Summary: Panel Eric Davis (twitter github blog) Jim Gay (twitter github blog) Charles Max Wood (twitter github Teach Me To Code Intro to CoffeeScript) Discussion 01:26 - Topic: Pivoting Into New Development Areas 02:00 - Taking time off as a freelancer 02:39 - Business of Freelancing: Eric Davis & Brennan Dunn 03:52 - Podcast Answer Man: Cliff Ravenscraft 04:14 - Chuck’s Intro to CoffeeScript Webinar 04:58 - Pivoting from one technology to another 05:12 - Jim’s experience with ‘pivoting’ 08:20 - Clojure 08:39 - Partial pivoting Learning new skills Trying new programming languages Satisfaction & what works best for you 12:08 - Eric’s experience with ‘pivoting’ 14:47 - Chuck’s experience with ‘pivoting’ 17:09 - Client requirements 18:43 - Transitioning to something you don’t have expertise in Diving deeper Find a tool that is similar to what you’re already doing 22:13 - Billing yourself as an expert 23:20 - Repercussions of pivoting into a new technology Shortages of work Jack of All Trades/Master of None Cutting edge technologies Making up time lost in old communities 26:19 - Personal reasons for pivoting Enjoyment factors Trying new technologies Growing as a developer Preventing burnout 30:05 - Pivoting into new technology versus learning new technology to broaden your horizons 32:31 - Other possible ‘gotcha’s’ of starting from scratch 34:37 - Was it lucrative to pivot out of areas? 39:09 - Adapting to a certain company’s technologies 40:14 - What technologies are people getting into? JavaScript Mobile techonology .NET mruby Perl 6 49:05 - Closing out contracts with current clients before pivoting Picks Business of Freelancing (Eric) Automating with convention: Introducing sub (Eric) Adhearsion (Jim) Rebuilding Rails: Noal Gibbs (Jim) heckle (Jim) f.lux (Chuck) Transcript ERIC: I’ve seen a lot of problems with the Apple ear bud headphones because for me at least, it gets caught under my collar. And so, you can still pick up enough audio, but when you turn, it’s like rubbing on your shirts. You know, like top and bottom. JIM: You’re dressed when you do this? CHUCK: [laughs] ERIC: Yeah. I just have a shirt on. CHUCK: We know we’ve got Eric at least half covered folks. [Are you a busy Ruby developer who wants to take their freelance business to the next level? Interested in working smarter not harder? Then check out the upcoming book Next Level Freelancing: Developer Edition: Practical Steps to Work Less, Travel and Make More Money. It includes interviews and case studies with successful freelancers, who have made it by expanding their consultancy, develop passive income through informational products, build successful SaaS products and become rockstar consultants making a minimum of $200/hour. There are all kinds of practical steps on getting started and if you sign up now, you’ll get 50% off when it’s released. You can find it at nextlevelfreelancing.com] [Hosting and bandwidth provided by the Blue Box Group. Check them out at bluebox.net] CHUCK: Hey everybody and welcome to Episode 32 of the Ruby Freelancers show. This week on our panel we have Eric Davis. ERIC: Hello! CHUCK: We also have Jim Gay. JIM: Hello. CHUCK: I’m Charles Max Wood from devchat.tv. This week we’re going to talk about “Pivoting into other Development Areas”. Before we get going though, I want to ask you guys; is there anything interesting going on in your businesses of lives lately? ERIC: I’m sick, that’s interesting. JIM: That’s not good. I have been renovating my house unexpectedly. And actually, I’ve been talking with a friend of mine, Sean Marcia and he’s done freelancing and he’s been employed. We have discussions on what’s the benefit of being employed versus being a freelancer and I’ve taken… you know, I plan to take a month off to finish writing my book,
