• Open Menu Close Menu
  • Apple
  • Shopping Bag
  • Apple
  • Mac
  • iPad
  • iPhone
  • Watch
  • TV
  • Music
  • Support
  • Search apple.com
  • Shopping Bag

Lists

Open Menu Close Menu
  • Terms and Conditions
  • Lists hosted on this site
  • Email the Postmaster
  • Tips for posting to public mailing lists
Re: Freelance programming
[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next][Date Index][Thread Index]

Re: Freelance programming


  • Subject: Re: Freelance programming
  • From: Chris Hanson <email@hidden>
  • Date: Fri, 31 Oct 2003 02:53:27 -0600

On Oct 31, 2003, at 1:30 AM, Jacob Chapa wrote:
Im looking to do some freelance programming work, in cocoa and actionScript for a company. I am new to the whole freelance thing, and want to know some 'aboutish' fees that you guys charge. not super professional, just the regular freelance joe. if you know what i mean.

There's no "not super professional" about it, and there's no "regular freelance joe" either. In fact, "freelance" is a term hardly ever used to describe professional software developers working independently.

Are you an experienced professional software developer? If not, you really need to become one before companies will be willing to hire you on a consulting or contracting basis. If you are, you should have some idea already of what your time is worth to potential clients.

In other words, you can't expect to be independent in a field before you've done some time as an employee in that field. The "field" in this case isn't limited to "Cocoa and ActionScript programming;" it's the broader "software development" or "Macintosh software development" arena.

However, you can't simply spend all your time doing non-Mac work and then expect to make it independently in the Mac world. You'll have to hone your Mac skills outside the workplace if you can't get full-time work as a Mac developer. That's because you'll be competing with a lot of experienced independent Mac developers. You might think you could simply price your services lower; however, many good clients shy away from consultants selling on price.

I'm not saying this to discourage you. Being your own boss and being able to do Macintosh development full-time are both *extremely* rewarding. But there are a lot of challenges that need to be overcome in order to do either, and you need to approach them realistically if you want to be able to beat them.

-- Chris

--
Chris Hanson, bDistributed.com, Inc. | Email: email@hidden
Custom Mac OS X Development | Phone: +1-847-372-3955
http://bdistributed.com/ | Fax: +1-847-589-3738
http://bdistributed.com/Articles/ | Personal Email: email@hidden
_______________________________________________
cocoa-dev mailing list | email@hidden
Help/Unsubscribe/Archives: http://www.lists.apple.com/mailman/listinfo/cocoa-dev
Do not post admin requests to the list. They will be ignored.

  • Follow-Ups:
    • Re: Freelance programming
      • From: Creed Erickson <email@hidden>
    • Re: Freelance programming
      • From: Phillip Mills <email@hidden>
References: 
 >Freelance programming (From: Jacob Chapa <email@hidden>)

  • Prev by Date: Re: PB under Panther
  • Next by Date: ZeroLink FAQ (was Re: XCode or code problems?)
  • Previous by thread: Freelance programming
  • Next by thread: Re: Freelance programming
  • Index(es):
    • Date
    • Thread