[halkony]

Assuming you're looking for contract work in general and not specifically refrigerators, he sets a good example for how specialization gets you consistent work.

Basically, find a niche industry (refrigerators, greenhouses, toy cars, whatever), find an audience, think about what they could use, and acquire the skills to give it to them. I used to be an actuary before I did software, I plan on going back to my old companies and contracting myself because I know they have data analytics needs I can meet.

If you want an excellent book on this topic, read "Soft Skills" by John Sonmez. Excellent book for shaping your career.

[goodpoint]

A lot of niche industries e.g. around embedded might pay less than web development, ironically.

[edge17]

Yea but the metric of success in embedded mught be more clear than web, which tends to be more customer facing.

[NO_CHANGE]

I looked up the book and the search engine suggested the search "John Sonmez scam". I guess he's not in good standing in the industry or the Web in general.