This is a list of all the advantages I have thought of for being a freelancer. Here is a list of the disadvantages.

Getting a raise
You can give yourself a raise just about any time. If you feel that you’re worth more money an hour then just up your quote when the next company comes a calling.

Bed -> Bathroom -> Commute -> Office
Do I need to tell you how great it is to not have a commute to work? And as an aside: with the price of gas going up-up-up it’s becoming a real savings to stay home.

One egg per basket
If you are a full time employee of some company and lose your job it’s a big transition to pick up a new job. As a freelancer you likely have multiple projects going at any one time. If one company goes down it’s not as big a deal. So you don’t have all your eggs in one basket.

Just say no
Imagine this scenario: your an employee and your manager comes to you and says, “We have a new project for you to start working on doing blah, blah, blah…” You listen, dutifully, but all the time you’re thinking, “Uhhhg, this project sounds like a pain in the exhaust port.

But you know what, you can’t really tell your PM that you don’t want to do it. However, as a freelancer I get potential clients contacting me with projects for one reason or another don’t sound like a good fit for me. And I just say no thank you.

Of course this presupposes that I have plenty of projects to work on. If I’m in need of picking up a client then I might have to pick up a project that I’d rather pass over. But at least the option is there.

Legacy code
If you work for an employee you’ll be supporting your code, and other developers code, a good bit of the time. So all you developers out there who enjoy supporting legacy code raise your hand. That’s what I thought. Zero.

So far as a freelancer I’ve not worked with any legacy code and would be hard pressed to ever do so. If I accept a client’s project, finish the work, give them the code and any necessary documentation and I’m done. If a year from now they come back with legacy support questions I can choose to accept a new contract or not. But I’m not obligated unless that was agreed upon up front.

Go Team, as in go away
I’ll be honest: I’m not nuts about working with other developers on projects. I’d much rather work on something and own all the code. Plus, I’m one of very, very, few developers who use the Dvorak keybroad layout. So pair coding for me is just about impossible.

Bleeding edge
If you want to pickup some new technology but your company/shop doesn’t have any work in that then you’re pretty much on your own. And you know how hard it is to pick up a new skill when you have to do it all on your free time. As a freelancer you still have to learn it on your own time but at least you can look for clients who need your new skills.

As an example: my last fulltime gig was with a startup that promised me that I’d be doing some Adobe AIR work. After I’d been there a few months I found out that the AIR project was going to be 18 months down the road – if ever.

After freelancing for just a few months I picked up my first AIR project and love it. And of course my client had no idea that I’d never done a big AIR project before. ( Shhhh, don’t tell anyone. )

Lets not do lunch
Another money saver is food. You’re probably going to be eating from home every day. No more lunches out. And that adds up to big savings. Oh, and when you do eat out it’s usually when a potential client takes you out – on their dime.

Working vacations
You can pretty much take as much as you can afford. The hardest part is working around projects that are ongoing. But there’s nothing that says you can’t take a laptop with you and still work during your vacation. ( Like I’m doing right now ). So go ahead, spend a month in the South of France and work a little every other day.

Green acres is the place to beeee….
This will only apply to a small number of freelancers but you don’t have to live in an area of high living expenses to do your work. If you’re living in San Francisco and you become a freelancer then why not move to someplace cheaper, where you can actually afford a house?

Most of us have children in school, partners with jobs, so we’re pretty well tied to an area. But if you’re not then the world is your oyster. Literally, I know a freelancer from LA that moved to Panama. Why not?

Same clothes, different day
I’ve mentioned savings on gas and lunch but there’s many others to consider. Like, ummm, laundry detergent, deodorant, clothes, cosmetics, et al. I never would have thought of the cosmetics but that’s what my sister just suggested to me. Really, I hardly ever wear lipstick. :-)

Independent of the economy
My theory is that freelancing will be more viable in an economic downturn. Companies are more likely to reduce staff during these times so being a fulltime employee is more risky. However, these companies still have projects to complete and will turn to freelancers to get them done. The cost to them per hour is about the same as if they had a fulltime person working for them. The upshot to them is that when the project is complete they don’t have to worry about paying a salary for that person.

More money
Well, yes and no. I certainly make way more per hour than I did as an employee but I also have a lot more expenses. I pay health insurance for my wife and I because we both freelance. We’re both in good health so we just have catastrophic coverage. Turns out that works really well for us but if you have a family it will be much more expensive. But many married freelancers can piggy-back on their partner’s health insurance from work. In that case it isn’t such a burden.

Once you get going with freelancing you can probably work about as much as you can endure. If you’re saving up to buy a house you can just work like a dog for 6-9 months and make bank. Again, working for an employer you pretty much work their hours.

What else?
Can you think of anything I’ve missed? I’d love it if you’d share your thoughts in the comments.

Here’s a list of the disadvantages of being a freelance developer