Welcome to the fifty-first issue of De Programmatica Ipsum, dedicated to Freelancing. In this edition, we learn the principles of running a healthy business as independent software engineers; in the Library section, we review the software economics knowledge of Barry Boehm; and in our Vidéothèque section, we learn from Mike Monteiro how to ask nicely for payments.
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“When You Can’t Create, You Can Work”
It is hard to make a living in the software industry without crossing the path of a software developer dreaming of becoming independent. Imagine the bliss: no more bosses, no more timesheets, just you and your favorite programming language, day in, day out. Let us be honest: we all dream of building the SaaS or the mobile app of our dreams and living out of its monthly recurring income. Or, in the worst case, at least to have a nice consulting gig that pays for a full year of salary in just six months.
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Mike Monteiro
Erika Hall and Mike Monteiro founded Mule Design, a design consultancy in San Francisco, around 20 years ago. Mike was (in)famously known around a decade ago on Twitter, where his profanity-laden rants about design, ethics (or lack thereof), unionization, and open condemnation of fascism, reached peaks of popularity and retweets.
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Barry Boehm
We have often talked about software economics in this magazine. For example, when we enumerated Eric Sink’s perspectives on the software business, discussed platforms as a paradigm for economic analysis, or talked about how Brad Cox advocated for an object-oriented economy. But there is a more extraordinary author about the subject, one we mentioned a few times in this magazine and who sadly passed away last August: Barry Boehm.
