Advice for a noob

[sirus21]

Hey all,


I imagine I won't get a positive response; however, here goes!

I have been an academic for 7-years and have a decent amount front-end-dev experience. Not just from an academic perspective, but also on several freelance projects.

I am thinking about moving back into an industry focused job; however, the flexibility of contracting seems appealing. However, the extent to which contracting is appealing rests on a answers to a few questions:


1. On the face of it there seems to be a lot of front-end-dev contracts (e.g., on the jobs boards). However, are they extremely competitive to get?
2. Would it be realistic to get mostly WFH contracts? I can't stomach the idea of sitting in the IT department of a big company.

Thanks in advanced and sorry if I am being naive. However, I am just trying to get a feel of what it is like out there.

[eek]

Hey all,


I imagine I won't get a positive response; however, here goes!

I have been an academic for 7-years and have a decent amount front-end-dev experience. Not just from an academic perspective, but also on several freelance projects.

I am thinking about moving back into an industry focused job; however, the flexibility of contracting seems appealing. However, the extent to which contracting is appealing rests on a answers to a few questions:


1. On the face of it there seems to be a lot of front-end-dev contracts (e.g., on the jobs boards). However, are they extremely competitive to get?
2. Would it be realistic to get mostly WFH contracts? I can't stomach the idea of sitting in the IT department of a big company.

Thanks in advanced and sorry if I am being naive. However, I am just trying to get a feel of what it is like out there.

1) Yes - the people who contract are usually very good at what they do
2) depends on the client - the world has changed since 2020 so while WFH will be more likely it may not be 100% WFH.

[sirus21]

1) Yes - the people who contract are usually very good at what they do

Thanks for the response.

Any advice on the best way to prove that I am good? I have a lot of open source experience, and I am releasing my own open source project this year - a learning platform. However, I appreciate the demands of a real-world project are different.

[jamesbrown]

Clients will generally look for pros with a track record of delivery, but everyone starts somewhere and your advantage may be your academic specialism. There’s a lot of excellent generalist devs out there. We’re not in a downturn yet, so it may not be a terrible time to try. Again, there are advantages to having a specialism if it’s saleable. I’m also an ex academic, FWIW, but I am not mainly selling my software engineering skills, that is just a means to an end.

[ladymuck]

I think it's a mindset thing you will need to prepare yourself for as much as anything. Freelancing isn't the same as a comfy permanent role so make sure you know all that it entails if you're going to do more than dip your toe into a few side projects.

I would start with applying for some of the roles that look interesting to you and getting used to selling yourself to agents and clients. It helps give you a feel for what they're really looking for and you can take the opportunity to find out attitudes towards WFH. Every potential client will have their preferences and flexibility is going to be looked upon favourably.

Make sure you know your worth. Research rates, work out what you need to live on and still save to build your rainy day warchest.

Getting the first gig is relatively easy, it's the difficult second album that many new contractors struggle with.

[sirus21]

Clients will generally look for pros with a track record of delivery, but everyone starts somewhere and your advantage may be your academic specialism. There’s a lot of excellent generalist devs out there. We’re not in a downturn yet, so it may not be a terrible time to try. Again, there are advantages to having a specialism if it’s saleable. I’m also an ex academic, FWIW, but I am not mainly selling my software engineering skills, that is just a means to an end.

Thanks James; I guess for UX and user research - the academic side would be a selling point.

Are you glad you made the leap? For me, it's coming down to money; I'd have to do so much work to become a reader/professor, and there would still be no guarantees

[sirus21]

Getting the first gig is relatively easy, it's the difficult second album that many new contractors struggle with.

I've heard this; what makes getting the second gig hard?

[jamesbrown]

Thanks James; I guess for UX and user research - the academic side would be a selling point.

Are you glad you made the leap? For me, it's coming down to money; I'd have to do so much work to become a reader/professor, and there would still be no guarantees

Absolutely. I actually love my work now, I look forward to getting up in the morning and starting work . It isn’t even about the money although, of course, that is vastly better. I became completely disillusioned with academia as it became so focused on pointless targets and it has only become worse in the last decade (my partner is still a prof). I wouldn’t hesitate to move, but you also shouldn’t be oblivious to the risks. If you’re competing with generalists, then there’s a lot of excellent developers out there with a good record of delivering projects commercially and very up-to date technical skills. Also, it may be very hard to secure something while still in post - you will probably need to take the leap and prepare to be on the bench for a while, so make sure you have several months of outgoings available. Again, I would try to find a way to market your specialism, if possible, because that could help you stand out and secure better paid gigs.

[sirus21]

Hey James, I love the teaching modern technology to my students; however, it's the research that gets me down.

Absolutely. I actually love my work now, I look forward to getting up in the morning and starting work . It isn’t even about the money although, of course, that is vastly better. I became completely disillusioned with academia as it became so focused on pointless targets and it has only become worse in the last decade (my partner is still a prof)..

Yes, this is my issue. To progress, I need to pump out papers no one reads - it does not seem like a good use of life!

I wouldn’t hesitate to move, but you also shouldn’t be oblivious to the risks. If you’re competing with generalists, then there’s a lot of excellent developers out there with a good record of delivering projects commercially and very up-to date technical skills. Also, it may be very hard to secure something while still in post - you will probably need to take the leap and prepare to be on the bench for a while, so make sure you have several months of outgoings available. Again, I would try to find a way to market your specialism, if possible, because that could help you stand out and secure better paid gigs

[/QUOTE]

I am in no rush, so I can build up a specialism; I like tinkering with WEB3.0. I used to work in investment banking (moving money around) - worse job ever; however, it may get me a foot into a ok contract.

[b0redom]

I've heard this; what makes getting the second gig hard?

Presumably you're currently employed and have time to look for something. When your first contract comes to and end (and that can be immediately with zero notice on day 1 of your contract), you have to find something else with zero income, potentially with very little/no savings. It's why us slightly more vintage contractors have war chests.