Going IT alone : the handbook for freelance and contract software developers : a detailed guide to self-employment for software and web developers--from identifying your target market, through to managing your time, finances, and client behavior

Going IT alone the handbook for freelance and contract software developers : a detailed guide to self-employment for software and web developers--from identifying your target market, through to managing your time, finances, and client behavior

A detailed guide to self-employment for software and web developers - from identifying your target market, through to managing your time, finances, and client behavior About This Book Discover how to make money with software development skills. Learn how to develop a marketing and sales strategy and...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Otros Autores: Brown, Leon, author (author)
Formato: Libro electrónico
Idioma:Inglés
Publicado: Birmingham : Packt Publishing [2016]
Edición:1st edition
Materias:
Computer software > Development.
Self-employed.
Ver en Biblioteca Universitat Ramon Llull:https://discovery.url.edu/permalink/34CSUC_URL/1im36ta/alma991009630350606719
Tabla de Contenidos:
  • Cover
  • Copyright
  • Credits
  • About the Author
  • Acknowledgements
  • About the Reviewer
  • Table of Contents
  • Preface
  • Chapter 1: Introducing Freelancing
  • The freelance lifestyle
  • Is freelancing for you?
  • Defining your motivations
  • Boosting employability
  • Learning new skills
  • Taking a break
  • Increasing financial security
  • Generating a side income
  • Case study: New Star Soccer
  • Freedom
  • Alternative to unemployment
  • Fun
  • Don't quit the day job
  • Legal entities
  • Sole trader
  • Partnership
  • Limited company
  • Home or away?
  • The home office
  • Advantages
  • Disadvantages
  • The real office
  • Advantages
  • Disadvantages
  • Renting desk space
  • Co-working spaces
  • Cafes
  • Summary
  • Chapter 2: Positioning Yourself in the Market
  • Market segments
  • Pricing yourself appropriately
  • Market specific influences
  • The equilibrium price - segments and prices
  • Building quality for market segments
  • Meeting customer needs
  • Market research
  • Failing to plan is planning to fail
  • Cost to market
  • Cost of delivery
  • Calculate your profit margin
  • Time value
  • Summary
  • Chapter 3: Defining Your Business Model
  • Types of business model for software
  • Software Development as a Service (SDaaS)
  • Advantages
  • Disadvantages
  • Conclusion
  • Software as a Product (SaaP)
  • Advantages
  • Disadvantages
  • Conclusion
  • Software as a Service (SaaS)
  • Advantages
  • Disadvantages
  • Conclusion
  • Software Supporting a Service
  • Advantages
  • Disadvantages
  • Conclusion
  • Business Model Canvas
  • Components
  • Value proposition
  • Key partnerships
  • Key resources
  • Key activities
  • Customer relationships
  • Customer segments
  • Distribution channels
  • Cost structure
  • Revenue streams
  • Canvas
  • Problem tools
  • Product life cycle
  • Development
  • Introduction
  • Growth
  • Maturity and saturation.
  • Decline
  • Five Forces Analysis
  • Rivalry among existing suppliers
  • Threat of substitute products or services
  • Threat of new entrants
  • Bargaining power of suppliers
  • Bargaining power of buyers
  • Seven Domains Assessment framework
  • Market domain/macro level - market attractiveness
  • Market domain/micro level - market sector benefits and attractiveness
  • Industry domain/macro level - industry attractiveness
  • Industry domain/micro level - sustainable advantage
  • Team domain - mission, aspirations, and propensity for risk
  • Team domain - ability to execute on the critical success factors
  • Connectedness up and down the value chain
  • The McKinsey 7S framework
  • Goals and shared values
  • Strategy
  • Skills
  • Structure
  • Style
  • Systems
  • Staff
  • Fitting everything together
  • The business descriptions
  • IXL Learning
  • Nextpoint
  • Comparison: McKinsey 7S framework
  • Goals and shared values
  • Strategy
  • Skills
  • Structure
  • Style
  • Systems
  • Staff
  • Comparison - Business Model Canvas
  • IXL Learning
  • Nextpoint
  • Comparison: conclusion
  • IXL Learning
  • Nextpoint
  • Summary
  • Chapter 4: Creating a Brand
  • A brief definition of what branding is and isn't
  • Know your audience
  • Identify perceptions required for objectives
  • Specializing - becoming a domain expert
  • Generalizing - targeting a wider audience
  • Case study
  • Kick starting perceptions
  • Doing a good job
  • Limited time offers
  • Competitions
  • Rewarding customer loyalty
  • Strategic partnerships
  • Certifications
  • Influencers
  • Reliability
  • Personality
  • Media exposure
  • Content marketing
  • Who do they think you are?
  • Summary
  • Chapter 5: Networking, Marketing, and Sales
  • Understanding networking
  • Defining a networking strategy
  • Writing press releases
  • Know your audience
  • Be specific
  • Integrating your agenda.
  • Make it easy to read
  • Tips for writing news stories
  • Enhancing the reach of your media coverage
  • Open project sources
  • Project sources
  • Being selective
  • Example 1
  • Example 2
  • The sales process
  • Stage 1: Establish the relationship
  • Stage 2: Recognizing the need
  • Stage 3: Proposing the Solution
  • Stage 4: Closing the sale
  • Stage 5: Delivery and evaluation
  • Summary
  • Chapter 6: An Introduction to Client Types
  • The ethical client
  • Characteristics
  • Progression options
  • The difficult client
  • Characteristics
  • Progression options
  • The trusting client
  • Characteristics
  • Progression suggestions
  • The nasty client
  • Characteristics
  • Progression suggestions
  • The price-conscious client
  • Characteristics
  • Progression suggestions
  • Summary
  • Chapter 7: Managing Clients
  • Points of contact
  • Performing risk assessment of the project
  • Measuring complexity
  • Key performance indicators
  • Defining client expectations
  • Analyzing implications
  • Defining an exit strategy
  • Analyzing the client
  • Commitment
  • Ethics and difficulty
  • Financial
  • Learning and execution
  • Consistency
  • Negotiation
  • Cash flow issues
  • Avoiding cash flow problems
  • Summary
  • Chapter 8: Negotiation
  • The Winning Formula
  • Timeframe
  • Budget
  • Depth
  • Strategic Negotiation Phases
  • Stage 1: Evaluate Priorities &amp
  • Characteristics
  • Stage 2: Depth Reduction
  • Stage 3: Define Time scales
  • Stage 4: Terms of Delivery and Engagement
  • Stage 5: Price Identification
  • Summary
  • Chapter 9: Software Development Resources, Patterns and Strategies
  • Software problems: A recap
  • Portable code components
  • Pure HTML5 applications
  • Hybrid applications
  • Code translation
  • Rescued by object oriented programming
  • Maximising reusability, minimising duplication
  • Functional adaptability.
  • Clarity of solution implementation
  • Strategic efficiency with MVC
  • MVC: Models
  • Adaptability strategy
  • Advantages
  • MVC: Views
  • Views in action
  • Advantages
  • MVC: Controllers
  • Controllers in action
  • Advantages
  • Strategic data management
  • User interface consistency with data binding
  • Database consistency
  • API-oriented system architecture
  • Why create an API?
  • Delivering data
  • Developing a HTTP based API
  • API design
  • API security
  • Testing strategy
  • Security considerations
  • Version control
  • Concept glossary
  • Summary
  • Chapter 10: Software Development Methodology
  • Social factors of software development
  • Features for preventing problems
  • Formality
  • Flexibility
  • Working hours
  • Code patterns
  • Specification management
  • Skills deployment
  • Prototyping
  • Planning and analysis
  • Time requirements
  • Knowledge requirements
  • Budget
  • Changing requirements
  • Problem definition
  • Culture analysis
  • Technology evaluation
  • Risk analysis
  • Viability analysis
  • Milestone identification
  • Timescales
  • Methodologies of interest
  • Waterfall model
  • Conclusion
  • Incremental model
  • Conclusion
  • Spiral model
  • Conclusion
  • Agile development
  • SSM: Soft Systems Methodology
  • Conclusion
  • Designing your methodology
  • Formal structure
  • Team communications policy
  • Planning
  • Testing
  • Summary
  • Chapter 11: Creating Quotes and Estimates
  • Maths to the rescue: The basics
  • Performance rating
  • Client rating
  • Example
  • Estimation
  • Example
  • Quotes
  • Example
  • Risk management
  • Counteracting risk
  • Calculating risk
  • Recovering unaccounted costs
  • Examples
  • Maintaining estimation accuracy
  • Average client ratings
  • Example
  • Selective client ratings
  • Example
  • Proportionate client ratings
  • Example
  • Summary
  • Chapter 12: Project Management
  • Client perceptions.
  • Methods of communication
  • Meetings
  • Telephone
  • Conference calls
  • E-mail
  • Social media
  • Post
  • Allocating the right people
  • Who is capable of performing the task?
  • Who is ideal for the task?
  • Who is available?
  • What are the limiting factors?
  • Written agreements
  • Feature creep
  • Risk assessment
  • Project nature
  • Team politics
  • Expectations
  • Legalities
  • Defining a specification
  • Creating a specification document
  • Definitions
  • Summary
  • Requirements
  • System overview
  • Design
  • Timescales
  • Cost plan
  • Feedback
  • Meetings
  • Survey tools
  • Prototyping
  • Email
  • Conference calls
  • Release cycles
  • How often?
  • Feature order
  • The parking list
  • Summary
  • Appendix
  • Interview 1
  • Interview 2
  • Interview 3
  • Interview 4
  • Interview 5
  • Interview 6
  • Appendix.

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