I was recently asked this question by a colleague. I thought a little bit about it for a moment. The answer was quite clear.
For me the answer is easy. Going indedepent has been the best decision of my career.
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Starting at the birth of the internet explosion, mid-nineties when mozilla became real. The dot-com era took off, and so did the demand for engineering talent.
1. Going independent
For me I had just moved to New York. So timing was right. I had experience running my own business, in my teen years. That streak of independence drove me to do the same with my technology skills. Call it a hunger. A need to go it alone, make my own way in the world.
Related: When you have to take the fall
2. Self directed career
The advantages of going it alone are a double edge sword. On the one hand you can steer towards projects you find interesting. And upgrade your skills in those directions. The downside is you’re taking on all the risk. If you’re wrong about the direction of the industry, you’ll have wasted your time, money, and resources.
I wrote previously about that in Why do people leave consulting. It’s one reason among many.
Related: When clients don’t pay
3. Wide ranging exposure
For many in the traditional FT career track, you may work for 5–10 companies in the course of 20 years. In my case I’ve worked for close to 200 firms in that time.
In that process, you get exposure. To human problems & challenges, to product design & development problems, and architectural issues. And at that scale, patterns begin to emerge, as you see certain types of issues repeat themselves. This becomes valuable insight.
Related: Why i ask for a deposit
4. Build survival skills
As I mentioned previously, independence is a double edged sword. You build survival skills. But you need them. There’s no net beneath you, protecting you from falling. So you’re forced to make hard decisions about how you spend your time, finding projects, networking, learning new skills, and delivering in a real way to your customers.
The dividend is that now you have survival skills. And those indeed are very valuable.
Related: Why i ask for a deposit
5. Good money
There is a myth that consultants make more money. But then i hear stories of someone getting laid off, and getting a 4 or 5 month severance. That’s shocking to me. What’s more people often forget about the value of days off, health care & other benefits, and the huge one being upgrading skills. If a firm is offering you this, take advantage!
Remember that you’ll get none of these benefits working for yourself, unless you’re successful enough to reward yourself in this way. That means having a good pipeline of projects, and a trail of happy successful customers behind you. They will tell your story, and sell you to colleagues.
Related: Why i ask for a deposit
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Originally published at Scalable Startups.
