Most of us, freelancers, have a similar opinion hardcoded in our heads – work for yourself, gain experience and knowledge from any source in our own time. But I need to change your thinking. I’ve just started working for PayLane as a developer and just after three short weeks I totally changed my mind.

A job changes your development organization

When you’re working on your own, you don’t need to set up any schedules or schemas that tell you how and how fast to develop your applications. Sometimes there is a day when you do nothing and the next day you work without breaks. It’s not good at all. Sometimes – yes, this is comfortable for us, developers. And when you are working on… let’s assume part-time job, it’s more balanced. Sure, there are days when you just simply cannot focus on your projects and want to go home. But work provides us with some kind of work organization and time schedules. Personally – I’ve changed the way that I used to work just after this short time at PayLane.

A job gives you knowledge

Don’t hesitate to look for a job. It will make you evolve  more than you could imagine. Especially if you’re a person with very little experience. There are different strategies, unique ways to develop products in every company. And you need to fit in. For example, if you were using one PHP framework like me, there’s a good chance you’ll be forced to use another one – don’t be afraid of that. It’s important to learn new technologies. Good practices say that you should read at least one “IT oriented” book per 3 months. Learning a new framework is like reading that book. It’s all about learning new technologies, new ways to develop your future projects no matter if private or job oriented. Having a job gives you more opportunities in various areas. I bet that when you’re developing products for yourself or for your new customer (working as freelancer), you have maybe a 10% chance that you’ll develop something really big that needs a high level of security or maybe cloud solutions. A job gives you such opportunities. Of course – one of the biggest things to consider is when you’re looking for a job and you’re thinking about all these things I just wrote about, you should look up for bigger companies or companies that will provide  all these things. This pattern will not match 100% job cases – but it’s always your choice.

Think about work when talking with people like you

When I came to a point when I decided to go working part-time, I didn’t think that a job might me a great “problem-solving” solution. When you’re working on your own – your contacts with pros in your industry are limited to minimum (for example, when you’re looking for development solution for one of the popular PHP frameworks). Occasionally, you get in touch with them via Internet. When you’re working, you can meet them in person, discuss your problems or obstacles– this may even have no connection with your projects at work. When I started to work, I met a few persons who (just after 3 weeks!) helped me to change my work organization and provided me with some solutions that expanded my way of thinking and writing new lines of code. And – what’s one of the best things about work – you can perform a brainstorm with your workmates to find one good way to develop certain things with many, sometimes surprising results. So consider thinking about your job like a place where you can meet professionals from your area of interest. Additionally, when you face a problem that  goes beyond your skills – you can always ask your workmates for help. And what’s most important – it allows you to focus on your target/task. You don’t need to do everything by yourself. When you need to develop a new class that will add new functionality to the system, you don’t need to think how it’s going to look, what colors  will you use – let other people do it and your final product will be much better, and you’ll finish your projects much faster.

Conclusion

I will encourage you to find a job now. Really – go, open your favorite search engine, type a job name and start searching! Additionally, you can check our Careers section, maybe you’ll find something that’s suitable for you. If you think you don’t like to work like I described ahead – just try. It may change your point of thinking like it did in my case.

Photo source: http://www.flickr.com/photos/caveman_92223/3346906435/

Maciej

Maciej is a PHP-freak, interested in everything that's related to new technologies and photography. He writes about being a young developer working in a company like PayLane and shares his experience in web development. As an IT technician, he loves to solve problems, especially if we are talking about debugging SQL queries or solving Rubik's Cubes He doesn't like to be bored, so his free time is full of activities such as being a professional dance photographer.