Probably won't pay as much? Oh boy are you in for a surprise. Since you'll be starting out just out of school you'll be operating on the extreme base floor of contracting. Therefore you'll get passed up for the best contracting work. You're going to get the worst customers too: Customers that never pay on time, customers that can't pay you at all, unrealistic standards, low work load, and an extremely heavy work load that threatens to swamp your company.power UP wrote:This is one of the reasons I want to be able to stand on my own feet and work from home. Being my own boss/freelance contractor. Probably won't pay as much as a steady job at a big company, but I'll have more freedom. At least thats what I hope it will be like
(Currently @ UNI for computer science)
Will you need to hire help? Good luck, the most reliable and most skilled programmers don't want to work for what they view as a fly by night business. You will have to rely on interns, entry level types, and the dregs of the industry. Thus you'll be be doing well over half the programming work in addition to management and other duties. Did I mention that whether or not your customers pay you, your workers will still expect to get paid in addition to other benefits?
All that being said. I've seen some contractors and consultants that are extremely successful. Most of them drive BMWs while one drives a ferrari to work everyday. The problem is that there are so many contractors and consultants that I've seen that living day to day. They usually have another job in addition to doing freelance work.
