Would you consider taking on a number of free jobs to increase your portfolio/customer base etc... (i.e. for friends etc... before actually taking the plunge and actually leaving work)

Someone made a comment to me the other day along the lines of...

"Why don't you just quit your job and start working freelance straight away?"

I honestly couldn't answer him. The only reservation i have is that I will have no guaranteed income and if I don't find anything in the first month I'm stuffed.

Most freelancers I've spoken to have advised that you should allow for a good 3+ months' salary in savings while you initially set yourself up and get contacts/work. Bear in mind that once you've invoiced a company, it can take anywhere from 30 days to 90 days to actually get paid - depending on how good payers they are.

I know our company (a small design/advertising business) don't usually pay suppliers until 90 days from invoice date - personally, I think that's too long for the freelancers we use as you sometimes need to rely on them at short notice and they, understandably, aren't that keen to pull out all the stops to rush in. Can't say I blame them really.

What I'm trying to say is, if you're giving up your full time job to go freelance, whatever your minimum monthly allowance is to cover the basics allow for at least 3 times that as a buffer.

Cool, thanks for the advice.

I need to set a plan in action for next year (i.e. when I am able to leave the place I'm currently living).

Do you mean Freelance ( truly self employed ) or contacting ( working for somebody for a set period ) ?

Setting up shop as a true Freelancer is not at all easy. Working as a contractor is far more reliable and safe as you tend to be employed for 3 moths or 6 months as opposed to a week here or a few days there. Generally speaking you tend to get paid at 30 days or less with agency ( contract ) work.

Well my dream is to be an indie developer.

Make money from my own app's sales on the AppStore.

Scratch that... my dream is to have a job that I enjoy and allows me to live in a flat without struggling at the end of EVERY FRICKING MONTH!

The job I'm in now doesn't look like it's going to provide that in the forseeable future.

Potential other approach.

Do contract work - it will more than pay the bills and do your own development on the side. Both will be done through your own company anyway.

Its the way I've been operating for over 15 years.

Only ever work for free if the scope is explicitly defined, you call the shots and work to your own schedule.

Even then I would only consider it for a charity. Friends I would charge full price for (if they are friends I would expect them to push their luck more than a normal client as a "But we're friends" means to get it cheaper.... a lot) and not discount it, double that rule for family (it's a lot harder to replace a family member)


As mentioned, get contract work, depending on what it is, place I work might actually have some we would be sending out for tender soon, things like an iOS dev to do an app for a car company


You must be paying a LOT... or not get paid enough, looked at moving up North? Plenty of dev jobs going (some even pay close to London non-banking prices)

I live in Leeds.

Just checking a few sites showing average salary for jobs (compiled by other users).

I'm on the lowest end for developers in Leeds.

I'm going to be updating my CV tomorrow with some help and will be sending it out in the near future.

The advice I've heard is to have a years wage in the bank before you make the break from regular employment, unless you've got good, trustworthy clients knocking on your door. 3 months is, I'd suggest, too little. Assuming you find work straight away, and spend a month on it, invoice them after that, you might find they still haven't paid you for 8 weeks. I've known it happen. All it takes is for one [LIFTED] to shaft you early on and you're stuffed.

Doing it for Charities would be better as
- you will need to treat them just like a real client so gaining experience
- it will be a recognised client name and they could be encourtaged to give you references
- it helps a charity

Well, I updated my CV last night and just applied for several roles on the Apple site.

Will be interesting to see what happens

I would agree with that. My brother had a big client, which was responsible for 80% of his income (he ran a recruitment company). The company folded up shop in the UK and went back to the USA, claiming insolvency in the UK. That left my brother going from a Friday with 250k on the books, to Monday morning laying off the his assistants and shutting down the business and claiming insolvency!