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How to Survive as a Solo Dev for Like a Decade or So

sizefivegames.com

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Re: How to Survive as a Solo Dev for Like a Decade or So

#31

Post by ninjakeyboard »

raamdev wrote: post #8

> I find it astonishing that startup indie devs pay out for an office, with all the extra bills that entails. Work from home, keep your overheads as close to zero as possible. I've been a solo dev for nearly a decade (8 years) and I found that sometimes it makes complete sense to pay for an office. Before my daughter was born, I was able to work from almost anywhere: noisy cafes, at home, the library, etc. But after…

Agreed. Starting a company (6 months in) - it's hard to work from home. Worth the money to have an office and not only that but the routine.

Re: How to Survive as a Solo Dev for Like a Decade or So

#32

Post by ninjakeyboard »

hire_charts wrote: post #21
raamdev wrote: post #8

> I find it astonishing that startup indie devs pay out for an office, with all the extra bills that entails. Work from home, keep your overheads as close to zero as possible. I've been a solo dev for nearly a decade (8 years) and I found that sometimes it makes complete sense to pay for an office. Before my daughter was born, I was able to work from almost anywhere: noisy cafes, at home, the library, etc. But after…

$350/mo seems _extremely_ reasonable for a quiet studio. I don't think that's the kind of office expense the poster was talking about. For instance, in NYC, $350/month would barely get you a "hot desk" (i.e. chair at a table) in a coworking space.

We pay $3000 a month for our startup for a small 3-4 person private office room in a shared space.

Re: How to Survive as a Solo Dev for Like a Decade or So

#33

Post by imglorp »

hartator wrote: post #15
rydl wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, coffee and reading hn and the like. You could also say "don't procrastinate". Sure, I'll start doing this right after I read this one last post ;)

Same here! Will go back to work just after replying to you! :)

    echo 127.0.0.1 news.ycombinator.com >> /etc/hosts

Re: How to Survive as a Solo Dev for Like a Decade or So

#34

Post by ryandrake »

raamdev wrote: post #8

> I find it astonishing that startup indie devs pay out for an office, with all the extra bills that entails. Work from home, keep your overheads as close to zero as possible. I've been a solo dev for nearly a decade (8 years) and I found that sometimes it makes complete sense to pay for an office. Before my daughter was born, I was able to work from almost anywhere: noisy cafes, at home, the library, etc. But after…

I remember when I was looking to move houses a while back and we saw one WAY out in the boonies that was otherwise unremarkable but had a small, but physically separate "in-law house" in the back, that had a bedroom, a tiny kitchen (enough room for a fridge and microwave) and a tiny bathroom. We didn't move there but I couldn't stop thinking about how well something like that would fit as a work-from-home office. Currently, with a wife, a kid, and all her kid-friends, carrying on loudly and ransacking the house at all hours, I couldn't imagine making a "bedroom converted to office" work for actual productive remote work.

Too bad these in-law houses (or nanny houses) are so rare in the Bay Area. Where I used to live in Florida they were all over the place.

Re: How to Survive as a Solo Dev for Like a Decade or So

#35

Post by pjc50 »

hire_charts wrote: post #21
raamdev wrote: post #8

> I find it astonishing that startup indie devs pay out for an office, with all the extra bills that entails. Work from home, keep your overheads as close to zero as possible. I've been a solo dev for nearly a decade (8 years) and I found that sometimes it makes complete sense to pay for an office. Before my daughter was born, I was able to work from almost anywhere: noisy cafes, at home, the library, etc. But after…

$350/mo seems _extremely_ reasonable for a quiet studio. I don't think that's the kind of office expense the poster was talking about. For instance, in NYC, $350/month would barely get you a "hot desk" (i.e. chair at a table) in a coworking space.

Yes, but if you're self-funded every dollar is taken out of your "runway".

Re: How to Survive as a Solo Dev for Like a Decade or So

#36

Post by pjc50 »

enraged_camel wrote: post #6

>>> Don’t spend any money: Do as much as you can yourself. If you can’t afford it, don’t pay someone to make assets that you could do yourself. What’s more, do you really need to hire a full time coder? Or can you just hire a freelancer for a month? If you don’t have money, make the sound effects yourself. Nah. As a solo dev you need to spend your time efficiently. You can go to Fiverr and pay literally $5 for stuff…

Quality matters - the usual question of outsourcing stuff is whether you can describe what you want accurately enough.

Re: How to Survive as a Solo Dev for Like a Decade or So

#37

Post by ryandrake »

Alupis wrote: post #23
raamdev wrote: post #8

> I find it astonishing that startup indie devs pay out for an office, with all the extra bills that entails. Work from home, keep your overheads as close to zero as possible. I've been a solo dev for nearly a decade (8 years) and I found that sometimes it makes complete sense to pay for an office. Before my daughter was born, I was able to work from almost anywhere: noisy cafes, at home, the library, etc. But after…

I think the real lesson that's being conveyed is "Don't gear up like you're a successful business until you are a successful business". > When your game sells and makes some money, treat it in terms of how many years you’ve got until you’d have to get a ‘proper job’ > I’d released three games before I went ‘full time’, and my 4th was just about ready to launch. The first games were made in my spare time while my Real…

Wow that hits home. Been there, done that. Pro-tip, especially for Californians: If you're on a shoe string budget, don't go set up any kind of tax or business entity before you have revenue. Paying CA's $800 LLC tax and paying an accountant $400 to write "$0" on your tax return every year is a pointless waste of money. Ask me how I know.

Re: How to Survive as a Solo Dev for Like a Decade or So

#38

Post by mighty_atomic_c »

enraged_camel wrote: post #27
_eht wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have also been working out of my garage for the last eight years and I'm just now in the process of finding an office. I don't have any kids, but I still feel like I'm going stir crazy. Sometimes you just need to put some distance between where you sleep and where you work.

I work from home. Here's how I get around this: after waking up and having breakfast, I go for a short (~10 minute) walk or bike ride around the block. When I get back, I start working. That kind of "fake commute" is sufficient to trick my brain into separating work from everything else I do in the same space.

When you end the day, do you have a second fake commute home?

Re: How to Survive as a Solo Dev for Like a Decade or So

#40

Post by steinso »

throw9966 wrote: post #17

The best advice that I got was don't quit your full time job. My desktop sharewares dont sell that often nowadays, but its enough to pay my rent and monthly expenses. The salary that I get from my full time job goes direct to my bank untouched. > "Working from a cafe" 100% agree. For me, no work gets done from a cafe. I wonder what work people do by sitting at Starbucks. I cant write one line of code if I am being co…

I am very productive in a cafe environment, I like the atmosphere and it is a nice change. I just pop in some noise cancelling headphones and code away. At a cafe there is a lot of noise, but other than that there is really no distractions.
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