| I've been consulting full-time since my early 20s - it's been an adventure! You could talk to your current employer about switching to a part-time contract - it seems like in the last couple of years, more companies (especially startups) are comfortable with this + remote. If you can get them at 20/wk, that will give you some good security while you work to fill the other 20 (sounds like you may already have a jump on that). Have a lot of meetings with friends and past coworkers, and let them know you're striking out on your own with a particular skillset. All of my best projects have come from connections, and my worst ones have been anonymous inbounds/etc. If you're in-demand, you should be able to line something up before reducing your FTE hours or quitting your job. It might take some time to find a good set of clients + rhythm, and you want to avoid "burning savings" during that period as much as possible. Do good work. It's good for your clients, good for referrals, and good for your soul. You're a craftsman, and your name is attached to your work in a new way as a consultant. I charge a reasonably high hourly rate for my work, and my clients are usually around 15-20 hours a week. I've found two clients to be the right number for me. For them, it's a way to get senior experience on the team for the yearly price of a more junior dev, and for me it's a way to make a good salary, while getting to work with startups and enjoying some freedom and flexibility to do the things I love (traveling and learning to fly!). I try to keep a bit of "slush time" (like 5 hrs/wk or so) to work on interesting one-off client projects that come along. They're fun and stimulating, and they keep me sharp at selling my skills to completely fresh clients. I normally work on the frontend/backend, so getting to work with things like Swift or ARKit is great. These projects are also really low-pressure, because my main stream of income comes from steady long-term engagements. This is my "blogging". I jumped in feet-first, but I was a broke college student (and self-taught developer) when I started so my burn rate was ridiculously low. It took me a long time to find a good pace and to build a good network, and I started a few companies along the way. I'd only recommend doing it this way if you're young and resilient - in retrospect, I could have been doing many of the things I needed to do (getting experience, finding clients, making friends) with a more stable salary. I don't know if I would have, though - so the pressure was helpful in some ways. I was also lucky to be in a stage of life where stability was less important than adventure. Hope some of that is useful, and best of luck striking out on your own! |