Glad to hear! After losing my wife to cancer (highly aggressive brain tumor, she only had six weeks), I'm happy that you had the time, resources, strength, will to take cancer by the lurven
Hadrian | Product Manager | Amsterdam, Netherlands | full-time | hybrid / on site | https://hadrian.io | cyber security
We're a quickly growing company in the offensive cyber security space. We develop a Saas platform that continuously and autonomously maps the attack surface of our customers and scans it for vulnerabilities, thereby securing companies from malicious cyber criminals.
We were founded by hackers and we are operating at the cutting edge of cyber security. The product manager that we're searching for has a solid technical background and preferably has experience in the cyber security industry.
I think a lot of people are getting tired of subscriptions everywhere. For the average user, it's not possible to spin up a VPN because of lack of technical knowledge. So, if you are an infrequent VPN user and hate subscriptions, this could be a nice service.
I'm back to FF as well (after some Chrome years), and love it. However, for my work I use Google Meet and online collaboration tools such as Miro. Unfortunately, I only use Chrome for those services because FF will jumpstart my Macbook fans quickly when using Google Meet / FF.
Question for Mac users. Apple installs git with its command line tools and is currently at version 2.32. Is it wise to install git via Homebrew so that you can upgrade faster? Or are there some benefits from apple-git?
Your point about incentives is exactly the structural problem here. I've been a consultant years ago and on a human level we loved projects that ran well. You feel good about yourself and your team for helping the client quickly and efficiently.
However, zooming out, it's the incentive system that's completely broken: there is no skin in the game. Consulting firms are too detached from the consequences of their advice. Nassim Nicholas Taleb wrote a nice book about this phenomenon: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skin_in_the_Game_(book)
Yes, this works actually. I recently bought a Samsung Frame and was very annoyed by the ads in the interface. I now have a Raspberry Pi running PiHole and it removed almost all ads. Sometimes I still see an ad, then I know it's time to update the block-list of my PiHole. When looking at PiHole's logs, it's unbelievable how many requests the TV sends to Samsung servers. These are blocked now luckily, but this TV (and I suspect other Samsung TVs as well) is a real nightmare with regard to privacy. It's the first time I actually read all the privacy statements on the TV. The remote has a microphone (for an 'assistant' called Bixby[1]) that I absolutely do not want turned on, but it's very unclear how to disable it. I wish I could buy a dumb TV.
I found it scary. I quit my job and became a freelancer without having a paying client. That was not the best path, but my job was on a yearly schedule. It was the choice between doing another year or quitting. I quit (because of various reasons). The first two months I did not have income, no paying clients and just a vague plan of what I could offer clients. Not very comfortable.
Background: I'm a product manager, but also did front-end development, business development, performance marketing and coaching in the past. So, in theory I could do lots of things, but product management was the thing I wanted to do.
The scariest part of becoming a freelancer for me was getting clients. I had build up quite a network in the startups and tech companies in my city (Netherlands) and that helped in getting my first client. Actually, the deadline of me quitting my job also helped in really taking the step.
In terms of advice, I think it best to be determined to start as a freelancer and put serious effort in the transition between full-time job and freelancer. Some things that help:
- have some savings to have a financial buffer when you don't have a paying client
- be clear in what you will offer and be clear in your availability. You can then use this to talk to your network, for example: I will be doing front-end development (React and React Native) from March.
- having your first paying client before you actually quit your job
If you doubt about who to talk to, you can first just talk to people you know (remember: be very specific in what you can offer as a freelancer). Sometimes you can get clients in unexpected ways, from people you don't expect. If you have the idea that you don't know enough people, try to come into contact with people that are doing the same as you and already have some experience freelancing. If talking to people and networking does not get you further, maybe there are agencies that can get you clients (for a fee). Good luck!
I do roughly the same, and besides charging a high rate, I usually do only one project at the time for 2 - 6 months. With my clients I make a deal about my daily rate * number of days per week I will be working. I never charge more than that, except when I do a lot more work and then I communicate it in advance (or I foresee that the extra work is going over the amount of hours we agreed upon).
This is not applicable to every freelance job off course, but if you have the luxury of being able to charge a higher rate, you can make a decent living and enjoy your free time.
For years I was employed and worked 40-50 or more hours per week. I was devastating for my work/life balance, effectiveness at work and my happiness. Since I started freelancing a year and a half ago, I'm happier, work less and earn more. I spend more time with my kids and I am really (also mentally) present. I'm also in better shape (training for a marathon currently), and I'm more effective at work.