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

377 Pages·2016·4.74 MB·English

by  Leon Brown

Going IT Alone:
The Handbook for
Freelance and Contract
Software Developers
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
Leon Brown
Going IT Alone: The Handbook for Freelance
and Contract Software Developers
Copyright © 2016 Impackt Publishing
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system,
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First published: November 2016
Production Reference: 1041116
Published by Impackt Publishing Ltd.
Livery Place
35 Livery Street
Birmingham B3 2PB, UK.
ISBN 978-1-78300-140-8
www.packtpub.com/business
Credits
Author Reviewer Acquisition Editor
Leon Brown Rehan Jaffer Nick Falkowski
Content Development Editor Copy Editors Project Coordinator
Amey Varangaonkar Pranav Kukreti Neha Bhatnagar
Utkarsha S. Kadam
Proofreader Graphics
Safis Editing Abhinash Sahu
Jason Monteiro
Production Coordinator Cover Work
Melwyn D'sa Melwyn D'sa
About the Author
Leon Brown is a software developer and trainer from Liverpool in England. His
mantra is that he practices what he preaches and preaches what he practices. With over
20 years of experience in software development, Leon has developed software for legacy
and modern platforms ranging from the Amstrad CPC,
ZX Spectrum, and Amiga through to the Web and
smartphones.
Leon has a diverse range of commercial experience,
including the delivery of Internet systems and training for
household names, including UNICEF, the NHS, SAGE,
and The University of Manchester to projects for small
businesses, start-ups, and charities. His experience of
working with such a diverse range of organizations has
allowed him to understand how to approach the different
types of situations affecting software development
projects. His projects ranged from the creation of websites
and apps to CRM and the use of AI for reporting and decision-making.
Leon regularly writes for web industry magazine Web Designer from Imagine Publishing, in
which he has written feature articles and tutorials covering web development. His most
notable articles for the magazine provided detailed insight into securing websites against
common methods of hacking, such as session hijacking and SQL injection. These articles
gained highly positive feedback from the magazine's readers in the following issues.
Acknowledgements
I would like to thank my mum, Phyllis Brown, for buying my first computer, the gift that
sparked my interest in programming. I would also like to thank my friends and family
for their support over the years to help me become a professional—Chinyere Brown,
Christine Bobb, Norman Bobb, The Capos (Mark Smith, George Heron, Ian Kerr, Dan
Inwood, Andrew Lee), Jonathan De Vaal, and Ashley Moore.
I've also been very fortunate to have come across great people in business who have
provided advice and mentoring: Claire Bicknell of Catena, who provided great leadership
in my first commercial project as a student and provided the advice and opportunities
to gain the experience that kick-started my career; Jonathan Read of Village Software,
who has provided a lot of advice on operating the business side of software development;
Jeanne Hatton of Uniti, who provided the opportunity to enhance my early web design
and development portfolio that led to greater opportunities; to all these people and others
who have been a positive influence, thank you!
About the Reviewer
Rehan Jaffer is a London-based freelance Ruby on Rails developer with a decade of
experience. His clients have ranged from renegade entrepreneurs to companies producing
software used by the CEOs of FTSE 100 companies. He has co-authored a book on SQL
for Tealeaf Academy and has written for numerous technology and programming blogs.
His other interests include artificial intelligence, medicine, and physics.
I would like to thank my parents for their constant and unwavering
faith in me; my brother Sadiq and my peers Stephen Wight, Michael
Weagley, and Timmothy Lewis for their advice, both on technology and
otherwise; Liz, Bart, Hazel, Keegan, Martin, Kristina, and many, many
more for their friendship and support. Without all of you, none of this
would have been possible.
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Contents
Preface 1
Chapter 1: Introducing Freelancing 5
The freelance lifestyle 5
Is freelancing for you? 6
Defining your motivations 8
Boosting employability 8
Learning new skills 9
Taking a break 10
Increasing financial security 10
Generating a side income 12
Case study: New Star Soccer 12
Freedom 14
Alternative to unemployment 15
Fun 15
Don't quit the day job 16
Legal entities 16
Sole trader 17
Partnership 17
Limited company 18
Home or away? 18
The home office 18
Advantages 19
Disadvantages 19
The real office 20
Advantages 20
Disadvantages 21
Renting desk space 22
Co-working spaces 22
Cafes 22
Summary 23
Chapter 2: Positioning Yourself in the Market 25
Market segments 25
Pricing yourself appropriately 27
Market specific influences 32
The equilibrium price – segments and prices 34
Building quality for market segments 36
Meeting customer needs 36
Market research 38
Failing to plan is planning to fail 38
Cost to market 39
Cost of delivery 39
Calculate your profit margin 40
Time value 40
Summary 43
Chapter 3: Defining Your Business Model 45
Types of business model for software 45
Software Development as a Service (SDaaS) 45
Advantages 46
Disadvantages 46
Conclusion 49
Software as a Product (SaaP) 49
Advantages 50
Disadvantages 50
Conclusion 51
Software as a Service (SaaS) 52
Advantages 53
Disadvantages 54
Conclusion 54
Software Supporting a Service 56
Advantages 56
Disadvantages 57
Conclusion 57
Business Model Canvas 58
Components 58
Value proposition 59
Key partnerships 59
Key resources 59
Key activities 60
Customer relationships 60
Customer segments 61
Distribution channels 61
Cost structure 62
Revenue streams 62
Canvas 63
Problem tools 63
II Content
Product life cycle 64
Development 64
Introduction 64
Growth 65
Maturity and saturation 65
Decline 66
Five Forces Analysis 66
Rivalry among existing suppliers 67
Threat of substitute products or services 68
Threat of new entrants 68
Bargaining power of suppliers 69
Bargaining power of buyers 70
Seven Domains Assessment framework 70
Market domain/macro level – market attractiveness 71
Market domain/micro level – market sector benefits and attractiveness 72
Industry domain/macro level – industry attractiveness 72
Industry domain/micro level – sustainable advantage 73
Team domain – mission, aspirations, and propensity for risk 74
Team domain – ability to execute on the critical success factors 75
Connectedness up and down the value chain 76
The McKinsey 7S framework 77
Goals and shared values 78
Strategy 78
Skills 78
Structure 78
Style 79
Systems 79
Staff 79
Fitting everything together 79
The business descriptions 80
IXL Learning 80
Nextpoint 80
Comparison: McKinsey 7S framework 80
Goals and shared values 81
Strategy 82
Skills 83
Structure 83
Style 84
Systems 85
Staff 86
Comparison – Business Model Canvas 87
IXL Learning 88
Nextpoint 89
Comparison: conclusion 90
IXL Learning 90
Nextpoint 91
Summary 91
Content III