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My Second Year as a Solo Developer

mtlynch.io

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Re: My Second Year as a Solo Developer

#301

Post by mtlynch »

jacurtis wrote: post #278
mtlynch wrote: post #84

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Thanks for reading and for testing out Zestful! > For example the string "3/4 cup risotto rice, Arborio or Carnaroli" > It identifies the unit and quantity fair enough, and it's right when it says "Risotto rice" is the product. But then it says "Arborio or Carnaroli" is a preparation method. I can totally see WHY it says that. But I'm not sure that's correct. Yeah, I'm constantly improving the model, but there will a…

Aren't you going to make him pre-pay for 3 months and not charge him until the feature is implemented??? Just got to call you out on your own article. lol

Haha, minor bugfixes I can do without pre-payment.

Re: My Second Year as a Solo Developer

#302

Post by mtlynch »

macNchz wrote: post #289
mtlynch wrote: post #248

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's the kind of thing that seems like it's solvable with rules, but once you get into the weeds, there are too many rules and exceptions and exceptions to those exceptions. In addition to prep notes, there's also text that most clients consider garbage. For example, "2 cups sugar, I use Sweetums brand!" the brand preference is garbage. And then there are tokens like "pound" that could mean different things in differ…

Years ago I built a recipe app for a client who wanted it to have a "smart" shopping list feature that could dedupe ingredients from disparate recipes, normalize their quantities and sum them up to friendly totals. I fell waaaay down the parsing rabbit hole battling those exceptions-to-exceptions, what a mess. Reading your examples gave me a flashback! The app only had a couple of hundred recipes so we wound up just…

Thanks for reading!

Yeah, that's a little like how I fell into Zestful. Very early into my adventure, I made a keto recipe search engine and wanted to handle ingredients properly. It started with regexes then spiraled into machine learning.

Re: My Second Year as a Solo Developer

#303

Post by ianmcgowan »

NKCSS wrote: post #102
xchaotic wrote: post #20

Sorry to say but this proves that for someone who actually has to work for a living ie earn money, corporate life is absolutely the correct choice. Even for Mr Lynch these experiments in charity wouldn’t be possible without the nest egg from google (which he acknowledged). To go from net 100k+ to below zero and still be unprofitable after two years is a financial disaster.

Nah, but it's hard to launch a successfull product; if it wasn't, everyone would be doing it. I'm doing contracting work for multiple different customers, long-term project, and I generate 100-200k of revenue on a yearly basis from that. That leaves me with slightly higher salary than if I'd work for a boss, but I have tonnes, and tonnes more freedom and time for my kids. It's just not possible to scale that past 300…

Wait, why do you think "it's just not possible to scale that past 300k/yr"? I have at least one counter-example ;-)

In general, the way it's worked for me is if I have multiple potential new gigs, I ask for more money. When the next gig comes along, that's my new baseline. Over the last 6 years that's helped moved the hourly rate to a number I wouldn't have asked for upfront. I hate to say no to customers too, so sometimes end up working 60-70 hour weeks in bursts. It's worth it though, because when things get quiet, I can go snowboarding for a week without asking a boss for permission...

Re: My Second Year as a Solo Developer

#304

Post by xwdv »

tonyedgecombe wrote: post #109
xwdv wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What if the poverty was really, REALLY bad? As in soul crushing, no way out, maybe-kill-yourself, type of poverty? I doubt you’d make that switch so easily.

That's really another question, I have a lot of sympathy for people in that situation but it isn't what we are talking about here.

I don’t think you understand what poverty is, if you are choosing poverty over “lack of autonomy in the workplace”.

Poverty doesn’t liberate you, it restricts you, and not just in the workplace, but in your entire life. Want to go on a trip or eat fancy food? Too bad you can’t, because you don’t have money and you’re broke poor. Want to get a great career? Too bad, you got to work at fast food joint because you can’t afford the education. Want kids? Nope you can’t afford it so keep it in your pants, and women don’t want to get serious with some broke dude anyway.

There is no way you’d choose poverty. There is little advantage to being poor in society that punishes being poor.

Re: My Second Year as a Solo Developer

#305

Post by xwdv »

cycloptic wrote: post #171
aguyfromnb wrote: post #113

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What sort of question is this? Do you think anyone would pick "soul-crushing maybe-kill-yourself poverty" over working at Google? We are talking about programmers here. Unless there are unique circumstances that sort of poverty is off the table.

>Do you think anyone would pick "soul-crushing maybe-kill-yourself poverty" over working at Google? I've done this before and I would do it again. I wish I had something profound to add but I don't. Working in a corporate environment is just incredibly grating.

Is being poor also not incredibly grating?

Re: My Second Year as a Solo Developer

#306

Post by edmundsauto »

quickthrower2 wrote: post #298
poulsbohemian wrote: post #155

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>> Ironically, it strikes me that there's a gap here for a business to solve; connecting entrepreneurial devs with business owners aware of problems. >This. Why hasn't this gap been filled yet? It's called Upwork. No seriously, hear me out. When a business owner has a problem they perceive could be solved with technology, they create a job or they go on job posting sites seeking either an employee or a contractor to…

Yeah I’ve tried another similar site and people’s expectations are a bit loony, usually they want to pay the price you would charge a single customer for 1 year as a SaaS for you to develop the entire solution! Maybe non software folks don’t get the difference between say paying Atlassian $1000/month or whatever it is for Jira and paying a dev $1000 to develop a JIRA clone, because it probably seems like the same thi…

You're validating the problem, not the value or the target market. You need all 3, but it's easier to identify problems, then validate whether the defined target would be interested at a given price point.

The freelancer sites are just a starting point, they answer the question of, "what are some things business owners want".

Re: My Second Year as a Solo Developer

#307

Post by poulsbohemian »

quickthrower2 wrote: post #298
poulsbohemian wrote: post #155

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>> Ironically, it strikes me that there's a gap here for a business to solve; connecting entrepreneurial devs with business owners aware of problems. >This. Why hasn't this gap been filled yet? It's called Upwork. No seriously, hear me out. When a business owner has a problem they perceive could be solved with technology, they create a job or they go on job posting sites seeking either an employee or a contractor to…

Yeah I’ve tried another similar site and people’s expectations are a bit loony, usually they want to pay the price you would charge a single customer for 1 year as a SaaS for you to develop the entire solution! Maybe non software folks don’t get the difference between say paying Atlassian $1000/month or whatever it is for Jira and paying a dev $1000 to develop a JIRA clone, because it probably seems like the same thi…

Recent client: "I took a fortran class back in college, so let me know if you need any help."

Therein lies the problem: They know lawyers, doctors, accountants, heck even plumbers are going to be expensive because they are educated / trained and/or they get you out of an identifiable tight spot (the IRS isn't happy, water is coming into the house, I'm having a heart attack, I'm getting sued, etc).

Software developers? Outside the FAANGs technical people are viewed as fungible. Many, many small businesses are grossly undercapitalized such that a business owner might very well be paying that technical person a lot more than they pay themselves. Likewise, technical roles are typically compensated well above many other clerical / field / service / business type roles such that a business owner might not have ever paid so much to any other single employee.

Re: My Second Year as a Solo Developer

#308

Post by texasbigdata »

bananaeater wrote: post #134
amelius wrote: post #129

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Ironically, it strikes me that there's a gap here for a business to solve; connecting entrepreneurial devs with business owners aware of problems. This. Why hasn't this gap been filled yet?

My theory is that there are actually a number of "filters" before this kind of relationship would happen. First, the business owner has to recognize the problem, care about it, allot time to understand it, have the proper motivation (financial and mental), and network with others to solve. Then on the other side of the scenario, the dev has to be logistically available to working on the project, be capable in both th…

I've had the exact opposite happen, but granted more consulting than dev.

1. Know someone at the company or a key advisor 2. Spend time together 3. Hear "we think we need help but we're not sure where" 4. Respond relatively insightful with 2 or 3 things they could do that are valuable and force rank them 5. Get feedback 6. Price it. Explain value. 7. Deliver

In my eyes if you're helping smaller companies sub say 1000 employees the value you bring is in knowing what to do. And telling them. They need you to understand the universe of options, what you've seen at other places (i.e. experience) and to weigh in on what works. They largely have no idea how to move the boulder otherwise you would not be there.

Re: My Second Year as a Solo Developer

#309

Post by dhruvkar »

gbasin wrote: post #300
dhruvkar wrote: post #208

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I hear you. I was in Software for a couple of years and I only saw software/IT problems. But these problems usually had a variety of solutions and only some glue was required. Now I've been in the natural stone industry for 4 years and I can't count the number of problems to which the solution is "add more people". So much data entry and data extraction from PDFs ERP/CRM/Other software. 100s of man-hours spent on som…

Totally agree. Software is just starting to scratch the surface of other industries. Out of curiosity, what's your role in the space you're in now? Are you solving these data extraction problems?

Hey Gary, I'm solving them using 3rd party tools (docparser and evolution.ai) at the moment to offload these types of tasks.

I don't have a fully working solution, just started testing with specific documents (steamship lines notifications) to see if it's a fit.

I think it'll be slow road for each department I want to tackle - logistics, accounting, purchasing, etc. Every department has this issue, and I'm sure products could be built to serve those niches.

Re: My Second Year as a Solo Developer

#310

Post by scaryclam »

henryfjordan wrote: post #243
willj wrote: post #203

Naive question by someone who’s never started a business: when bootstrapping companies while keeping your day job, how do you deal with intellectual property clauses in employment contracts, such that your employer owns the “inventions” you create in your free time, on your own equipment, unrelated to the business area you work in? I know laws vary by state, but I would find it especially disheartening if you spent y…

Your intuition is correct, you really should try to make sure your employer is aware of your intent to work on your own IP and you have some written document acknowledging that fact. Many companies have a form you fill out on your first day listing such projects. You owe your employer a duty of loyalty and so your projects cannot compete with them, and it helps to have them review the scope of the project and sign of…

So much this. Don't rely on just not using company time or resources. Be open and honest. Get it in writing. If they won't give it to you, there's no chance of them being ok with it just because it's not on company time or resources. Know the boundaries before committing. Then you and your employer can keep a trustful and productive relationship while you try things out.
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