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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

#371

Post by tempsy »

aguyfromnb wrote: post #370
tempsy wrote: post #133

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It’s called a REIT. The dividend is rental income for real estate developers. Let me guess...you thought 2013 was the top?

I know what a REIT is. Maybe you could explain how rental income is spinning off 15% cash a year? Do you think real estate is a magic industry that returns 15% annually, unabated? Why are these friendly real-estate developers sharing that money with you?

That is just how REITs are structured. They are investment vehicles designed to pay out dividends to their investors that come from rental income.

Re: My Second Year as a Solo Developer

#372

Post by anchpop »

cambalache wrote: post #359
roytang wrote: post #357

Earlier quoted context omitted.

May I ask why you find yourself semi-unemployable? I'm in kind of a similar position as the OP in that I have a significant nest egg so that even if I spend a few years derping around and failing at a bunch of things, I figure that I just need to stop before that nest egg gets anywhere near dangerously low and go back to looking for freelance or consulting work, even at lower rates, should that become necessary to su…

I am right now an illegal alien in a country (not the US). My home country monthly wage is 5 dollars or so, so returning is not an option unless I can get a remote job.

Without knowing your situation, if you're a good developer it may be possible to get an H1B visa which would allow you to work as a software developer in the US.

Re: My Second Year as a Solo Developer

#373

Post by ProblemFactory »

dhruvkar wrote: post #325
pnathan wrote: post #320

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> We need more software engineers venturing out into other industries and identifying and solving problems. this seems to line up with my experience well. But I don't have a good line of sight for me to actually experience those businesses outside of taking a non-SWE job and going from a well-compensated expert to barely-paid newb. Spending years learning a specific industry in the hopes that I can turn my former ski…

Agreed, that's not a pragmatic path. But if starting a business is your goal, and finding a viable idea is your obstacle, I'd argue this is a sure-shot way of FINDING said idea. Some potential paths can be: 1. SWE @ SW company -> "BA" @ non SW company or whatever term is used for generic-problem-solver in that industry. 2. Part-time hourly work in another industry. This is fairly easy through temp agencies. 3. Appren…

> Part-time hourly work in another industry. This is fairly easy through temp agencies.

This sounds like a more brilliant idea than #2 in a list in a long thread.

Temp agencies are where businesses turn to when they have a reasonably simple problem and they are willing to pay to solve it.

Re: My Second Year as a Solo Developer

#374

Post by leonroy »

rjpr wrote: post #328
patio11 wrote: post #79

Two cents offered because this post really strikes a chord with me, and I also spent some time chasing down rabbit holes early in my software business: These products do not appear obviously commercializable and multiple years invested into them without materially improving the businesses does not decrease my confidence in that snap judgment. You could probably talk to business owners with problems, launch an (approp…

> If you run an API-based business in the future: Usage-based billing is a really tricky business model for a solo developer. Can you elaborate on this? Is it just because of the inconsistency in revenue or is there some technical challenge I haven't considered? I'm currently developing a usage-based API SaaS as a solo developer so this in particular really piqued my curiosity.

Inconsistent revenue is one - low price charged per transaction (usually) is another issue. Couple those with small subscription numbers to start with and you can see that it can take a while, if ever, before your SaaS can pay the bills.

Re: My Second Year as a Solo Developer

#375

Post by cambalache »

anchpop wrote: post #372
cambalache wrote: post #359

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I am right now an illegal alien in a country (not the US). My home country monthly wage is 5 dollars or so, so returning is not an option unless I can get a remote job.

Without knowing your situation, if you're a good developer it may be possible to get an H1B visa which would allow you to work as a software developer in the US.

I love to program but I am a career switcher. All my professional experience is in logistics, I have a B.S but not in CS, also I am 41. By all means if you have any tip to get a H1B (I have heard is crazy competitive) let me know.

Re: My Second Year as a Solo Developer

#376

Post by sixtypoundhound »

cambalache wrote: post #375
anchpop wrote: post #372

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Without knowing your situation, if you're a good developer it may be possible to get an H1B visa which would allow you to work as a software developer in the US.

I love to program but I am a career switcher. All my professional experience is in logistics, I have a B.S but not in CS, also I am 41. By all means if you have any tip to get a H1B (I have heard is crazy competitive) let me know.

Why not Upwork? Or investing some time in studying up on digital marketing and building your own products?

It isn't easy but you should be able to clobber $5/hour. Two questions which my customers have never asked me:

- What school did you go to? - What country do you live in / are a citizen of...

Re: My Second Year as a Solo Developer

#377

Post by cambalache »

sixtypoundhound wrote: post #376
cambalache wrote: post #375

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I love to program but I am a career switcher. All my professional experience is in logistics, I have a B.S but not in CS, also I am 41. By all means if you have any tip to get a H1B (I have heard is crazy competitive) let me know.

Why not Upwork? Or investing some time in studying up on digital marketing and building your own products? It isn't easy but you should be able to clobber $5/hour. Two questions which my customers have never asked me: - What school did you go to? - What country do you live in / are a citizen of...

Upwork rejected my resume some months ago. I am enhancing my portfolio to give it a shot again in the next weeks. I want to diversify my income so I have thought about producing digital products, but I need food-rent money now so that it is what I am prioritizing. I am also working on my Algorithms/Data Structures skills to try in TopTal, I dont know if you have any experience with them.

Re: My Second Year as a Solo Developer

#378

Post by austhrow743 »

mtlynch wrote: post #148
patio11 wrote: post #79

Two cents offered because this post really strikes a chord with me, and I also spent some time chasing down rabbit holes early in my software business: These products do not appear obviously commercializable and multiple years invested into them without materially improving the businesses does not decrease my confidence in that snap judgment. You could probably talk to business owners with problems, launch an (approp…

Thanks for reading, Patrick! I'm a big fan of your work, and your Indie Hackers interview was one of the big motivators that sent me down the solo developer path. > You could probably talk to business owners with problems, launch an (appropriately priced; hundreds to thousands of dollars per year) product against those problems, build contingent on getting 10 commits to buy, and be at +/- $100k in 12 to 18 months. Ma…

>The biggest problem I ran into was that there's this "disconnect problem." I know I'm a competent developer and can build niche solutions to $10k problems, but I don't know which companies have $10k problems. I can guess at it, but they sometimes don't even realize their $10k problem has a software solution. The companies also don't have incentive to talk to me to explore the possibility if I'm just a developer off the street.

They sometimes do realise their $10k problem has a software solution though. You need to be in the pathway for when they go looking to solve it, not go to them.

Advertise in the white pages as doing custom software development. You'll get plenty of businesses contacting you ready to pay money to solve all sorts of problems not currently addressed by off the shelf solutions. Very rarely are they actually willing to pay anywhere near the total cost to build it, but enough to make building it worth it to you if you can get a couple other customers on board.

Re: My Second Year as a Solo Developer

#379

Post by BeatLeJuce »

wolco wrote: post #316
thrownblown wrote: post #299

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I wouldn't know... I didn't go...

You haven't gone yet? There are great free universities online if you are still interested.

Which ones would you recommend? The ones I've seen so far looked like extended bootcamps. Which I guess is fine if you're looking for CS knowledge. But lutise of that, any recommendations?

Re: My Second Year as a Solo Developer

#380

Post by benhurmarcel »

cambalache wrote: post #165
nonseobeliever wrote: post #27

I work at a big tech company and also have my own small firm for freelance work. Even though I don't have my own product and implement what customers need, ranging from new website to SIEMs and stuff, I find it pretty lucrative. And my prices are about $20/hr. But yes, I don't know if I can survive without working full job. LE: and revenue is not that small, about 25k per year.

$20/h is shockingly low. That is an effective rate of around 10 bucks an hour, at or below minimum wage level.

Depends where
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