[xenopticon]

Freelancing fixes this.

I have a no-recurring-meetings policy, all clients are informed upfront. I overcommunicate and post regular updates on Slack, etc. I had zero issues with this so far (e.g. a client dropped me because I refused daily standups).

I've found that, once people have a clear idea of how much you cost per hour (not monthly or yearly), they tend to value your time more.

My work calendar has been completely free for over 3 years now.

[solardev]

Similarly, I quit my full time job last year because of too much "Agile" bullshit and useless meetings. There was a management change and my job went from being highly autonomous and very productive to micromanaged and bureaucratic, with nothing getting done anymore. I complained, they asked me for feedback, and I wrote them a detailed three-page report. They read it and told me to hide it to not embarrass management. I quit a few weeks later.

Ended up doing hourly freelancing for a small company. Never had a single useless meeting. My reports are an occasional weekly summary of issues. The rest of the time I just have a timer going when I'm actually working and I bill accordingly. Extremely productive with no wasted hours on rituals and stupid ceremonies. I get paid less and don't get side perks like free lunches or company outings anymore, but I'm soooo much happier overall.

It's like that old saying, people don't quit jobs, they quit their bosses. I would've stayed at my old org for half the pay and no silly perks if they just gave me a longer leash (and ideally a different boss) instead of making me jump through endless stupid hoops. I was one of their top performers, too, something like the 95th percentile or higher in performance reviews. I tried, telling different people all the way up to the VP of my branch how bad the situation was, but nobody listened. Their loss. Not long after, the CEO brought in completely new management again and laid off most of my peers. It was just a terribly managed org at the higher levels.

In contrast, working for small companies, there's just not the luxury of paying for useless cruft and ceremonies to make middle management look important. That's a symptom of org bloat, not effective management.

[leros]

How did you find freelancing work?

[solardev]

Old connections.

Before that, I sent out a few dozen applications but didn't get accepted by any of them :/ Sorry, I know it's really rough right now.

[leros]

I was just curious. I'm doing fine myself but it's always interesting to learn how people find their opportunities.

[solardev]

Oh, I see! I'll share a little more in that case.

When I first found this company, it was because my previous org was looking for a service (a headless CMS) to replace a Drupal site with. We evaluated a bunch of them and actually chose one of the smallest, least famous ones, because they had the best editor UI and they were the most responsive and helpful during the demo/initial sales call. It was a very different experience than our convo with Contentful, for example, who wouldn't even give us the time of day without a NDA signed.

Anyway, we ended up being a customer of this small company for a few years, and I spent a lot of time on their forum, both to ask questions but also answer other ones where I could. They offered me a job, but I was already employed at the time.

Fast forward a few years, I got so tired of Agile that I quit (different company by now) and didn't want to work for another big bureaucracy again. I reached back out to the CMS company and to my surprise they still remembered me. We talked on the phone for half an hour or so, and they offered me a position. No interview or screening or anything. I was lucky to have contributed in the past.

It's only been a few months but I'm still employed. Grateful and very happy with the job. My coworkers are awesome and our customers are great. It's just all so much more human than working for some big faceless corporation that doesn't care about anyone.

It's funny, actually... now I'm working with my old colleagues (from the old company) again, but from the vendor side, supporting the same website I built when I was still with them, lol. I never planned it that way, life just works mysteriously sometimes...

[leros]

That's awesome.

[gardenhedge]

Can you describe your last 3 freelance arrangements?

[xenopticon]

Is there something specific you wanna know? My arrangements look pretty similar: I bill per hour, clients pay me to create web applications (usually SaaS), and I work either alone (preferred) or on small teams.

[gardenhedge]

I've just worked in scrum team my whole career. Do you work for your clients for 6 months+ or is it much shorter? Do you integrate with their systems or is your work standalone?