Why I am Job-Hunting

I have been a successful freelancer since 2009.  There is a lot that I love about freelancing: the independence, the ability to pick and choose my projects, building good relationships with clients, working from home.

But there are also some things I don’t like freelancing.  I don’t like the fact that I spend about half of my time running a business: marketing, emailing potential clients, administrative tasks.  I wish I could just focus on writing code.

I’m getting burned out with the business side of freelancing, and I increasingly feel like it gets in the way of doing what I really like to do, which is solve problems by writing code.  I also find it very hard to turn off: there is always a little nagging voice in the back of my head telling me that my business is my responsibility and I had better pay attention to it all the time.  I am also tired of the feast and famine cycles: no matter how carefully I try to manage my schedule, there are always slumps when I don’t have any billable work to do, followed by weeks that are full of deadlines.

So I am looking for a job where my workload and income can be steady and predictable, and where I can truly focus on writing code, learning new skills, and becoming a better developer.  I know that having a job will give me an opportunity to work with smart people who can help me level up.  I will also have opportunities to work on bigger and more ambitious projects than I can do solo.  I am excited about the possibilities of coding full-time with a team of great people.