Comments on: The Most Challenging Part of Becoming a Freelance Developer

By: igorbrejc.net » Fresh Catch For October 24th

igorbrejc.net » Fresh Catch For October 24th — Sat, 24 Oct 2009 18:06:11 +0000

[...] The Most Challenging Part of Becoming a Freelance Developer | Software by Rob [...]

By: My Company Journey » Starting My Own Micro ISV

My Company Journey » Starting My Own Micro ISV — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 19:17:15 +0000

[...] recent post on Software by Rob lists some survival techniques for freelance developers. Since I am trying to freelance to pay the [...]

By: Dave Parillo

Dave Parillo — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 17:38:20 +0000

Excellent – a very simple, straightforward explanation of a huge hurdle if you’re thinking of freelancing. Good advice.

By: Rob

Rob — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 03:51:55 +0000

@Balaji – I haven’t written about the Google Sandbox before, but there’s a lot of info out there on the subject.

By: Balaji_Getfriday

Balaji_Getfriday — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 22:05:16 +0000

Wow, I hadn’t thought about it that way before. Good write up, very clearly written. Have you written previously about Google Sandbox? I’d love to read more.

By: Matt Doar

Matt Doar — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 22:35:20 +0000

Writing a book helped. Having lots of contacts was good. Being a partner of a tool you customize was the best.

~Matt

- 3 years as a consultant for software tools (JIRA, svn, Conference, wikis, SCons etc)

By: Rob

Rob — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 15:25:42 +0000

@Mike – You can find a definition of the Google Sandbox here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sandbox_Effect

It’s widely debated in SEO circles whether it actually exists, but I know that Software by Rob started receiving substantially more traffic from Google around the 18 month mark, indicating either a sandbox or an emphasis on the age of my domain.

However these days many (including me) find that brand new sites rank high for search terms very quickly and then disappear from the rankings unless they continue to receive a lot of new links. Someone coined the phrase “Reverse Sandbox” which is a pretty good description of it.

By: Mike

Mike — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 14:41:44 +0000

I’m not sure I know what you mean by the “Google Sandbox”?

I like that you made sure to indicate that what happened for you worked for you but isn’t necessarily the path that everyone can or should take. Unfortunately not all of us are going to get published. Plus the fact that trade mags are getting less and less relevant (especially in print form).

Thanks for sharing your story!

By: Robert

Robert — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 14:15:56 +0000

Thanks for the encouraging words. It’s nice to see persistence pay off. Keep up the good work.