I'm a huge fan of the "single source of truth" approach. The actual content (achievements, skills, education, past projects) should be "data" and we should be able to generate the snazzy timelines, pretty resumes (the views) with single clicks.

That's the approach i'm taking with JobRudder [1]. You enter your "data" and we generate resumes, achievement reports, timelines etc. We're looking into updating LinkedIn, posting to twitter (for those who like that) and other integrations.

I'm happy more folks are thinking this way.

[1] https://jobrudder.com

I might be interested in this, but your website doesn't give me anywhere even close to enough information to know what your product gives me. All I see is one low-res screenshot and some sales lines that are reference what I can do, not how it works. Most people in your target demo aren't going to commit to signing up for something unless they know how much time they have to invest and what they will get for that amount of time.

That's fair. Thank you for the feedback and possible interest.

I've tried many varying levels of information (just a few weeks ago we had multiple large screenshots and more text) and the feedback is always a bit mixed (between those who think it's cluttered/dense and those who want more). It's not right yet, but we're working on it. Maybe we'll switch to a video.

In the meantime, feel free to try it out (30 days free). No pressure.

EDIT: One other thing. What do you think would make it easier to get value immediately? Starting with a resume you have now? LinkedIn?

Thanks again.

You're absolutely welcome. I don't think I'd be more likely to watch a video, but having that option is likely to appeal to many people.

Your company is interesting. I probably won't try it personally because I'm self-employed working as an independent contractor, so most of the benefits don't really apply. Admittedly, I'm in the minority in this case though.

Thank you.

I wish JobRudder could help your use case. I don't know enough about getting ahead (what it takes to get more contracts, higher fees etc) as an independent contractor, but i'm very much willing to learn if you'd like to talk about it.

Thanks again.

Somewhat unintuitively (to me before starting at least), finding contract work wasn't a challenge I've experienced yet. Even without promotion, I get more requests for work than one person can commit to while offering dev services at market rate.

The challenges I've experienced relate more to the business and administrative functions and in general optimizing the amount of time spent on non-billable things. One analogous challenge a contractor faces is figuring out how to make the jump from software contracting into technical consulting.

> Even without promotion, I get more requests for work than one person can commit to while offering dev services at market rate.

That's wonderful situation to be in :)

> The challenges I've experienced relate more to the business and administrative functions and in general optimizing the amount of time spent on non-billable things.

This is a tough one and it's something i struggle with too. I take it you already have the usual suite of apps to help (xero/freshbooks, timely/toggl, hellosign etc).

> One analogous challenge a contractor faces is figuring out how to make the jump from software contracting into technical consulting.

Also tough, but more familiar. This jump always feels like a matter of specialization to me. It usually means leaving the variety of being a generalist behind. Luckily there are many ways to specialize: Functional. Technical. Process Engineering. You can even combine these specialties.

The less technical specialties require more nuanced proof of your abilities. It's definitely a good idea to keep notes of applicable project, moments, achievements.

I was a consultant for 7+ years (taxes + tech), although not an independent one, and i'll say this: it takes even more non-billable time to do it right.

Do you have special skill set?

1 - Thanks!

2 - Exactly what you said.

3 - Not necessarily. I've done a ton of work with Python and a good amount using Python for APIs and web apps. I'm doubling down on that currently, but that's probably too general to be considered a speciality. It's definitely something I'm trying to feel out.

> It's definitely something I'm trying to feel out.

Good on you. Knowing where where you want to go is a large part of the battle.

I agree. It's a pain maintaining the same data everywhere.

Developer Story is a really good product but I haven't yet taken the time to create mine. I should go do it now.