Call me brave or call me stupid, but I’ve just told my current client that I’ll not be taking any further extensions to my contract with them.
Come December 2nd 2005 I’ll be free to work on my own software, all day every day, and boy am I excited!
Since I started thinking about and then developing CaseDetective well over a year ago now, I’ve always had to struggle with finding the time to actually get any work done on the project. When I look back upon the year, I think I’ve managed on average to maybe get 4 or 5 hours of development in per week, and that would be a good week.
Then along come people like Ian Landsman and countless others who give up there full time jobs and concentrate on their dreams, and the difference in their development speed is plain to see. Ian has been able to produce a very feature packed product and fire out betas one after the other within a week of each other, while I’ve struggled to get one release out per month, and I’m way behind where I want to be in releasing v1.0.
With time to work on my software during the day I expect to see a huge improvement in the quality and speed of design, development and marketing. I’ll have time to focus on my project(s) during the day while I’m awake, not while half asleep at 11pm after having got up at 6am, sat in traffic for an hour or so, done a long days work for someone else and then sat in traffic for another hour to get home, completely shattered before sitting down to work on CaseDetective late into the night.
Maybe now I can have a life. Maybe I’ll be a little (read as a lot) lighter in the pocket, I’m sure going to miss a contractor’s wage. But just maybe I’ll be better off mentally and physically now that I can spend my most productive hours working on something I love, and more importantly also spend much more time with the people I love with the time freed up in the evenings and weekends.
We’ve got enough money in the bank to see us through about a year of normal spending, as long as nothing major comes along to upset the balance. Hopefully by the end of next year I’ll have some income from the software I write, especially as I have a few ideas for other applications that may help bring in a little money. But if things start to get a little sticky money-wise towards the end of next year then I’ll look at a few short-term contracts, or maybe custom apps for small businesses in the area, but the plan is to concentrate solely on CaseDetective and its stable mates for the foreseeable future.
Finally, I’m going to be following my dream to be an ISV, wish me luck!
Good Luck Ian!
Ian Jones has decided to leave his day job to work on his Case Detective software full time (it’s a desktop app to access the mighty FogBugz).
That’s really great and apparently I was a little bit of inspiration, which is very cool! He&#…
Posted by Ian Landsman's Weblog on October 21st, 2005.
Good luck!
Posted by Aaron Ballman on October 21st, 2005.
I wish you good luck. Keep posting your experiences!
Posted by JAG on October 21st, 2005.
wish you really good luck, too.
I,too, recently decided to go on my own and your “call me brave or call me stupid” really reminds me a question I ask myself every evening for a month now. Answer in a few weeks, maybe ?
Posted by antonio on October 21st, 2005.
Ian, that’s excellent! Congratulations!
Posted by Rob Drimmie on October 21st, 2005.
The difference between being brave or being stupid can only be told long after the fact, and even then it’s debatable.
All in all, I think it’s a good move to make and I wish you the best luck!
Posted by J on October 21st, 2005.
Good luck buddy!
Count a new subscriber to your blog!
JD
Posted by JD on October 21st, 2005.
“Call me brave or call me stupid”. Hmm, which to choose
. Seriously, good luck. It’s a very brave decision, but knowing the plans you have for the product and now that you have time as well, I’m sure it’ll be very successful.
Posted by Gordon Robertson on October 21st, 2005.
Ian, I wish you best of luck! You are indeed brave and I hope it all turns out fine!
Posted by Dimitris Giannitsaros on October 21st, 2005.
Thanks to all for your kind words and wishes, very much appreciated.
J, you’re right, I guess only time will tell, let’s hope I can make a go of this so that no debate is neccessary.
Come December I’ll have only my software to focus on, and I will do everything I can to make it a success, it’s a dream I’ve had for way too long.
You only have one life, don’t dream it away, make it a dream!
Posted by ianmjones on October 21st, 2005.
[...] twork administrator A Micro ISV going full time! Ian M. Jones is leaving his day job to work on his product full-time. Ian is a super nice guy. I& [...]
Posted by Ataraxis Software (Company Blog) » Blog Archive » A Micro ISV going full time! on October 22nd, 2005.
Congratulations on making your first tough decision towards independence. I certainly envy your ability to spend a year on your dreams full time.
I recently made the same decision, unfortunately I could only afford 1 – 2 months off. I must say that I feel I’ve made huge progress forward being able to dedicate myself full time.
Good Luck!
Posted by Jon Trainer on October 22nd, 2005.
[...] « Pardon our dust… A word of advice Ian’s latest post about quitting his job to run his [...]
Posted by Ataraxis Software (Company Blog) » Blog Archive » A word of advice on October 23rd, 2005.
Good luck!
Posted by Jonathan Johnson on October 23rd, 2005.
Best of luck. Work through the periods where you don’t see any rewards and rewards will come eventually! That should be on a fortune cookie somewhere.
Posted by Collin Yeadon on October 23rd, 2005.
Good luck, Ian! I’ve been doing this now for over a year now, and while it’s been a bit tough some times, I’ve never been happier about the decision… I think tomorrow you’ll find it’s a lot easier to get to work.
Posted by Corey Redlien on December 1st, 2005.