Don’t try to compete in the young developers world of startups or sexy Silicon Valley tech companies. Almost every company depends on software and web sites, and a lot of them can’t even get resumes for their job postings, much less a qualified person who might hang around long enough to learn the business and add value.

Rates for this kind of work vary, I charge $100 - $200/hr depending on the kind of work, giving a break to non-profits.

To work on legacy systems you need the skills to jump into a system; find, diagnose, and fix problems; enhance a legacy codebase when rewriting is off the table (because of budget, risk, training/conversion hassle). Most of what I do is PHP + MySQL, but I used to work mainly with C++ and Java.

As a backup I have an idea to try remote work, because I don't want to leave my current town. But now, I don't need it and I'm not searching a new job.

programming for smaller companies that can’t afford or attract/hire staff

Could you talk a bit about how you got your first client? What does your typical project look like?

I got my first freelancing gig more than ten years ago, while working f/t at an educational software company that was slowly going under. A friend I had worked with put me in touch with a friend of hers who had a successful web design/marketing agency, and he had clients who needed programming work (back end) that he couldn’t do. He started sending me work and then referred me to other design/marketing firms who needed the same kind of thing. If I was starting out today knowing what I know I would approach design/marketing agencies because they find the customers and frequently outsource anything beyond HTML/CSS or installing a Wordpress theme. Before long I connected with a company with a successful web-based business who had lost their developers (an outside firm that broke up and quit the client with short notice). I took that over. About the same time I gave a talk at a PHP user group about working with legacy code and got a job at the end when a guy who ran a non-profit approached me, telling me how his developer had quit and he had a long list of bugs and enhancements. I still work for both of those companies.

To get clients you need to tell everyone you know that you’re available, not get too fussy about what kind of work you do, focus on business requirements and needs rather than technology. Most important: listen to and communicate with your clients. The number one complaint I hear from my clients is that their last developer stopped returning calls and emails. Don’t pigeonhole yourself, recognize that languages and frameworks and tools are more alike than not, take on work that will push you a little. In the last couple of years I’ve gone from knowing nothing about AWS to managing cloud infrastructure for several companies, with some help from a friend who has a Linux/cloud security consulting practice.

My background is in enterprise logistics and business (accounting, payroll, AR/AP, etc.), so heavy on relational databases. I have worked in non-software businesses long enough to know the difference between a business problem or requirement and a technical problem. I don’t care much about languages or shiny new things, because my clients usually don’t. They want to fix bugs, reduce costs, increase revenue, scale their business. No business ever had the requirement “We need 2,000 more lines of Javascript code by next month” or “Let’s rewrite our web app with React because it’s cool.”

If I was starting out today knowing what I know I would approach design/marketing agencies

This sounds very logical. I was thinking about this, but for data analysis work. I used to work for a healthcare software firm and I know there is a lot of data analysis work in healthcare - this is probably true in other industries too.

I just need to find the right approach.

Have you considered getting into the product side? Get some Scrum or Agile cert(s) and make the change. I work for ITPro.TV, we have a lot of content on the subject, for instance https://app.itpro.tv/course-library/agile-foundation/overvie....

I am not sure I want to get into wordpress/drupal etc, unless I am left no other choice. I am looking into doing data analysis type of work, as I am better at it than fighting with CSS :)

Have you considered getting into the product side?

Yes, this is one thing I can confidently say I am good at. My own product manager asks me for advice all the time. I am just not sure how to transition

Could you ask your product manager for advice, or would that raise red flags?

You feel very stuck right now, I can tell because as a developer you're always learning. And you can learn how to make the transition into product manager. You can absolutely figure this out! :) You will have a job in 6 months (maybe sooner) on the product side as soon as you go for it.

In fact, there is a very active discussion on hacker news right now about this, https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18823616

I have Fortune 1000 clients running multiple WP sites put together by agencies that have no back-end integration or database skills in house, they outsource that. Pay is very good, same as any other back-end programming.

Developer experience? I'd rather spend my way working with Laravel than crap old PHP code written like it's in the 90's.

> It pays the same as any other programming as long as you don’t scrape the bottom of the barrel putting up mom & pop sites

It's good that you manage to find good clients but this wasn't my experience. A lot of WP projects go to the lowest bidder which just doesn't happen with the technologies I work with and recommend.

So if you already make good money on WP then go ahead by any means, but I personally wouldn't recommend getting into it if you're starting out.

I didn’t get the impression the original poster was just starting out. Low-end Wordpress work is competitive and not well-paid, like all low-end work. Competition is always most fierce at the low end of any talent market. Plenty of complex, challenging, and good paying Wordpress projects out there.

By "developer experience" I meant the equivalent of "user experience", ie whether the codebase is enjoyable to work with.

> I didn’t get the impression the original poster was just starting out

IMO it would still require them to get familiar with Wordpress before being able to get the good jobs, which means he's going to be stuck with crap gigs for some time while he builds references.

Programmers who focus on their own enjoyment or priorities like working with the most recent tools and frameworks will turn up their nose at less appealing legacy work, and that’s why there’s so many companies unable to hire people to work on their business systems and web sites. To some developers an older code base is just a turd, to others it’s an opportunity. After working with a legacy system for a while and incrementally refactoring it, if my client decides to rewrite it they will talk to me rather than sending out RFPs. I have two ground-up rewrites in progress right now that started as legacy support work. Those clients didn’t write RFPs or ask anyone else to bid on the work.

I agree that learning Wordpress, or anything, takes time. Wordpress certainly has some bad design decisions (mainly caused by maintaining compatibility with a huge installed base), and some ugliness to work around, but on the other hand WP has a large and mature developer community, good documentation, and lots of tools and add-ons.

Start with contracting - you’ll still be doing software but instead of being employed you’re now running your own company offering solutions to others.

After a year or two of that you’ll have references and can look at the bigger picture - there are a lot of companies out there suffering with either shit software, shit/pointless processes, or both.

You can solve their problems; often the solution will be a mix of better software and review of the processes (why are they doing this in the first place? Can it be automated away, or just done away with completely?).

If you haven’t already, start a LinkedIn and play the LinkedIn game - accept pretty much everyone (as long as the profile is legitimate, nearby, relevant to your industry) and engage with recruiters - that’s where all my business comes from nowadays as a contractor, used to be only recruiters but now companies are reaching out to me directly.

Good luck!

Any advice on how to break into contracting? I'll start a blog (I enjoy writing, so blogging should be fun) and create a LinkedIn account - any other steps?

often the solution will be a mix of better software and review of the processes

This I think I can do well. Is this your business? Do you offer advice/solutions to small businesses? If possible, can you give me an example of a typical project that you do?

Thank you for taking the time to reply

A blog might be good but honestly a lot of clients don’t know what they want so a tech blog is unlikely to bring them your way (if they’re reading a tech blog chances are they’re already developers and might not need your services). I personally write but I do it more for the fun and for giving free advice rather than a way of gaining clients.

It is not my business yet (I’m still just a contract software engineer) but I’m going to look into this next year. I know one of my ex bosses has a successful small business developing bespoke business software so I think it’s a good market, and if anything will make a few lucky people happy with great software instead of the usual Oracle/SAP/Salesforce garbage.

My email is in my profile. Feel free to get in touch if you want some advice.

small business developing bespoke business software

If possible, can you elaborate what software it is? Is it SaaS application or productized service?

Thank you, I'll email you! Thanks again, for taking the time to reply

It's all custom, there is no one-size-fits-all approach so it's more about selling an unique product to each one rather than offering it as an SaaS.

Listen to me my friend. Take a 3 week stress-free break away from home. Away from home is essential. Go to an all-inclusive resort like Club Med. Make sure it's 3 weeks at least and stress-free.

You are about to enter the most productive period in your life. When you come back, you will be ready for it and eager to show the world.

DO IT!

Languages that insufficiently describe the flow of information or insufficiently model domains are dead ends.

How did you find your first C# job, from a PHP background?

> For a bunch of reasons, changing jobs isn't that easy at the moment

There's always a reason to not rock the boat. I prepared plans to start freelancing, and then our daughter was born. Quickly after that, my partner left me. I still struggled on and went freelancing. Now things are fine again, the relationship healed, etc. but you need to make changes, and make them quickly or else you may ruin your career.

Finally, consider the ratio of openings to qualified job-seekers in specific disciplines, instead of the raw number of openings.

Where do you find these?

Leverage that. Create professional blog catering to enterprises. Write "how to" [solve business problems] - based on your ample experience.

Position yourself as an industry expert.