ArticlesThe asset of a programmer

All professional service firms and consultants have one most imporant asset. This asset is their skills. Skills, like other assets, depreciate over time. Freelancers and single fighters in particular, need to understand this.

Let’s take a freelance programmer for example. You look for projects, you do the projects, and when you are almost done with your project you look for another one, and so on. You barely have time to other things besides looking for a project and doing it. You may make much money, your skill in a particular area becomes deeper, you work on the stuff faster, but does it mean that you have grown your asset? Maybe not. In fact your asset may be depreciating. More people around the world know how to do what you’ve been doing. And they do it cheaper. If you dont do something soon enough projects stop flowing your side.

My suggestion to all professional service firms (like us) and consultants need to constantly add marketable and profitable skills. It is easier for a firm to do this. Assign a team to do research, record the know how, and spread the knowledge and get real work experience. For freelancers, it is important to stop once in a while, upgrade your skill base and try to get projects relevant to that new skill