der hess

After the first blog post of the blog (Flash) Independent Developer was a little bigger, this article will be smaller and I will discuss the requirements for an (Flash) Independent Developer. These requirements are not very Flash oriented, they deal more with the idealism attitude of the new way and what do you have to consider in the beginning phase.

When you decide to work as an Independent Developer, you will risk a lot. And this high degree of risk is, of course, strongly connected with a high degree of  uncertainness in your working life. You should be able to handle this risky life, otherwise you should not choose the way as an (Flash) Independent Developer.

Mindmap - Requirements (Flash) Independent Developer

Another very strong point , if you can become an (Flash) Independent Developer is, which degree of responsibility do you have?!  Do you have a family?! Do you have a loan?! Which kind of obligation do you have towards other people?! All these responsibilities could be some obstacles, but it is dealable. All the things you have to do, prepare you for this independent life and consider that your income and your spare time will be very very low in the next one or two years. So you should spare some money for this time and prepare your friends and family for this way. So that at the end of your preparation time all people in your familiar surroundings know what is going on in your life and expection not to much from you in your business start time.

Last point and in my mind the most strongest point is the degree of idealism. Do you really want to do it? Yeah, it sounds very cool to be an Independent Developer, but it is a hard life (and of course one of the interesting life forms in our digital age). You must have a very high degree of idealism and love the things you do, so that you survive the pressure of learning new things all the time and work a lot. Maybe your usual standard of living will decrease, a car can become a luxury good or other consum goods like a big Flat-Screen can as well as become a luxury good. I think the lifestyle of an (Flash) Independent Developer has lot of similarties with the german movement of digitial bohemianism (German Homepage).

I think or I hope the opening stages is the hardest time and when you pass this period, your life should become more stable. In general, I think you should have a few years (working) experiences before you start such a big project. If you are studying at the moment, try to get some experience and prepare your for this way. The years of study are very good, because you have an amount of spare time, you meet a lot of people (for doing networking) and you are familiar with a low standard of living. In this period of life it is easier for you to make sacrifices. 😉

The next blog post will deal with the risks of an (Flash) Indepentend Developer life. We will discuss which risks exist and how we can manage these risks 🙂