I just sort of lucked into it. My first job out of college I worked for a professor who went on to start his own consulting firm. They hired me on and when I said I wanted to work as a contractor they were fine with it. I have to say it's a fantastic setup--if you get the chance to become self-employed, take it. The best part is never feeling guilty about being out of the office or taking off for extended periods.. in fact I've probably taken about 8 weeks of vacation so this year. Of course the downside is that vacation = unpaid leave but I find that the time is worth so much more than the money to me right now.
My job is kinda specialized, it has to do more with statistical programming and mathematical modeling than the coding that most people on HN do, so I guess that helps when it comes to trying to go it alone. To the extent that I'm qualified to dispense advice it would be to develop a specialized skill that your average competent hacker doesn't have, particularly if it involves a lot of math--a lot of good coders I come across know surprisingly little math. Most of the people I know who are successful consultants have such a background.
Hear, hear. I live the Bay Area, am in my 20s, have a ton of programming experience and also a strong math background. The temptation to play startup roulette is high. But at the end of the day I can't shake the feeling that spending the healthy & free years of my life working 90hrs a week on something that no one will even remember in ten years is a fool's errand. Yes, there is a small chance that I could get rich and never have to work again. But the far greater likelihood is I'll just wind up in my mid-30s doing the same thing and wondering what happened to the last decade.
So I work 20hrs a week consulting and spend the rest of my day reading, studying (I'm getting a masters in my spare time), cooking or playing music. There are definitely days when I am envious at my friends who work in tech, what with their fat 401ks and rockin health care and 4x income. But usually not. I'm in way better shape, have read 10x as many books in the past year, traveled more, etc. Most importantly, every time we hang out I just sense that they are unhappy and bored.
I realize most of the people reading this are going to be a lot more like aforementioned friends than like me so I hope this doesn't come off as insulting. When I think of my friends I really wonder what makes it worthwhile for them--but of course I could never ask that without sounding like a jerk. So if anyone is reading this I'd love to hear. Is it just the $$? Because I feel like you need so much less of that than you think to be really happy.
My job is kinda specialized, it has to do more with statistical programming and mathematical modeling than the coding that most people on HN do, so I guess that helps when it comes to trying to go it alone. To the extent that I'm qualified to dispense advice it would be to develop a specialized skill that your average competent hacker doesn't have, particularly if it involves a lot of math--a lot of good coders I come across know surprisingly little math. Most of the people I know who are successful consultants have such a background.