[tedmiston]

As I read this well written piece I can't help but to stop and think about the irony of reading a 22-minute article about priorities and time management instead of getting back to spending time with family and friends over the Christmas break.

I will stop and react to one piece:

> In an era of insecure employment, we must constantly demonstrate our usefulness through frenetic doing

This is why I started my own company this year. I still do the same type of work providing dev services vs being a dev employee, but it's freed me from busy work that involves being present in a chair 9–5 which gets mistaken for productivity in a traditional office environment.

[iagooar]

May I ask you how you did the jump to self-employment? Did you build up your network while working for a salary and then switch to your own company? I know I'd love to be my own boss, but it seems tough to find enough clients in order to pay yourself a salary.

[tedmiston]

Pretty much what you said. For client sourcing I just asked a few founder friends if they would be interested in contracting a part time dev and they were. That was unituitively one of the easiest parts.

Also, the market rate as a contractor is quite a bit higher than as an employee which helps cover some of the time that isn't billable.

[ikeyany]

> I just asked a few founder friends

Ah. It all seems so simple when phrased like that. To be an insider...

[tedmiston]

I wouldn't necessarily say that. I live in a third- / fourth-tier startup ecosystem and started here from scratch about 3 years ago. Taking a job for a company still working in the space provided by the accelerator (which happens to host lots of meetups) was one of the best things to happen to me though, even if that company ultimately failed.

(I got that first job blindly off AngelList with no connections.)