Hello -- - Ernie -- -- -
Consulting work is a business. Work doesn't fall from the sky. You
have to figure out what you do. Not good enough to say "I'm a
programmer" -- that and a dollar will get you half-a-cup of coffee at
McDonalds.
Figure out where your strengths are. Figure out where you have or can
cultivate contacts. Spread the word. If you don't have a demonstrable
portfolio of projects from your employer or clients that you can show
or discuss with others, you had better develop one. Do you have an
industry that you know more about than the average developer? Do you
have graphics skills, too? Do you understand how a business works?
Every unemployed programmer calls himself a Web Developer. Every
unemployed graphic designer calls himself a Web Designer. People who
have been doing one or both for *years* call themselves the same
thing. Most potential customers have no clue who is good or bad. Can
you do the design work, or just the programming work. This isn't a
place to get work; (based on the nature of your questions) there are
100s of folks here with more experience and savvy than you, and I bet
every one of the independents have room for more clients.
I have been in this business for 20 years. If you are flailing around
asking naive questions like this, you probably are better off with a
job. Maybe 10 years ago, someone with mid-level skills and no
business acumen could be a successful "web developer" just because
the industry was growing so fast and there were so few people with
real skills. Now the situation is the opposite: there are lots and
lots of people with skills. There are still jobs around, but you have
to work harder to get them.
If you want to be in business, you need to think like a business
person (who just happens to have a technical set of skills).
Good luck,
Ken
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