#019 - Full-time vs Freelancing vs Starting a Company with Rob Walling
Sep 18, 2023
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Rob Walling, an entrepreneur and author of several books on startups, discusses the journey from coding to founding successful companies. He emphasizes the value of backend development skills, whether in full-time roles or freelancing. Rob shares personal stories about transitioning from a coder to an entrepreneur, the importance of recurring revenue in SaaS, and the pitfalls faced by non-technical founders. He also critiques traditional waterfall development, advocating for adaptive methods in today’s fast-paced tech landscape.
Transitioning to freelancing can lead to financial variability, underscoring the importance of developing savings and tax management skills.
Learning to program enhances problem-solving capabilities and technical literacy, offering valuable skills applicable in various career paths.
Choosing widely-used programming languages significantly improves job prospects and cultivates critical thinking, crucial for long-term career success.
Deep dives
Navigating Contract Work and Financial Management
Transitioning to contract work can yield significant financial variability, as illustrated by experiences of earning substantial amounts in one month followed by periods of no income. This necessitates learning essential financial skills, including saving and understanding tax obligations associated with 1099 income. Establishing a solid saving strategy becomes crucial in managing the unpredictability of freelance work and preparing for taxes. As income fluctuates, developing financial literacy during this period can greatly enhance long-term financial stability and success.
Learning to Code as a Foundational Skill
Learning to program fundamentally transforms one's career, providing essential problem-solving skills and systems thinking that benefit numerous aspects beyond traditional coding jobs. This technical skill empowers individuals to understand complex tools, from APIs to no-code platforms, enhancing their ability to work efficiently across various tasks. A significant realization is that even if coding isn't practiced daily, the foundational knowledge gained during the learning process continues to impact daily life and work strategies. Embracing coding as a lifelong skill opens up numerous paths for career development, innovation, and self-improvement.
Choosing the Right Development Path
When entering the software development field, selecting the right programming languages or frameworks can greatly influence career trajectory and job prospects. Focusing on widely used languages such as Python, Ruby on Rails, or PHP can enhance employability and ensure a solid foundation for building applications. Engaging with these languages not only provides opportunities in the job market but also cultivates critical thinking and problem-solving abilities through practical application. Prioritizing depth of understanding in one or two languages is more beneficial than superficial knowledge across many.
Benefits of Working in Startups vs. Big Tech
Working in a startup environment often fosters a steeper learning curve compared to larger corporations, offering chances to significantly impact products and processes. In contrast to the structured roles often found in large companies, startups require individuals to undertake varied responsibilities and innovate more dynamically. This environment encourages rapid skill development, particularly when working alongside highly skilled co-founders and colleagues. However, the trade-off may involve less job security and potentially lower initial pay compared to established tech giants, necessitating a careful evaluation of personal career goals.
The Stair-Step Approach to Entrepreneurship
The stair-step approach to entrepreneurship emphasizes building small, manageable projects that generate recurring income, which allows for gradual growth into larger ventures. This strategy encourages developers to start with simpler product offerings—like e-books or small applications—before progressing to more complex SaaS businesses. By accumulating experience and revenue from these initial projects, aspiring entrepreneurs can mitigate financial risks and learn the nuances of managing a business. Ultimately, this method provides a practical path for developers looking to transition from employment to successful entrepreneurship without overwhelming complexity.
Lane chats with Rob Walling. Rob is the author of several books, including the SaaS playbook and Start Small Stay Small. He founded Drip, TinySeed and even runs MicroConf, the largest conference for bootstrapped and mostly bootstrapped founders. In this episode they chat about how new backend developers can use their skills in a full time job, but how those skills are also unbelievably valuable when it comes to starting companies.
Rob Walling's Twitter: https://twitter.com/robwalling Rob's Book, "The Saas Playbook": https://saasplaybook.com/ TinySeed: https://tinyseed.com/ Rob's Podcast: https://www.startupsfortherestofus.com/
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