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update dependencies, use pnpm, minor fixes
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| import Image from '../../src/components/image/Image' | ||
| import { | ||
| H2, | ||
| H3, | ||
| P, | ||
| Ul, | ||
| UlReferences, | ||
| } from '../../src/components/article/Common' | ||
| import Link from '../../src/components/Link' | ||
|
|
||
| import independent from './independent.jpg' | ||
| import consultantVsContractors from './consultant-vs-contractors.jpg' | ||
| import { Article } from '../../src/components/article/Article' | ||
| import { Metadata } from 'next' | ||
|
|
||
| const headings = [ | ||
| 'Consulting is lucrative in Sweden', | ||
| 'Freelancing, contracting, and consulting. Is there a difference?', | ||
| 'Two categories of work', | ||
| 'Pitfall: becoming independent too early', | ||
| 'Additional caveats', | ||
| 'Where do I see myself?', | ||
| 'How should I stand out to do category 2 work?', | ||
| ] | ||
|
|
||
| const body = ( | ||
| <> | ||
| <P> | ||
| As 2021 approached, I experienced burnout for the first time in my 10-year | ||
| career. Working for a startup, the expectations we set on ourselves had | ||
| spiraled out of control. | ||
| </P> | ||
| <P> | ||
| After handing in my notice, I felt lost. What should I do next? Being a | ||
| frequent reader of Y Combinator, I dipped my toe into the world of SaaS. | ||
| Creating a successful product is an alluring thought. But like others, I | ||
| soon realized that coding is a mere fraction of what leads to success. | ||
| </P> | ||
| <P> | ||
| An ambition of mine has been to excel at software development. Compare | ||
| making a great, successful product to excelling as a developer, and it’s | ||
| clear the latter is less unrealistic and involves more work aligning with | ||
| my interests. | ||
| </P> | ||
| <P> | ||
| With 2022 well underway, I’m eager to get back on the treadmill. This | ||
| time, I’m planning on becoming a consultant. In some sense, I’m still | ||
| creating a product. Except this one doesn’t float on a cloud. | ||
| </P> | ||
| <P> | ||
| But why do some people become consultants in Sweden? Is there a | ||
| distinction between freelancing, contracting, and consulting? Caveats and | ||
| pitfalls? Finally, where do I see myself in all of this? | ||
| </P> | ||
| <H2>{headings[0]}</H2> | ||
| <P> | ||
| Having a regular job comes with a ton of benefits. There’s stability and, | ||
| besides giving your employer your bank details, not much else you need to | ||
| track. At worst, you’ll have to log your hours using something resembling | ||
| a college project from a decade ago. | ||
| </P> | ||
| <P> | ||
| As an independent consultant, you trade off stability. Someone can fire | ||
| you in the blink of an eye. Survive a bus hitting you, and you won’t have | ||
| colleagues covering for you as you recuperate. | ||
| </P> | ||
| <P> | ||
| But you can earn much more. You’re paid more for every hour’s work and pay | ||
| less tax by essentially splitting your income in two: | ||
| </P> | ||
| <Ul> | ||
| <li>the usual monthly salary</li> | ||
| <li>a yearly dividend</li> | ||
| </Ul> | ||
| <P> | ||
| Income in the top bracket has a marginal tax rate of ~70%, which senior | ||
| developers will hit. Dividends, however, are only taxed at 20% (below a | ||
| threshold). So you give yourself a comparatively low salary and make up | ||
| the difference and more through dividends. Invest excess money and save | ||
| some for rainy days. | ||
| </P> | ||
| <P>Sounds too good to be true, right? Let’s explore some caveats.</P> | ||
| <H2>{headings[1]}</H2> | ||
| <P> | ||
| Like in programming, certain words are often used interchangeably and have | ||
| overlap. Where the terms generally differ has to do with factors such as | ||
| project size and length. Is a deadline set? Do you decide your schedule, | ||
| and can work be done at your own office? Do you have multiple clients | ||
| simultaneously, and is there an agency involved? | ||
| </P> | ||
| <P> | ||
| A freelancer could help a small business owner launch a new website. The | ||
| assignment is non-recurrent and irregular for the business owner, while | ||
| the freelancer completes it wherever they want. | ||
| </P> | ||
| <P> | ||
| Contractors and consultants in Sweden typically work as embedded team | ||
| members. But there’s a subtle yet significant difference between a | ||
| contractor and a consultant. | ||
| </P> | ||
| <H2>{headings[2]}</H2> | ||
| <P> | ||
| When you boil it down, companies hire you for two reasons: either to do | ||
| work that someone doesn’t want to do or to do work that someone can’t. | ||
| From these two categories, it’s easy to tell the type of work you’ll be | ||
| doing and how you’ll be treated depending on where you land. | ||
| </P> | ||
| <P> | ||
| To give an extreme example: the architect behind the tallest building in | ||
| the world is Adrian Smith. He along with his firm belongs to category 2. | ||
| But what about the construction workers who labored in the scorching | ||
| desert heat? Category 1. I’ve been intentionally vague — you never know | ||
| where the coming JavaScript conferences may be. | ||
| </P> | ||
| <Image | ||
| data={consultantVsContractors} | ||
| width={915} | ||
| alt="An extreme example of the difference between consultant and contractor." | ||
| /> | ||
| <P> | ||
| A company might have codebases that its developers don’t want to touch for | ||
| one reason or another. So they get contractors to maintain them, reducing | ||
| employee attrition. A studio might have a new game blow up overnight. They | ||
| then fly in consultants to solve scaling issues both near-term and | ||
| long-term. | ||
| </P> | ||
| <P> | ||
| Contractors build according to specifications. They maintain systems and | ||
| augment existing staff. Consultants tend to design and work on objectives. | ||
| </P> | ||
| <P>How do we avoid getting into category 1?</P> | ||
| <H2>{headings[3]}</H2> | ||
| <P> | ||
| Early in your career, you offer little in doing work that someone can’t. | ||
| If you do, the place you’re working at lacks depth. | ||
| </P> | ||
| <P> | ||
| If you end up in the first category, you’ll be drowning in mindless work. | ||
| You couldn’t care less about the product. The client is shorthanded | ||
| because they don’t value people and foster a toxic environment. Oh, and | ||
| their software is a mess too. | ||
| </P> | ||
| <P> | ||
| On the other hand, if you end up in the second category, you’ll lack | ||
| challenging problems to tackle and seniors to work alongside. | ||
| </P> | ||
| <P> | ||
| The main point is that you want to expose yourself to environments that | ||
| maximize growth, not stifle it. And in category 1, you’ll end up | ||
| disillusioned in a few years and proclaim that{' '} | ||
| <span className="italic">everything</span> is wrong with the industry. | ||
| </P> | ||
| <H2>{headings[4]}</H2> | ||
| <P>As employers can fire you on a whim, you have to perform.</P> | ||
| <P> | ||
| Anyone who’s worked long enough has seen a broad spectrum of developers. | ||
| Some provide tremendous value to the organizations that pick them up, | ||
| while others can’t cobble up a basic CRUD if their life depended on it. | ||
| Now, I’m not a career expert, but you should probably not go independent | ||
| if you’re the latter. | ||
| </P> | ||
| <P> | ||
| Because you’re easy to let go of, the interview process is much shorter, | ||
| making first impressions matter more. You have less time to convince | ||
| others that you’re sane, have relevant skills, can communicate, and are | ||
| pleasant to be around. | ||
| </P> | ||
| <P> | ||
| You also can’t get too comfortable. If you’re a web developer writing | ||
| pre-ES6 JavaScript in 2022 — that’s the very definition of complacency. | ||
| And whether you like it or not, you have to explore shiny things from time | ||
| to time. | ||
| </P> | ||
| <H2>{headings[5]}</H2> | ||
| <P> | ||
| I’ve got some experience under my belt now and have managed to reach a | ||
| senior level in my last two employments. | ||
| </P> | ||
| <P> | ||
| On the plus side, I’ve worked for three years at Paradox Interactive. It’s | ||
| a well-known gaming company, meaning many developers and hiring managers | ||
| will recognize it. On the negative side, my latest employer is relatively | ||
| unknown as they provide a closed platform to enterprises. | ||
| </P> | ||
| <P> | ||
| Categorizing the domains I’ve worked in, I started with e-commerce and | ||
| ventured into single-page applications, desktop applications, and rich | ||
| text editors. My last job involved a broad role, with the domain addition | ||
| of SSO. The lack of a common thread can be both a plus and a minus. | ||
| </P> | ||
| <P> | ||
| An advantage is that I’ve got a sizeable amount of original code (not | ||
| libraries glued together) on GitHub. While I don’t expect anyone from a | ||
| large organization to look at it, someone at a small company might. Every | ||
| new hire matters more at that stage, so they’ll hopefully devote more time | ||
| screening people. | ||
| </P> | ||
| <H2>{headings[6]}</H2> | ||
| <P> | ||
| Currently, my strength lies in having a broad skill set. I can do backend | ||
| work, set up continuous integration, and not feel lost staring at the AWS | ||
| console. I can do frontend work and create an acceptable user interface. I | ||
| communicate well with developers and non-technical stakeholders and | ||
| involve others in designs. I can do these things, but certainly not at the | ||
| same level as someone dedicated in one area. | ||
| </P> | ||
| <P> | ||
| With this in mind, I think startups would benefit the most from bringing | ||
| me in as category 2. I also envision a company with mainly junior staff | ||
| bringing me in to help them and offer mentorship for a while. A third | ||
| possibility involves a company moving to React and JavaScript/TypeScript | ||
| needing guidance. | ||
| </P> | ||
| <P> | ||
| Down the line, however, I do wonder whether I’ll need to specialize more. | ||
| The deliberation is probably pointless right now, and it’s best to | ||
| evaluate as I go along. | ||
| </P> | ||
| <H3>Read more</H3> | ||
| <div className="text-sm"> | ||
| <P>Detailed, practical guides about pursuing the independent path:</P> | ||
| </div> | ||
| <UlReferences> | ||
| <li> | ||
| <Link | ||
| href="https://github.com/tomasbjerre/starta-eget-konsultbolag" | ||
| external | ||
| /> | ||
| </li> | ||
| <li> | ||
| <Link href="https://github.com/nabati/freelancing-in-sweden" external /> | ||
| </li> | ||
| </UlReferences> | ||
| </> | ||
| ) | ||
|
|
||
| export const article = { | ||
| thumbnail: independent, | ||
| title: 'Becoming an independent consultant', | ||
| teaser: | ||
| 'Why do people take this path in Sweden? What are the general pitfalls and caveats?', | ||
| published: 1645438733, | ||
| readingTime: 5, | ||
| headings, | ||
| body, | ||
| } |
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