| I wrote about the change: http://codesorcery.net/2011/03/04/working-with-development-s... Basically, I thought I'd never work again for someone else. That was over six years ago. Mapbox has grown from about 15 to over 220 people now. Somehow I knew it was different and it was just compelling enough — plus I had a "try before you buy" experience through contracting that was just too good to pass up. On the balance, I definitely enjoyed the software (and still do), but especially working at home on my own, I enjoyed the interaction with people (usually by email or phone, sometimes in person) and the constant variety and problem-solving nature of it. And not just technical problems, but organizational and strategic problems, too. I think it could have been as lucrative, but at least in the Mac software space (and probably the iOS one more so), it had a certain element of "grind" to it, with product marketing and website presentation, working PR contacts and releases, and constantly getting things in front of influential people. As much as I enjoyed that some of the time, I didn't want to do as much as it would have required to make apps the lion's share of my income. |