An alone wolf is a smart wolf

About me

I have spent many years in the software development industry and most of the times working alone. I think working alone is just perfect for me and for many of you who feel like it's the right way to grow professionally.

Why I'm an alone wolf

I started working for a Ruby and IOS development agency in Colombia, I was part of a team and my main responsibilities were Rails & JavaScript development mostly. Here I mastered this technologies, then I though "I'm ready to make money by my own selling my services", that's why I quitted and moved into the freelance world.

I learned a lot while working as a freelancer, I had no team so that forced me to learn quickly many things like Angular 1.x among other techs.

The freelancer world was amazing for me, then I though "I need more of this". Next I was working remotely for Canadian, USA, Norwegian and Australian companies.

My approach

I will always be an alone wolf and you should think like that even if you work for an agency, the reason is:
Companies can kick you any time, you need to be ready to face the world alone. You should always look for new job opportunities (THIS IS KEY).

This could sound very shocking for you but the truth is agencies work like this:

1. Hire developers "long term"
2. Turns out it was not really long term, but it was a 6 months job (best case scenario)
3. You are out

If you want to be successful as an alone wolf, YOU are first. Here is what you could do:

• Look for freelance jobs like no tomorrow
• Build a portfolio on Github
• Write blogs
• Write books
• Do conferences
• Be a tech Youtuber

All of this stuffs are simple to do, just pick a subject you want to prove you are good at and then select any of the above methods to share your knowledge.

Listen: This works.

Challenges I faced

Every decision you make has a price and benefit, working as an alone wolf could go wrong if you don't think about a solid plan but could go really well with a good plan.

Personally I ran many many risks, I had a family to provide but even with that big responsibility I was able to follow my dreams. I quitted many times to "stable jobs", f*ck that.

I'm not saying you should do the same but I'm encouraging you to be really successful.

Key takeaways

Rule #1: Study the risk and build a plan before things go wrong.
Rule #2: Discuss your ideas with your family, they will help you if something goes wrong.
Rule #3: If you are not happy with your job, it's time to move to another place.
Rule #4: Don't be afraid, learn from your mistakes.
Rule #5: Don't use excuses, you can do it.

Tips and advice

• Get a mentor, someone who has already done this.
• The world is vast, your possibilities are vast.
• Never stop learning, this must be your mindset. The day you stop learning you are out of the business.
• Build stuffs, show them to the world anytime you can.
• Time is a double edge sword, use it wisely.

Final thoughts and next steps

The world is your playground, if you want to be an alone wolf you need to think about how you will change the world by your own.

Are you an alone wolf? Let me know your thoughts in the comments!