I've been working at software companies my whole career. Every single one has an IP assignment agreement and insanely broad non-competes, even startups.<p>Software has been my favorite hobby since I was a kid, not being able to work on things in my own time is soul crushing. I've wanted to start a business for many years but I know it won't make enough to sustain me as long as my savings will hold out.<p>Have any of you managed to get a dev position without a crazy non-compete and IP assignment agreement? In my state they're quite enforceable. I'm considering contracting but I've never met a contractor and the companies I've worked at don't hire them. It seems an independent streak like "freelancer" or "contractor" makes you less employable in BigCo's so I would prefer going directly from a regular full time role into owning my own business.<p>I know people usually just say "freelance" but I've tried that and it's far from that simple. Going from zero clients to anything reasonable takes months. Anyone found a better way to deal with this?
I've bootstrapped consulting work by turning my current gig into a consulting gig -- I decide to leave a company, but they really can't find one (or two or three) people to replace me in two weeks, so I volunteer to consult for them to fill the gap.<p>I then charge double and work half while they drag their feet for 3 months trying to hire a replacement -- by then, I've had time to line up another gig and bank some cash. If you're nice about it and do a clean handoff to the next person, everyone is happy -- they don't even generally care about the money, they care about continuity of service.<p>Not doable for everyone, but it's worked out for me a couple times.