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Starting a Home-Based Software Company?
deanj asks: "I'd like to start a new software business, as I'm sure many Slashdot readers would. I'd like to be able to run the company out of my home, at least until I can afford to move into an office in commercial area. A major roadblock to starting a home business are zoning restrictions, set by both home-owners associations and by the town you live in. So, I'd like to Ask Slashdot: What were your experiences with getting your company zoned properly and started? What did you have to do? What other tips do you have for someone starting their own home-based software business?"
When I started freelance programming, I really didn't like the idea of working from home. There's just too much isolation from the world, and not enough seperation of work and personal.
Fortunately, I found a few other people in similar situations who felt the same way.
We got together and rented some nice studio space together. We called ourselves the Soup Group, since we're a mixture of everything. To fill the space, we had to convince a few others that they should quit their jobs and go freelance.
Now, 8 years later, we have a great studio, filled with 16 people who like to be around each other. We're an intentional community, not a corporation whose members are decided by the whim of the HR department. There's lots of synergy, as we have programmers, designers, project managers, video editors, animators, and lots of other talents.
We save a lot of money by sharing resources like our boardroom, Internet connections, colour laser printer, fax machine, kitchen facilities, copier, etc. This especially helps people just starting out working for themselves.
Have a look at the Soup studio.
So my advice is to do the same. There are a lot of freelancers out there, and a lot of great studio space. It might take some work to find the people to group up with, but it's worth it in the long run.
So you'd like to think perhaps, but in reality this is bogus. American programmers are no better (I'm interviewing too as it happens) - but they are the MINORITY of those I interview: the order is Indian-subcontinental, ex-USSR (including those via Israel), Chinese-east-Asian then a variety including American. I assume this is because non-Americans lose their jobs more easily. I don't believe this is for reasons of competance. I don't see any particular association between ethnic origin and competance amongst my colleagues - but there is obvious reduction in communication due to language in some cases.
Quite honestly I expect in the next 10 years the center of gravity for software production shifts to India. It will be diffused via the net of course but in terms of money earned most will end up in India by sheer weight of numbers.