Going IT Alone: The Handbook for Freelance and Contract Software Developers

Book excerpt: A detailed guide to self-employment for software and web developers—from identifying your target market, through to managing your time, finances, and client behavior About This Book Discover how to make money with software development skills. Learn how to develop a marketing and sales strategy and develop profitable pricing strategies for your software services and products Gain insights through real case studies and insights provided from industry experts Who This Book Is For Going the self employed route in software development offers many opportunities to develop awareness and skills to enhance your career. Whether you are a student currently studying software development or a veteran software developer already in the industry, Going IT Alone provides you with insights you need to avoid the pitfalls of self employment and to succeed with software projects that are profitable and sustainable. What You Will Learn Identify and understand your target market. Propose the value of what your service or product offers. Build a business model that identifies key entities required to make your software business work. Develop marketing a marketing strategy that targets the right customer segments and produces the sales you need to be profitable. Analyze information to make better decisions and understand your business performance. Understand people through observation and use this to your advantage in project management and negotiation. Improve accuracy of estimates for time and costs of your software projects. Understand the relationship between code and the business strategy. Identify software features from a business perspective, allowing you to prioritise must have features from those that are less important to your profitability. Avoid the trap of increasing software development time and costs from features that provide no benefit or sales increase. In Detail No matter whether you are a student or an industry veteran, self employment adds a new dimension of opportunities to “learn and earn”, whether it be on a full-time or part-time basis. Develop the business acumen and understanding of the link between software patterns and business strategy that you need to become a successful and profitable independent software developer. Discover how to apply your software development skills to entrepreneurship. Decide whether you just want to earn or aspire to build the next Facebook. Supported by real world case studies and input from industry experts, the book looks at the business topics you need to understand to become an independent software developer. From the initial steps of identifying how you can make a profit with your software development skills, through to making your first sale and managing your projects, you will learn how to manage each of the major steps involved in becoming a self employed software developer – whether you decide to go freelance, take up contracting or develop your own product. Written specifically for software and web developers, the book identifies how business issues have a direct impact on code patterns used in software projects. Learn how to build your code to support your business model and with safety features to protect against potential threats that may emerge from the changing business environment. Style and approach This book is a detailed guide to self employment for software and web developers , covering major topics from identifying your target market and business model, through to managing your time, finances and client behavior.