2007 at 3:58 pm |
Hey d00hg, I’m from the gamedev forums. I’m going to start watching your blog. Want to check mine out at Brandonman’s awesomeness? Maybe we could do a link swap or whatever they call them
December 28, 2007 at 4:00 pm |
work work work. (Yeah I like it too)
How about your social life?
Does it suffer from your life as a freelancer.
I like being at work, because of the people. I could (and am allowed) to manage ~70% from home, but I don’t. It’s less fun imo.
December 31, 2007 at 6:24 pm |
Social life? I guess some people could find it lonely, but I find talking to people distracts me… I keep work and social life separate. I enjoy what I do, rather than the people I work with. Of course it could be different if you’re a big people person.