Develpreneur: Become a Better Developer and Entrepreneur

There are not a lot of articles that include side-hustle arguments.  All of the ones I come across start from the position of any side-hustle being a good thing.  Then, the story shows us how to embrace and succeed in that area.  We are easily lured into seeing only positive side-hustle arguments as the end is examined without much regard for the journey.  I think this sells us short on deciding h...

We wrap up the season on building a small software product with tasks and recommendations for getting the product to a market.  This is also called the product launch.  Of course, what the market is can vary broadly for modern products.  You might aim for getting a shrink-wrapped version of the product on a store shelf.  However, that seems an almost pointless goal these days.  Digital delivery an...

This is the last episode in our consulting project side hustle series.  We wrap up the season with a look at how to end our project and wrap it up (for now at least).  As implied, we also look at moving on to the next project and making use of our success with a customer to grow to more work in the future. Final Delivery There should always be some sort of final release as part of completing a con...

Our goal has been to create a small commercial software product, and we are rapidly getting to the end of our journey.  Creating commercial software does require us to do some additional work over something we build for personal use or even internal to our company.  We are going to ask people to pay money for our application, and they will have a set of expectations we need to meet. A Fresh Instal...

In this episode, we look at the final pieces we need to code as part of building our product.  Many of these steps have already been taken partially, if not completely.  However, it is always worthwhile to walk down a checklist of the details as we move towards code freeze. What is Code Freeze? The idea of freezing product development is one that provides a hard completion of the implementation ph...

Winning a project is only half the battle.  For true consulting success, you must follow through with your plan and exceed expectations where possible.  There is not a single approach that works for every project.  However, there are some things you should touch on whether a job is a few hours or many years of work. Kick It Off An important piece of consulting success is setting expectations.  The...

It is time for building out your application.  You have a core engine for solving the main problem and a clickable demo to show off the user experience.  Those provide the skeletal structure of our product.  However, there is a lot of meat we need to add to those bones. Help Yourself Administration is a requirement for most applications.  It may not be a requirement users will ever experience.  Ho...

We have worked on functionality in our application to this point.  Now we can start to create a user experience, so those functions are accessible and intuitive.  We will begin with a clickable demo that makes it easy to see how to navigate through the features. No Place Like Home Every application has a "home" or "start" page.  This type of page is the one users see first in most cases.  Accordin...

Our series on a consulting side hustle moves into landing a project.  We have set the stage to present our services and "company."  In this episode, we will look out how to use that positioning to find, apply for, and win a project. Stay Happy Early on, we will often take work that is not ideal.  Our goal is building a series of reference projects and we are not able to be too picky.  Nevertheless...

In the prior episode, we started out our coding of a solution for a specific case.  Now we move on to the general case problem-solving code.  Some of this work may have been completed in your general solution, but it is worth looking over these to craft the best solution. Input Parameters Our hard-coded solution did not need any parameters or even user input.  However, as we move into the code for...

We built a foundation for our application in the last episode.  Now, we move into solving the problem that our customers will pay for.  This step is just putting our plan on the computer and handling a single case.  Our actions should be defined in our specification to the point that this is relatively easy. Document As You Go A way to approach this step is to start with comments, move to text/har...

A challenge that we all face in our service offering is setting the development pricing.  We know what our salary is and what we would like to earn.  However, we also want to be fair in our pricing to both our customers and ourselves.  In this episode, we look at the factors to consider in setting your rate as well as fixed bid factors. Rule Of Thumb For Rate It helps to start with a baseline.  Th...

In this episode, we get started on the implementation phase of our software product.  We have a reasonably robust design documented from the tasks of the prior episodes.  Thus, this should be an easy and natural next step.  Your product vision at this point is solid and thought through. Start Simple These first steps of implementation will be used to create our foundation and development environme...

Testing is an integral part of software development.  It is critical for producing quality and an essential habit to develop early in your career.  We will look at building test considerations into our product development process from the very beginning.  This is an excellent way to keep the cost of fixing bugs down as we will catch them early in the process when they are easier to correct. Valida...

One of the first steps once we decide to do consulting as a side-hustle is to define our service offering.  We have the option to be a general consultant and do at large coding or technical support.  However, that is not an easy one to sell or even define.  By its nature, a broad offering will limit your ability to speak directly to a customer's needs. Pick A Path Or A Few Start your offering thou...

We continue defining our product in this episode.  Our prior episodes looked at the problem to solve, the solution, and general requirements.  Now we can move on to the product specification and deciding on the environment we will use to create it. Design the application structure (core, data model, methods/functions, helpers, screens/output) Challenge: Create the specification from these decision...

In this episode, we look at creating the product requirements for our side hustle software.  Even though we have a lot of this information in our head, it is good practice to put it on paper.  This exercise will help us think through our plan more thoroughly before we begin.  It will also give us another experience in building out product requirements on our journey to become better developers. Th...

This episode kicks off a new season focused on how to launch your online consulting side hustle.  The weekly episodes will walk you through making a plan, creating marketing materials, landing a customer, and then repeat business.  Time to get started. Set Your Online Consulting Goals Any good business starts with a vision.  You need to take this step even with your side hustle.  Consider your goa...

This episode starts a new series on creating a small software product.  Our goal will be to create a passive income application that we can launch within a few months at most.  We will get started on our new product immediately, so let's dive right in. Selecting A Problem Every good product solves a problem.  That is where we will begin.  Think of a problem that you deal with on a regular basis th...

The ability to generate a passive income is a desire most of us have.  We may not recognize it as such, but the desire to live without having to work seems universal.  A challenge with this goal is that we often focus on completely being self-sufficient with our passive income.  Although this is an understandable goal, it can be too big and cause us to lose hope in it as possible. Paid To Have Fun...

When you look at concerns that keep business owners up at night, a few show up over and over.  One of these worries is the challenge of securing your systems.  No one wants to be the company mentioned in the latest data breach.  Unfortunately, security can be expensive.  It is an open-ended goal that can allow for a lot of resources to be poured into it. Achieving the Minimum The first step in sec...

Of all the applications I have worked on over the years a code generator is the most challenging.  Likewise, it is the most rewarding and painful sort of project.  This is not something for the faint of heart.  However, it is an incredible learning experience and often will help elevate you to that next level. Reinforce Best Practices Do not misunderstand me; a code generator can create some ugly...

Our modern lives are full of work and tasks that can leave us exhausted at the end of the day.  This hectic pace can often keep us from doing the things we enjoy.  Never fear, in this episode, we look at ways to organize your week and day to create free time for the things we enjoy. Filling The Bucket The concept that is the basis for this approach is that of filling a bucket with ever smaller sto...

When we plan our way to becoming better at anything we have to find a way to grade progress.  Thus, measuring is a critical factor in improving our performance.  We can try to achieve success with something that is not measured.  However, how do we know when we have made an improvement or when we have gotten worse? Measuring Provides Our Pace We often talk about becoming better developers.  In doi...

Most of us were just getting started on our career when we were introduced to coding standards.  These are common in the industry and more so where there are entry-level developers.  Although the purpose of coding standards is often related to easing team development, there are far more benefits as well.  Thus, you should create these for your improvement as well. Coding Standards As A Productivit...