Ask HN: I'll be fired soon. Go freelance fulltime/products?

[jackt]

I think I screwed up big on a client's mobile project -- overdue and over budget. Personally I feel bad. My estimation has been way off and the product turn out to be way more complicated than anyone expected. Problem is, the client is waiting to launch and has investor lined up for the beta.<p>I have been working my ass off for the past few months on this, and now I am burn out and exhausted, and feel like shit. Mistakes are piling up and bad decisions are being made all the time.<p>And I constantly procrastinate even on the smallest task now. I think my boss noticed and nobody is unhappier compared to me. I believe I will be fired very soon.<p>The crazy thing is, in the midst of the stress, I realized that this is a never ending cycle of rat race. Well you know, ppl praise you if job welldone and come next project, if you screwed up you are history kind of thing.<p>So, dear HN-er, I am thinking of quiting and get started on freelance and launch my own apps. I have enough technical skills/experience to get iphone, android, java, and google app engine apps done -- but I am afraid of taking the plunge from comfort of salary.<p>My wife and I are planning for a child next year and I am not sure the current lifestyle is suitable for a family life -- work from morning till late night and through weekends.<p>Help! Some critical advise will be nice now.<p>Feel like shit. :-( (this is a throwaway account)

[hboon]

Just a thought: If one screwed up big on a client's project as an employee, will that person be suitable running the whole (same) show, freelancing?

Another thought: Major project, pretty major screw-up in the project (not necessarily any individual's fault, or you could well have played a major part), burnt out, stressed. Quitting can be a form of a release. So is it quitting or being fired?

I've done it and I'm not proud of myself for it.

Here's what I wished someone had told me back then:

1. Reduce your (you and your wife) expenses. Does she have a regular income? Figure out how much runway you have.

2. Discuss options with your wife.

3. Plan to finish the project. Work with your manager/boss/team. Step up and tell them your insecurity and worries if you haven't. Projects come with risks, problems and difficulty. It's normal. Finish the project and take a break.

4. Freelancing is much less about technical skills than being able to find leads and nailing the project. Majority of customers can't evaluate your technical skills or experience. In other words, that's the least of your problems unless you opt to do very specialized technical work (then you would have no problem finding work anyway).

5. There's a (maybe) good chance you'll fail at freelancing and want to go back to a job. Be mentally prepared.

6. If all fails, quit. No big deal.

Good luck. It'll be over.

[jackt]

Thank you.

I feel that this failure serve as a catalyst for moving on to something I always wanted to do. I am aware that I may be in a state of mind to look for escape. But I have no intention of running away -- unless I am fired early, I will finish and quit.

I have discuss this at length with my wife and family, and it's just a matter of doing it. A stable salary can be very comforting indeed.

The job comes with a lot of stress, more so than other companies I have been with or heard about, so I know this is not what I want moving forward. And I have a clear idea of what I want to do -- something like what you are doing, have a own products and sell them.

I'd be interested to hear from useful advice from you since you seem to have gone through this before and know more than me.

[hboon]

Drop me an email. Or if you'd prefer me to talk about anything specific here, let me know.

[brudgers]

[Game Theory] It's time to ask for a raise. Put your boss on the spot - if he fires you, the project is just further up shit creek. Once you get the raise, it makes it harder to fire you because it will bring his judgement into question and even if goes ahead and does it, you come out ahead because you made more money.

[jackt]

My plan of attack:

1. Get my ebooks published -- I have several work-in-progress ebooks on writing ebooks with free tools on net, how to get really cheap web hosting, and get started on cloud (EC2) for hostings.

2. Start freelancing on odesk, guru, freelancers etc

3. Publish my iphone games and android apps

4. Put my Saas bug trackers online for subscrption.

What do you think?

[amourgh]

U can do all that and u screwed a mobile project?

Sit with your boss and be honest about that project,he can help and defend you about the delay,...say him to ask the customer to change some params of the project:time and justify.lack of communication will worsen things

[JoeAltmaier]

One guy doesn't screw up a whole project. Estimates should be reviewed, progress tracked, requirements managed and scheduled. Who should do that? In part, your boss.

If your boss is upset, it because they failed to keep on top of this. If you're fired, its because they need a scapegoat.

[jackt]

You're right, I wasn't giving bad news to my boss early enough.

But I don't want to go through another round of this kind of crazy crunch. Maybe this is a kick in the back to launch myself. Or I might just be burn out and talk crazy. :-(

[ashraful]

Email me if you are looking to get into freelancing. I need a developer.

Email: [e-mail]

[jackt]

Thanks, I emailed you already.

[petervandijck]

1. You'll need about 6 months of living expenses saved.

2. You can try to line up freelance clients before quitting/getting fired.