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I told my boss I quit last week, so in one or two weeks I'll be officially out of a job.
I was planning on building my own business, which I've done part time for the past year.
I'm trying to get some projects and customers and so far I've been doing pretty well, sort of by accident because some clients came to me.
And if that doesn't work out I was thinking of going freelance (and possibly have both).
But now I've got a really interesting offer to work for an employer again.
The company is interested in meeting me and I'm certainly going to give them a call.
So then the question arises...
Do I want to build a business and/or go freelance or do I want to be employed?
Both have pros and cons and I'm really not so sure what I want 
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Employment: you have a lot of idle time and/or boredom and a guaranteed regular paycheck.
Freelance: you have a lot of idle time looking for work and panicking about the next payday.
Going into business yourself: You have absolutely no idle time (or life for that matter) and are constantly panicking about the next payday.
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Employment: Steady income.
Freelance: Less steady, but much higher income.
Going into business yourself: Possibly no income at all, but also the only possibility to become filthy rich while others do the work for you 
As I said, pros and cons to all 
One of the pros that makes me seriously consider the employment job is the ability to learn from coworkers and grow into a multinational company.
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Marc Clifton wrote: Employment: you have a lot of idle time and/or boredom and a guaranteed regular paycheck.
Something I just learned, I've been unemployed my whole life. 
Social Media - A platform that makes it easier for the crazies to find each other.
Everyone is born right handed. Only the strongest overcome it.
Fight for left-handed rights and hand equality.
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having a business can be rewarding but there are so many hidden costs and so much hidden labor it's a huge risk even before taking into account a flighty clientbase.
You also have to be salesperson, dev, accountant, PR point and somehow find time for all that while doing QA as well.
Or you can hire, which means regulations, SS payouts, etc.
Subcontracting is a bit easier in that case.
But I don't know. If you've been doing it for awhile and have the inertia then maybe run with it. The sky is the limit, unlike working for someone else.
On the other hand, a little security is nice. And not having to manage all the details.
When I was growin' up, I was the smartest kid I knew. Maybe that was just because I didn't know that many kids. All I know is now I feel the opposite.
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honey the codewitch wrote: You also have to be salesperson, dev, accountant, PR point and somehow find time for all that while doing QA as well.
This.
IMNSHO, if you love to code and want to code for a living, go work for somebody else. If you don't mind spending the majority of your time doing things other than coding (because don't kid yourself, this is what you're going to end up doing), then go ahead and be self-employed.
Personally I've always worked for others for this very reason.
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I do love to code, but I don't hate the other parts either.
Except maybe sales, which is a bit of a problem if you're trying to build something
The feeling when getting a new customer is pretty good though 
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after all the [mostly employed] people scaring you off going it alone the business/freelance hybrid is quite a natural fit.
you can pick up a gig as a freelancer, but then if there's follow-up opportunities you can pitch it through your business: often when you're friendly with the people contracted to they will sometimes ask "do you know somebody who can do this or get that..." they'll often ask you before going back to an agent, guess who their new agent is? if you need people to help you, use other freelancers / contract part timers as much as possible, saves all that employment benefit stuff.
the record keeping is not that much harder than freelance, same rules, document and keep everything. likely you already have an accountant [in mind], find out if they have a preferred package, get a copy or access and bang the info in for them (you'll save on their fees for data entry and probably pick up a feel / opportunities for doing some of the simpler reporting yourself - saves more.) dunno why everyone is scared of accounts, it's the easiest mathematics and there's cheap / online packages that can do the allocation & reporting for you.
yes it's true business is 24/7, last thing you think about before you sleep, first thing you think about when you wake up, good days and bad days, but at the end you're totally in control. ever been in a company going tits-up and wondered why they don't do this or that, don't listen to your suggestions... well guess what, if you see an answer no ones going to tell you to go away mind your own business because, well, it IS your business.
sometimes you'll feel like you have no money, but should you need anything, new equipment, car, clothes you'll just go out and get it because somehow those things take care of themselves. (in fact having money is sometimes a bigger worry than not because you'll have to about pay tax, but spend it on the business and that goes away - which is better? giving that money in return for an asset or giving to the government and getting nothing but a receipt in return?)
finally job opportunity: if they really want you it's your turn to become the hirer, "sounds like a good project, if you were to offer it to my business I could start next week." (never say today/tomorrow).
(also doing that completely removes HR from the process. HR, totally clueless about what you are expected to do, their first task is to scare and dominate the new hire into believing how small you are [and how powerful HR is], that you are the last in so will be first out, that you are on probation so don't bring in your photos and pot plants till HR (dead wrong) confirms you, that you're expected to report daily at like a trained lap dog... on an on, regardless of skill level HR treats you like the most junior of newbies and HR is watching you like you were a 2 year old kid and make you believe HR (dead wrong again) can kick you out with the flick of their pen... forking idiots, got to dominate the staff while fresh so they remember who is the boss - well it's never HR, HR is a service department and has no power ever ... sorry, I go on, I really despise HR.)
anyway I say follow your dreams,
when you're young:
- should it go wrong you can still recover (and when old likely something you'll laugh about)
OTOH when you're old dreams you didn't follow ALWAYS become regrets and make you miserable
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lopatir wrote: the record keeping is not that much harder
I'm lucky to have a mom who's a bookkeeper, so she helped me keep my books this past year.
I did it all myself, but I've regularly called her like "does this money go here or there in the books?"
Keeping track of your incomes and expenses isn't the hard part, the hardest part is what you should declare when and where on what form.
lopatir wrote: I really despise HR
I never had to deal with (actual) HR.
Only guys who also did the occasional HR thing like whatever it is HR does because HR wasn't really a thing in those companies.
I don't know where you're from (Singapore?), but perhaps HR is different there than in the Netherlands?
The only thing I've seen HR do in a company where I was contracted, was mess up vacancies, like spice it up with utter nonsense because they thought it would be more appealing to programmers.
In any case, employees in the Netherlands are protected by various laws, like you can't just fire people (especially not on the spot, unless you have criminal evidence), you can't set them back in salary, you have to keep paying them even when they get sick (up to two years or something), and lots more.
lopatir wrote: giving that money in return for an asset or giving to the government and getting nothing but a receipt in return?
The eternal struggle!
Do I buy these two quite expensive monitors that I really don't need, but for which I get a tax exempt or do I keep my money and give half to the government, making the difference rather small? (spoiler, I bought the monitors and I love them)
lopatir wrote: should it go wrong
I doubt it will, I'll always have some income and if it really fails I'll always be able to go back to being employed.
I'm young, but I've spread my risks and already kind of build something for myself.
So actually, it could fail, but I'd never really need to recover, perhaps I'm just winning less
lopatir wrote: anyway I say follow your dreams,
Well, that's the hard part.
Is it my dream (right now) to build a company, or is it my dream to learn from great coworkers and have plenty of spare time on the side?
I now have opportunities for good jobs, but I'll always be able to build a company
Thanks for the advice though, they're all words of truth and wisdom
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If you enjoy coding then either work full time or contract your services out.
Running your own business wastes a heck of a lot of good coding time on other, much less interesting and totally unrewarding stuff.
- I would love to change the world, but they won’t give me the source code.
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Forogar wrote: much less interesting
I find the bookkeeping pretty interesting actually!
Not something I like doing a lot (but for now it isn't a lot), but I've learned a lot from it
Forogar wrote: totally unrewarding stuff
You'll get a feeling of accomplishment
And, if you do it right, a sh*t ton of money
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Ha! That's why I prefer to fly myself and don't leave all the fun to some microcontroller. One main rotor and one motor ought to be enough for everyone[^].
I have lived with several Zen masters - all of them were cats.
His last invention was an evil Lasagna. It didn't kill anyone, and it actually tasted pretty good.
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Why did do handstart? not being very clued in with Radio Control Choppers
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That was not really a hand start. He probably just made sure that the rotor did not get banged up in transport and moves freely. Also, the motor is probably a little stronger and can deliver quite a kick when it's started too abruptly. Newton's third law. When the rotor already is turning, you can go easier on the throttle and give the tail rotor time to compensate for the sudden momentum at the rotor shaft. Noobs often manage to turn around the helicopter 180 degrees by starting too abruptly before the tail rotor has a chance to compensate.
I have lived with several Zen masters - all of them were cats.
His last invention was an evil Lasagna. It didn't kill anyone, and it actually tasted pretty good.
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Quote: If you’re one of the 12% you should be required to declare it on online dating profiles. Like a CRB check but for delusional morons.
LOL lots. 
Sent from my Amstrad PC 1640
Never throw anything away, Griff
Bad command or file name. Bad, bad command! Sit! Stay! Staaaay...
AntiTwitter: @DalekDave is now a follower!
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I love everything about that post.
When I was growin' up, I was the smartest kid I knew. Maybe that was just because I didn't know that many kids. All I know is now I feel the opposite.
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MASTER BOOT RECORD - Irq 0 System Clock[^]
I'm not sure, but with a name like MASTER BOOT RECORD and song titles like MSDOS.SYS, IO.SYS, Dram Refresh and System Clock, I'm guessing this guy (or guys?) is in IT.
Their bio on last.fm reads "486DX-33Mhz-64mb processing avant-garde chiptune, synthesized heavy metal & classical symphonic music. 100% Synthesized, 100% Dehumanized."
And that pretty much sums it up.
It's surprisingly easy to listen to though and I've listened to it a lot this past week.
I don't have a particular favorite song as it's all pretty great.
Oh yeah, it's all mostly instrumental, so it's pretty nice to have on the background while coding.
It seems they put all their albums on YouTube, so if you like this song I recommend checking out an album.
Enjoy
modified 16-Aug-19 9:53am.
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Nice find!
Like you say, they seem easy to listen to, which isn't always the case with this kind of music.
It's not all instrumental though, there seems to be lyrics if you look for the songs "feat. Öxxö Xööx".
Now... for some sudden reason... I want to go and play some NES games
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musefan wrote: It's not all instrumental though
I've been listening to a couple of albums for the past week and I've never heard any lyrics, but just after I posted this I heard some lyrics too on the Direct Memory Access album
musefan wrote: Now... for some sudden reason... I want to go and play some NES games
That's the same feeling I'm getting too
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Hi All,
It being Friday afternoon alot of the office is empty, Working From Home officially. Just got to make sure no one notices me! I have done quite a bit this week so feel I am due a quiet Friday. Got in at Silly O'Clock this am to get some tests done. Test were fully done by 09:30 Successfully. Been trying to look busy ever since.
No sooner than I clicked Post Message, does Teams tell me Vincent has given me more work! 
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Getting up here in Wisconsin. Where are you located?
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glennPattonWork wrote: Vincent
Vincent, Sommerset UK. His identity is compromised. Run to shelter!
"It is easy to decipher extraterrestrial signals after deciphering Javascript and VB6 themselves.", ISanti[ ^]
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He's not too bad, one the less hyper members of the team!
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