How to start in the "professional" app developer world

[Cableguy]

Hi guys,

So, after being a tech guys for over 25 years, I getting to a point where waking up in the morning to go do the same work every day its starting to bring my spirit down.
So I thought... How hard would it be to turn a passion into a "day job"?

I know most of the most active users are professional software developers, and it is to them I'm turning for advice...
If I were to launch myself in such adventure, what would be the best way to do it?
What should I be in the look out for?
What are the biggest difficulties you have faced or still face?

I'm not asking a prescription, like "do this and you can quit your day job" thing...
Just to gather input so I can do a proper analysis

 

[lemonisdead]

Hello,
My 50cts and suggestions only because I don't want to be seen like the "girl who pretend to know everything". They are based on my own experience.

First : be sure to have a robust family life and be ready not to earn something for months. So you need to have a money background (at least one year of your actual earnings) because, even if you could make many estimates, still you don't have recurrent customers or bill for maintenance fees, you won't be sure to earn something every day. The "american dream" is not the real life.

Secondly : stay on a main market. I mean, even if you would know a lot on every technos, your customers could ask some new tasks for which you would spend a lot of time and effort to be done. When you are devoted to one market you can reuse lot of already made codes.

Third : if you plan to sell your apps on GP don't spend too much time on a project till you don't have defined the user experience, understood user's needs, defined the whole project, detailed all your app. Selling to end customers does not only implies the interface and the code but more the marketing part.

As a general advice : you would earn more by selling your work to companies instead of end users. Be ready to take the Yellow Pages and call them. They will ask for example of your work so prepare some projects focused on the market you have chosen. Some companies will ask for any recommendations so ask some friends or developers here to be referral. It is hard to be seen as a serious developer starting from zero.

Choose the right "company status" : when you start from zero you probably won't want to generate charges if you don't earn one euro. You can start with "Portage salarial in France".

Prepare your term and conditions, inform you about the cost of insurances (yes, we have to be insured even if in our terms and conditions we don't accept any responsibility).

And don't accept everything : accept only projects where you are really paid the amount you should be paid. Don't accept to work without any "needs expression" (expression de besoin in French). When making estimates express your financial conditions. Ask for an amount before to start (generally 25% but could be more if you have to invest for any device or libraries or graphics designed by others, etc).
Some customers are difficult to please so define points in time to check if you are going in the right direction.

That's the general points I am thinking for the moment. If you have any question, I would be glad to reply. I am freelance since more than 20 years now. The beginnings were difficult but for now I can say it is a very confortable situation.

 

[JordiCP]

My 50cts and suggestions only

I think these suggestions are worth at least 1Euro


Programming itself is just a part. The other is: what? I would ask which are my current skills/hobbies/knowledges, what am I good at (or what can I become good at) and how can I mix both worlds --> if you find this mix, it will also be more easy to make a "picture" of this future, where to find customers,...

The bad:

• The beginnings can be really hard
• You never get the exact amount of work you want (too much or too little)
• You never know if your project estimations are wrong (by definition they are always a bit wrong, but I mean "very wrong")
• If you start working at home, it is difficult to draw a line between work and family life
• Sometimes you are paid late, or even not paid at all, and if you don't have a money background, it can be a real problem

The good:

• No need to tell

 

[canalrun]

All good advice…

It seems like it might apply to somebody who works as a freelancer (self employed).

Another option is to work directly for a company performing some needed software development function. This could be a good way to get your feet wet and gain experience.

Many years ago I had friends who worked at a company developing small applications that the company would use to keep their department operations flowing smoothly. B4J or B4A knowledge would be an excellent modern tool for this type of development.

Barry.

 

[Beja]

I would just follow the monkey rules.
1- Don't leave a branch before you have a grip on the other branch that you want to move to.
2- If the other branch is too far that you really need to jump, then make at least 10 megaflops to calculate all possible scenarios.
I never saw a monkey falling between branches.

 

[HotShoe]

First, don't quit your current job. Ask friends and relatives to suggest apps and write those. Use that to practice quoting a price for the app and setting a delivery date (you don't have to charge them, but do a quote anyway to see if you would actually have made money). That forces you out of your comfort zone and makes you do new things. Sign up on elance.com or freelancer.com and look at app offers there, and bid on a few. Once you feel that you can handle quoting prices and delivering on time, then you can start marketing yourself locally to businesses, and offer discounts or rebates to those that refer you to others.

Once you start making as much or more than you are making with your real job, then you can think about doing it full time. It's tough to get started and it helps if you specialize in something. When I started, I specialized in law enforcement and medical software and branched out from there. Finding a specialty niche means you can charge more for services, but you absolutely HAVE to be able to deliver what and when you say you can. Learn how to do change orders and re-quote the delivery date on each change order in writing.

It ain't easy, and it ain't gonna happen fast, but it can happen.

--- Jem

 

[Cableguy]

Thank you all for the Input...

It has made my thinking less dreamy, and as allowed me to define a still blurry path, that I hope to clear along the way.
I specially take note of those "monkey laws"... And LemonIsDead and Jem advices are pure gold... CanalRun has put a fork on my path which is worth taking a peek...
Jordi, Thanks for the "reality bite"

 

[sorex]

Overhere (Belgium) you can start with a secondary occupation which allows you to work as a real freelancer but after hours with all the shitty paperwork/taxes included.

So you start with that and see how's it like while having some small benefits aswell (pay stuff with VAT from another euro country or deduct the VAT later)

If you see it's hard to get of the ground just stay with that status and your working fully legally and companies will more easily accept you since they can bring in your invoices and deduct taxes from it aswell.

I'm doing this since 2006 and didn't make me rich but I'm working legally (not "black") , well the parts that gets noted anyway

 

[Johan Schoeman]

I think one also needs a bit of an artistic flair....something that I have none of whatsoever.