Are you an independent developer? or working in a software shop? I am curious about your experience because I am trying (or just starting) to do independent things and your feedback sounds like a nice story to hear.
I'm a contractor/independent currently contracted to a financial company and a telecoms company concurrently. I have about 18 years' experience in total and have been on the contract market for 12 years.
The things that matter when you're starting to work independently (which I screwed up I will add) are building contacts and getting out of the agency system as soon as possible. Also I'm a bad accountant but YMMV if that interests you. If you can, don't work on their site; remote work is far nicer.
That sounds great! Thanks for sharing it :)
> are building contacts and getting out of the agency system as soon as possible.
I know, but how do you do that? Right now I am working for home and remotely collaborating with a friend in a product, but the VC path is also hard :(
I'd go for a few agency jobs for a 2-6 month stint, be nice to people and spend your time working with them not alongside them and gain some reputation. After a couple of positions, return work is usually possible. Then general staff turnover in tech companies will propagate your reputation as well. The first 2 years is the most difficult.
I'm going to add this as well: never work hard. Work out how not to work hard. Life is about what you do when you're not working for me at least.
Thanks to them, I paid mortgage off in under a decade. No other reason.