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Business

Jenny Swift
Jenny Swift
21,999 Points

career advice-how possible is it to make web apps on your own for a living?

Hi! So I am finally able to make my own web applications! (Hooray and a big thank you to Team Treehouse!) So now I am wondering about how to get a career with my skills and where to focus my efforts (for example, will I start searching for employment, or learn business skills to sell my apps).

Is it unrealistic to try to make a career on my own at home making web applications? Do many people do it and if not, why not?

A bit about me and my own thoughts:

Working from home is a high priority for me because:

  1. I really don’t like traveling.
  2. I love the flexibility of working when I want and taking a break when I want.
  3. I work effectively on my own.

Working on my own appeals to me because:

  1. I can choose what I work on, something that I am passionate about rather than work given to me that I am not passionate about.
  2. I can put more time into learning more skills.

Drawbacks that I can see from working on my own at home:

  1. Knowing how to code won’t be enough. I’ll need to learn business skills like how to get people using my apps.
  2. When I get stuck on something, I won’t have a boss or co-workers to help me.
  3. I’ll need to wait longer before I start earning money (because I’ll need to learn the business skills and make my apps better).

So I think taking these things into account, I would still prefer to work at home on my own, assuming it is not an unrealistic expectation or a foolish path to choose, and I don’t know the answer to that. Do you have any advice to share, please?

Jenny Swift
Jenny Swift
21,999 Points

Pasan Premaratne could you give me your advice please?

2 Answers

Shawn Wilson
seal-mask
.a{fill-rule:evenodd;}techdegree
Shawn Wilson
iOS Development Techdegree Student 7,049 Points

Jenny, hope your having a great evening!

to answer your question, it is very possible to make apps for a living! i have turned z hobby into a living designing apps for large scale oil/gas and industrial companies as well as small businesses. the key is to understand your timelines as much of the jobs are based on quotes and tenders. I have just incorporated within the last year and have scaled so quickly that i am looking to hire and open an office. being able to bid a job based on an honest timeline and price! never under bid or under quote the time it will take to complete a project. my competitors often make this mistake and it hurts them. as long as your product is quality and serves the needs of the client word of mouth will spread quickly and as long as you are dedicated to this as a living you should have no problem not only being profitable, but sustaining your company.

feel free to reach out to me on linkedin or twitter for questions. my profiles can be found in the treehouse profile next to my name.

Jenny Swift
Jenny Swift
21,999 Points

Hi Shawn, thank you, it's great to get your feedback! So I've just joined LinkedIn and don't really know my way around there yet. When you say 'reach out to me' do you mean I go to your profile and click connect? It's telling me to only invite people I know well. :)

Shawn Wilson
seal-mask
.a{fill-rule:evenodd;}techdegree
Shawn Wilson
iOS Development Techdegree Student 7,049 Points

Yes that's correct go ahead and connect to me by inviting me. I'll accept and should you have any further questions feel free to either post in the forum or shoot me a message through LinkedIn

Jenny Swift
Jenny Swift
21,999 Points

Invitation sent. Thank you. :)