off topic but can you share your rise to 300-400k/year? Do you just bill more than your previous contract? i.e. 125/hr last 6 months, so at renewal time you jump to 150-175/hr? Did you work 2 or more jobs at the same time? It seems like 300-400K/yr remote work in a low COL would be the dream setup for most of HN, but to each his own. What's the take home on your salary after expenses/taxes?
Ask HN: Going from 12 years of self-employment to tech job?
21–30 of 41 posts
Re: Ask HN: Going from 12 years of self-employment to tech job?
#22You have a shot, but why? Dealing with the politics of corporate is bad. Don't care which of the FANMAG you work for. Let alone for smaller companies. You'll be wanting out very fast. I don't know that your resume will even get you a call back. There's nothing that jumps out. Things like C/C++, Python, Go, Distributed Systems, etc. The first thing you need is to get seen, then pass the phone screen, then get onsite.…
I hear the cynicism, I do. You might be right, but I have friends in these companies and some love it, some hate it. I want to give it a try.
As for the resume, maybe we've miscommunicated? I'm specifically looking for an iOS role, so having Python and distributed systems on my resume doesn't seem like it would help me?
I do appreciate you taking the time to post though!
Re: Ask HN: Going from 12 years of self-employment to tech job?
#23Apologies for being off topic, but I'm looking to attempt the opposite transition. Go from Big Co to self-employed consultant and would love to pique your brain about your journey if you'd be willing to field a few questions of mine at some point?
Re: Ask HN: Going from 12 years of self-employment to tech job?
#24off topic but can you share your rise to 300-400k/year? Do you just bill more than your previous contract? i.e. 125/hr last 6 months, so at renewal time you jump to 150-175/hr? Did you work 2 or more jobs at the same time? It seems like 300-400K/yr remote work in a low COL would be the dream setup for most of HN, but to each his own. What's the take home on your salary after expenses/taxes?
Likely billable rate of $100-$150 at 2000 hrs per yr. Earlier on during the iOS dev crunch of 2010-2012 billable rates were hitting the $200+ mark. From 2013-2016 those rates dropped down to $150, in the past 4 years those rates plummetted to $80 and now lately even $40. Unless you're working on extending some native API or have expertise in the newer ARKits and HealthKits or you're adding value elsewhere in terms of PM or design or marketing it's harder to justify the magical $100 rate.
Re: Ask HN: Going from 12 years of self-employment to tech job?
#25You've been making 300K+ for years as a consultant, for more than a decade? Yes, you have a very good shot, because you have a demonstrated track record of being able to do the work. I don't know if you have a shot at a job that pays 300K+, though. I don't know the NYC market.
I’m in a similar boat as OP, and I can tell you that folks are VERY skeptical of success when you haven’t been a part of the corporate rat race. My success has a consultant has (so far) apparently little relevance to passing interviews at FAANG and the like. People like talking to me though, so I guess there’s that!
Agree on this very much
Re: Ask HN: Going from 12 years of self-employment to tech job?
#26Your timeline and mine align somewhat. I got out of military by 2007 and started up working for the fruit company in 2008/2009 then went outside to but stayed within the iOS ecosystem from 2011 to 2013 and did indie work from 2014 onwards. I'm opting for product roles instead of engineering roles as it's a better story fit for explaining how to use my product leadership skills and leaving the dev part to the younger and cheaper leetcoders they want to groom.
Re: Ask HN: Going from 12 years of self-employment to tech job?
#27Your timeline and mine align somewhat. I got out of military by 2007 and started up working for the fruit company in 2008/2009 then went outside to but stayed within the iOS ecosystem from 2011 to 2013 and did indie work from 2014 onwards. I'm opting for product roles instead of engineering roles as it's a better story fit for explaining how to use my product leadership skills and leaving the dev part to the younger…
Life is really different on the inside tho. You move way, way slower and spend more time dealing with people than with code.
Re: Ask HN: Going from 12 years of self-employment to tech job?
#28Apologies for being off topic, but I'm looking to attempt the opposite transition. Go from Big Co to self-employed consultant and would love to pique your brain about your journey if you'd be willing to field a few questions of mine at some point?
Unless you plan to excite the OP with your questions, I think you want to pick OP's brain.
Re: Ask HN: Going from 12 years of self-employment to tech job?
#29Hmm your background as described sounds good but your resume is not well written. Learn about resume writing and start from scratch. I’m sure you must have a better pitch for your clients if you’re pulling those rates. And I also question why you’d join a bigco if you’re making those rates while running a successful side business.
Re: Ask HN: Going from 12 years of self-employment to tech job?
#30I did the same.
I found that big companies (the Tier 2 telcos, etc) either couldn't afford me, worried about scalability/teamwork skill, or just didn't like what was on my resume. They want people who fit in well as a cog into their corporate machine. There was one pleasant exception to this, a small team carrying a billion dollar company, but I felt the company had too many processes and moved too slowly.
The startup tier jumped at the opportunity though. I got my current job offer in less than 24 hours after the interview, even though I requested a salary on the high end.
There's a lot of pros to jobs. I was used to working about 4x the average speed to justify a 4x hourly rate, and now I can work half as hard for double the median salary. It also means that time isn't money anymore, so I can take off more time to read books or just go shopping with my wife.
As odd as it sounds, I have more free time than back when I was working 10 hrs/week from home. It's nice to not have to worry about marketing and collecting payments.