[Rjevski]

My advice - stop seeing yourself as a developer / software engineer and become a consultant.

Start with contracting - you’ll still be doing software but instead of being employed you’re now running your own company offering solutions to others.

After a year or two of that you’ll have references and can look at the bigger picture - there are a lot of companies out there suffering with either shit software, shit/pointless processes, or both.

You can solve their problems; often the solution will be a mix of better software and review of the processes (why are they doing this in the first place? Can it be automated away, or just done away with completely?).

If you haven’t already, start a LinkedIn and play the LinkedIn game - accept pretty much everyone (as long as the profile is legitimate, nearby, relevant to your industry) and engage with recruiters - that’s where all my business comes from nowadays as a contractor, used to be only recruiters but now companies are reaching out to me directly.

Good luck!

[throwaway790]

Start with contracting

Any advice on how to break into contracting? I'll start a blog (I enjoy writing, so blogging should be fun) and create a LinkedIn account - any other steps?

often the solution will be a mix of better software and review of the processes

This I think I can do well. Is this your business? Do you offer advice/solutions to small businesses? If possible, can you give me an example of a typical project that you do?

Thank you for taking the time to reply

[Rjevski]

LinkedIn is how I got started. Recruiters are always hungry for fresh meat so it’s an easy way to get your first gigs and build relationships with clients directly.

A blog might be good but honestly a lot of clients don’t know what they want so a tech blog is unlikely to bring them your way (if they’re reading a tech blog chances are they’re already developers and might not need your services). I personally write but I do it more for the fun and for giving free advice rather than a way of gaining clients.

It is not my business yet (I’m still just a contract software engineer) but I’m going to look into this next year. I know one of my ex bosses has a successful small business developing bespoke business software so I think it’s a good market, and if anything will make a few lucky people happy with great software instead of the usual Oracle/SAP/Salesforce garbage.

My email is in my profile. Feel free to get in touch if you want some advice.

[throwaway790]

Oh okay, that makes sense. Let me start with LinkedIn then.

small business developing bespoke business software

If possible, can you elaborate what software it is? Is it SaaS application or productized service?

Thank you, I'll email you! Thanks again, for taking the time to reply

[Rjevski]

A lot of businesses have custom ways of working that can't be modelled in off-the-shelf ERP software - they need something custom to either bridge the gap or completely replace their current ERP for example.

It's all custom, there is no one-size-fits-all approach so it's more about selling an unique product to each one rather than offering it as an SaaS.

[gregjor]

See the articles on freelancing on my web site typicalprogrammer.com. Free, no ads, affiliate links, ebooks, courses, or other nonsense. Just my experience from 10 years of freelancing.