Thinking Like a Freelancer

When I first started freelancing more than a decade ago, many people asked me how it was.

The tradeoff I used to talk about is that freelancing gives you time and flexibility, but in return you take on uncertainity and volatility. On the other hand, a corporate job is rigid and can get mind-numbing at times, but you do get a lot of stability and don't have to worry every month about the next paycheck.

Everyone wants to marry the flexibility of freelancing with the stability of a full time job, but that is unfortunately not possible :)

Now ever since covid, the last 3-4 years have pretty much been series of layoffs across all tech companies, and I'm thinking if what we actually got was a marriage between the rigidity of a corporate job and the volatility of freelancing. That's the worst of both worlds. Even if you survive one round, the thought is always in the mind if another one is around the corner.

At this point, I think everyone in tech should start thinking like freelancers.

Freelancers are acutely aware from day 1 that any contract might end at any time.

So we have to be constantly assessing the market, work hard on future proofing our skill sets, be quickly adaptable as opportunities arise (or fall through) and network like crazy.

I think this applies to everyone now. Don't wait around thinking about the next round. You should be proactively de-risking your life right now.