Freelancing and side-projects on Rails

Freelancing on Rails: a year in review John McCaffrey @j_mccaffrey railsperformance.blogspot.com

Railsconf 2010

‘Railsconf, sucka!’

Rails is perfect for side-projects

Rails is perfect for side-projects• Part of its dna from the beginning

Rails is perfect for side-projects• Part of its dna from the beginning• Developers are comfortable coding end-to- end

Rails is perfect for side-projects• Part of its dna from the beginning• Developers are comfortable coding end-to- end• Tool stack lends itself to remote work

Rails is perfect for side-projects• Part of its dna from the beginning• Developers are comfortable coding end-to- end• Tool stack lends itself to remote work• Agile/iterative, focused on small tasks

My setup** ﬁgure out your own thing

My setup*• 2-10hrs per week * ﬁgure out your own thing

My setup*• 2-10hrs per week• remote development * ﬁgure out your own thing

My setup*• 2-10hrs per week• remote development• bill as 1099 * ﬁgure out your own thing

My setup*• 2-10hrs per week• remote development• bill as 1099• initial rate = (salary / 2080) * 1.5 * ﬁgure out your own thing

My setup*• 2-10hrs per week• remote development• bill as 1099• initial rate = (salary / 2080) * 1.5• more than one project * ﬁgure out your own thing

Why work more?

Why work more?• Focus on stuff that I like• Reports, PDF generation• Performance tuning• Design/Scope management• 3rd party integration

Skillz• Hosting, server, database• Deployment, monitoring• Testing, QA• Sales and business models

Staying current

Staying current• ruby5, railscasts, learnivore, nettuts

Staying current• ruby5, railscasts, learnivore, nettuts• Rails Rumble, ruby-toolbox, rubygems.org

Staying current• ruby5, railscasts, learnivore, nettuts• Rails Rumble, ruby-toolbox, rubygems.org• ChicagoRuby, WindyCityRails, RailsConf

Staying current• ruby5, railscasts, learnivore, nettuts• Rails Rumble, ruby-toolbox, rubygems.org• ChicagoRuby, WindyCityRails, RailsConf• Rails 3-way, railstutorial.org, railsforzombies

Staying current• ruby5, railscasts, learnivore, nettuts• Rails Rumble, ruby-toolbox, rubygems.org• ChicagoRuby, WindyCityRails, RailsConf• Rails 3-way, railstutorial.org, railsforzombies• Network of friends

Tools• Freshbooks, paypal, google apps, blogger• Teamviewer, skype, google chat, campﬁre• github, heroku, engineyard, assembla• Macbook, rvm, screen, Rubymine, vmware

Goodyear

Goodyear• learned a ton• boosted my conﬁdence• met amazing people• since raised my rate 20%

Ruby Mendicant University

Thanks!@rayhightower, @chaddow, @avdi,@seacreature, @jasonpearl, @rbates,@windycityrails, @railsconf,@wayneeseguin, @scottmarlowe John McCaffrey @j_mccaffrey railsperformance.blogspot.com Bof talk at 8pm table 4

Additional topics• Managing clients• Managing time (being productive)• Tools for the job• Business stuff (marketing, contracts, sales)• Resources and inspiration

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Freelancing and side-projects on Rails

by John McCaffrey on May 18, 2011

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Freelancing and side-projects on Rails — Presentation Transcript