[Bahamut]

I'm of the belief that earlier on, it is better to work for companies fulltime since there is a better chance that they would be more willing to give the opportunity for developers to learn new tech on the job.

My own experience is that I tend to get siloed into AngularJS projects since my Angular knowledge & productivity is nearly impossible for companies to find. However, I have leveraged it to get some backend experience in languages like Java and some Android experience.

There is a danger in freelancing - companies tend to hire freelancers/contractors to do work quickly. This means that they tend to be biased towards candidates who know the tech and can work quickly.

[thirdtruck]

Going full-time first could work, but it can also turn into a trap (speaking from experience). Bronze handcuffs, if you will.

For someone starting in full time but looking to go freelance later, I recommend:

* Spending well below your means. I can "afford" my mortgage, taken out when I got my first full-time job, but I presently can't afford to not have the full-time job.

* Take small jobs early and often. No job-finding method seems to work better, for everyone involve, than word of mouth, and that network takes time to build up. I'm hampered by own lack of a freelance-specific network.

* Check out the Homework podcast (https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/home-work/id513251648?mt...). One of the hosts makes his living as a freelancer.