Hi all! I've been coming to the conclusion that I do not function well in a typical office environment and am thinking of going freelance. My background? BEng in mechanical engineering MSc in engineering and management PhD in additive manufacturing (3D printing) processes. I am a very competent SolidWorks user (usually the best wherever I end up working) and have extensive knowledge of many analysis techniques that are found in the mechanical/material engineering world. Without sounding arrogant, there's a whole load of other experiences with things that I can't recall at the moment. I was thinking of going into some sort of consultant role. Anyway, any advice from anyone?
I agree with that, but it is also applicable to office work. Did that for to long (with week-end and night remote work). It ended up into a burnout and Iḿ in my 3rd month off work (wasn't worth the 3K net wage per month I'm paid).
If you are going to bust your butt for something I think it should be for yourself, your customers and your own goals, rather than to help your manager get a bonus or for your employer to make some more money / keep their existing customers happy. I would imagine that the most difficult part of setting out on your own is the business side of things. Most engineers that are capable of going out on their own will have the engineering side of things down. The business things like PR, the customers, the marketing, the businesses plans, advertising, professional networking, selling and all of that inane stuff we became engineers to avoid will suddenly become much more relevant and important.
That's what happened, sadly. Management got promoted, share holders got their dividend inflated ... and I got 1500 euros raw per anno after 4 years without pay increase (you are brilliant, but this is the crisis you know and we have to please the share holders and the chairmen). Looking for another job ... Buy the way: I earn 3000 net per month in Paris (developper with 12 years of exp) ... a colleague who does the same job and have same exp but is independant earns 6000 euros net per month...
Define 'typical office environment'. Because regardless, unless you go to site works regularly, you'll be working in an office. My Dad was a consulting structural engineer for 30 years and he still spent 95% of his time in his office. Yes it was his own, and he had a secretary, but he still had to work in an office. I'm an (air, marine, and land) Engineer, coming from 12 years on the tools into an office job, and believe me, the grass is greener on this side of the fence.
If you're a good engineer, and you are going solo with what you worked on previously, your old clients will be fairly easy to sway to your own business. You've cut out the middleman, and it'll cost them less to hire you. I know I've done that with my new job. Not freelancing, but the old clients from my previous company have mysteriously migrated to my new one
Speaking as a filthy freelancer (anybody need any words wording? Get in touch!) who works near-exclusively from home (I've had two client site visits and a handful of event coverage jobs this year), I can offer a bit of insight. First: yes, working from home is lovely. No commute! No annoying coworkers! No dress code! Your own background music! That said, there are downsides. No exercise! No nice coworkers! More distractions! Worse still is that it can lead to a difficulty to separate home and work: it's all to easy to pick up your laptop of an evening and squeeze in just a bit more, compared to being kicked out of the office at 1700 every night. I know I've been guilty of this on more than one occasion, to the point where I turned email notifications on my phone off altogether so I wouldn't feel that I "had" to reply when one comes in at o-dark-hundred hours. The lack of structure is freeing, but you need discipline. If I get writer's block, I can take a walk, play a game, even sack the rest of the day off in the bath or pub with a good book. But I can't abuse that: the work still needs to get done to a set quality and firm deadline, so if you're the sort who wastes hours when the boss isn't looking just think carefully about how much work you'd actually get done if the boss was never looking. Then there's the fiscal side. I'm earning more now than I ever did as sysadmin, but it comes at a cost (and I'm not just talking about the fact I work my pasty white ass off, either). There's no sick pay, nor holiday pay. If you take a week's holiday, that's a week's earnings you've just lost - which basically doubles the cost of any holiday you take. There's no company contribution to your pension, and you'll need to handle all the tax stuff yourself - I pay an accountant £35 a month to handle that for me, 'cos I'm lazy. Then there's clients. My clients range from paying me the same day I raise the invoice to needing multiple prods over a period of months to ever see the cash. If you're used to a regular salary, it can come as a shock: my advice would be to have at least six month's float in your bank account before even thinking of going freelance. I did, and still nearly went bankrupt after spending multiple months concentrating near-exclusively on writing my first book. (Seriously, I had less than £400 in the account at one point - which is less than the mortgage on the house. Not fun times.) Just my advice from someone who's been doing it for a fair few years, now. Weigh up the pros and cons carefully, make sure you have a suitable financial float, and try to build up clients first. If you're entering the same business as your current employer (which, as I shifted from sysadmin to journo, wasn't a problem for me) make bloody sure there's no contractual clauses about no-compete or client-poaching that could bite you in the arse.
Thanks for all the replies chaps! Not a problem - I just want to be able to focus on my work without distractions (well, apart from clients). discipline isn't a problem (something learnt from my PhD days. Good advice about the cash though - I'll have to wait to save that up.
