hooray - first freelance gig

Ruz

Got my first freelance contract at realtime worlds in Dundee.
I start end of November. Its a working from home gig, with occasional visits to work in house.
I am stoked because the work they are doing up there is really top notch
Thank god for that as it getting towards christmas and I am getting short of cash

Sage

Nice, congrats. I remember when I got my first paid gig, I over worked my butt off. My employer was concerned I would burn out, he kept telling me to remember to sleep. Hope it goes well, and I hope you can separate your work time from free time.

Alex

Ruz

Cheers Sage - it will be hard to stop work at 5-30 , but I will try and get it down.I might even try and find some desk space in a small design company or similar.
good place to make more contacts

notman

Congrats on the gig... hope it's for something cool

Mark Dygert

Awesome news Ruz! Sounds like this freelance thing is what you've been looking for all along? Working from home would be an interesting switch. I bet I would be more productive and get more done and like sage said probably work longer hours.

Awesome news!

Sage

Ruz I loved that gig so much I did it seven days a week for over 12 hrs. I don't recommend that, but I had a blast and learned a lot. Soo that's what I mean by don't over do it.

Alex

Ruz

cheers notman - yeah its pretty cool. they are doing some damn good stuff.
vig cheers - you are right i always wanted a freelance gig. I find it harder to concentrate working in games environment. just got annoyed with people typing too loud.I also miss the sense of being an individual some times.
working in a team is fun if you get the right folks, but sometimes its nice to take back a bit of responsibility for your own life.Saying that i will be part of the team when i work in house.should be cool with new pubs to try out

That doesn't often happen Sage:)I will probably work hard as possible then try and settle in to a routine.
I am sure I will work till I am happy with the stuff I am doing, not just work to rule.

Wells

damn, thought you had a cushy job in some studio.

congrats!

Vitor

Gratz Ruz! i know how great it feels haha.

Got my first payed job this last summer working from home too, it actually worked pretty well for me, it was during my summer vacations from university so i had plenty of time to sleep, rest, drinks and work. Now it is getting more difficult to keep the working rate, as my course thats me a lot of time, but it is still possible with a few less sleep Only down point is a rigid NDA

Have fun

Jeff Parrott

Grats!

Ruz

sectaurs - yeah left that studio few months back.
It was n't a bad place to work really.

vitor, thats great you have jumped straight in there with the work. no better experience than real work. Bet the other students are jealous:)

cheers jeffro - time a for a few celebratory beers:)

IronHawk

Grats Ruz!

I am working on trying to get a freelance gig myself. My wife takes care of her Grandma with dementia so I am unable to relocate and there isn't much locally for work.

Ruz

cheers IronHawk - yeah freelance is the only option when life dictates to you in certain ways.
I for one just got sick of moving around the country.
my missus prefers London, so I am stopping here for the next few years.

diZzyWalnut

Congrats RUZ - You deserve .
Good luck , man.

Lee3dee

Congrats Ruz!! realtime worlds created crackdown

pliang

Cool

Gav

Congrats man, hope you enjoy the gig.

Neo_God

Good stuff! It's pretty awesome that you can do the occasional visit to the studio. If I did that, I'd have to travel across the entire Country, haha.

Joao Sapiro

congrats man have fun and dont over work yourself !

Em.

Big Congrats! I'm freelancing from home myself right now, and what sage says is true, it's hard to call it quits after a proper work day, especially if you're on a roll and lose track of time.
Don't forget to take breaks in a room away from your computer too, sometimes you get so comfy at home you forget to do that as well.

Ruz

I may hire desk space in a small desighn studio. depends on price really
thnks for the encouragement guys. hope it works out OK:)

b1ll

Well, Working from home will give u the advantage of having part of ur mortgage/rent deducttible. Sure u can have the space u rent in a studio deductible to, But having part of ur own mortgage/rent in ur house deductble is just awsome, u can get a bigger flat, house. or just save money on that. and Trust me, with a good accountant, the % that is deductible on that can go Pretty fucking high.

Ruz

cheers b1ll , I will look at that but I have a feeling that working from home in the uk is different as I may have to pay business rates on my property.
we are just renting right now, waiting fo a housing crash before we buy:)

Illusions

Congrats Ruz!

b1ll

Possibly Ruz, For rent it should be fine, as it is not a fully commercial place, but First of all Your home,
Your home where you dedicated a room, or area where you work.That area can be deductable. Loo with you accountant, especialy with how much % of you rent you can Deduct. Its worth it.!

thomasp

housing crash in london? that might take a while, man.

anyway have some freelance fun! did it for a few years myself as well and enjoyed it for some time. being married to work 24/7 did wear me a little thin in the end tho.

Vitor

I dunno how you guys get that much of overwork. My experience so far is that i can really work as much as i want, organize my work rate, reduce whenever i want, take rests, stop during a few days... and of course work hard some other times, but not really overwork. Thought i'm just doing it as a part time and not really as my first concern on my life.

That perhaps is the best of home work, you might get a very good life quality if you organize it good. I wouldn't mind doing it full time for a few years, unfortunatly it is out of question for the next years..

demoncage

congrats Ruz, well deserved.

b1ll

You get overwork when you are in demand, Theres is a lot of projects out there, its easy to take on severals projects at once , You can easily have severals project and not be overwork, but sometimes all will reach important deadline around the same time.And then you can still take more project. of course, theres where its fun to subcontract.

Ruz

the thing is its a good thing in the uk to work for more than one client at a a time as there is a tax clause called IR35 which is a real bitch, because they can insinuate that you are not actully self employed, but in effect working for the company you are contracting for.
Having more than one client helps to get around this.
Its funny about the rent thing b1ll, as me and the missus are sharing a 1 room flat.
not sure if I can claim on the rent for a portion of our room, but I will check with my accountant tomorrow.

Gav

I'm curious about that myself. My wife and I are in a similar situation for living...But yeah, my accountant mentioned the same type of issue you're talking about Ruz. Apparently the CCRA here "can" freak out if you're with just one company. So, I guess taking on multiple projects is a remedy for that :P

Gav

Fordy

Hi Ruz,

Congratulations, I really hope this one works out for you

Ruz

cheers Fordy. Should be ok, long as I put the effort in.
Gavimage - we should have a forum for freelancers on polycount:)

Gav

It seems to be a popular route...and a lot of questions come up. maybe we need the "The Ultimate Be All End All Freelancer Thread." =P

b1ll

Bah, Feel free to PM or email me anytime. I have loads of freelance experience. Fulltime and partime. and Many tricks and tips. I MAY be able to share some. TO CERTAIN PEOPLE lol!

pliang

Oh come on...what does that mean? DO you have some or not.

Gav

He does...but you need to be part of the club to learn his ways.

*flashes his decoder ring*

Gav

Vitor

A discussion thread would be really helpfull really. With the problem i just got yesterday on my computer (see the other thread here in GD) i'm also interested in safety workflows, files security, external harddrives and so on...

Empty

I think you really just need a B1ll to english dictionary.