On 4/22/07, Steve <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
Hello everyone, A few months a go I decided to go programmer for hire
<snip the standard story> First of all, be careful of who you do work for. You'll learn this with experience (the experience you probably have already) but some jobs just scream "you're not going to get paid". Some of them get posted to the PLUG list now and then ;-) Second, always have a signed contract. Don't do work for someone you can't punch/sue. Send them an invoice, and keep a copy for yourself. Be ready to hound them relentlessly and/or sue them if they don't pay. Put the BBB on your speed dial. Also, always have a signed contract. Third, like someone already said, get half up front. If you're charging enough, the half up front should cover your expenses and then some. If it doesn't, charge more. Fourth, talk to a tax expert. Now. As an independent contractor, you're going to get slammed with about twice the taxes you would as an employee. There are ways to mitigate the taxes you have to pay, and a good tax... person (lawyer? CPA? I don't know) can tell you what they are, so you'll know what things to keep track of. Fifth, if at all possible, don't deliver the goods until you get paid. This is hard with code because as soon as you show it to them, they have it. When I worked as a web developer for hire I would put their web site/pages up on my own server first and show them off there. Since I was doing back end stuff, this meant that they could see everything and verify that it worked how they wanted, but they didn't have the code. When I had money in the bank, I'd go ahead and put it on their server for them. I dunno what you're developing in, but if it's a compiled language you could maybe put a "time bomb" (die if date > two weeks from now) in your sample, or something. Others may have better options for this. I've done independent coding work before and it is hard. Sometimes you'll have a month go by with no good work. Other times you'll have your hands full and will get an offer that is REALLY sweet and you would just die to do, but you can't 'cause you don't have time. You're going to be bombarded with "Do some work for free and we'll split the profit margins with you. This is going to be the next MySpace!" type offers. Eventually, if you're as good as you say you are, you'll start getting referrals from previous clients. Maybe some day you'll even be talking to someone and they'll say "Oh yeah I've heard you do great work!" but they won't remember where they heard it from. Then you'll know, like Zaphod in the Total Perspective Vortex, that you are in fact Completely Awesome. Good luck, Dan /* PLUG: http://plug.org, #utah on irc.freenode.net Unsubscribe: http://plug.org/mailman/options/plug Don't fear the penguin. */
