You're a developer, so why do you work for someone else?
Some people would much rather take a paycheck then try to run a business for obvious reasons.
Think about the biggest websites you visit or use on a regular basis: Facebook, Twitter, Flickr, Foursquare, or even Google for that matter -- all of them were created by developers who created something from little more than an idea in their head.
All companies with massive groups of highly-skilled developers who work for someone else.
Also the vast majority of web/mobile things these one- or two-person developer teams create are completely unimportant, uninteresting, trivial, superficial crap that I can't believe anyone would want to spend a significant amount of time creating and maintaining. It is obvious in 5 years time they will be gone and forgotten. Hardly much different from working on some back-office CRUD app only you get to use trendy languages and tools and pretend you're an 'entrepreneur'. Well you're not. Henry Ford is an entrepreneur, you just created a new way for rich people to distract themselves from their empty lives.
(Sorry, got a little venomous at the end. This wasn't directed at anyone in particular.)
Unless you are doing cutting-edge research in your daily job, you are not much different from those indies working on "superficial crap", apart from the fact that being "part of a company" gives you the illusion that it's more legitimate. Was google search or skype superficial and trivial? They started as programmer toys. The point of the article is that a programmer can start with $0 and build the whole product. A programmer is like a farmer or an artist, a de facto entrepreneur.
Both Google and Skype were more then "programmers toys" they started out as solution to actual problems: how to find useful things on the web, and how to connect to other people through the internet.
Also, nothing is stopping you from using your software chops on cutting edge research projects. The issue is that the required skill sets are usually different then the latest Web 2.0 technologies.
You're a developer, so why do you work for someone else?
John Resig, creator of jQuery (who also joined Y Combinator a long time ago), answer this question when he joined Khan Academy[1]. Very intersting point of view.
I think the article is a little off-base too even if I generally agree with the title. The fact is that although it takes time and effort to get going, working for yourself, as part of a flexible team is something I don't think one can trade for anything.
The open source world is becoming one where the aggregate weight of independent developers is way larger than the weight of corporate contributions (as critical as those may be in some areas). I'd hence say "you don't have to come up with ideas. Get a few customers and see what they need!"
In the end, working for yourself gives you important things you cannot get from any company. These include:
1) Once mature, most businesses fail gracefully. You wont get laid off and so you get more economic security than you would otherwise.
2) Freedom: You can always fire any of your bosses (we call them "customers") if they cause you too much trouble.
3) Strength in negotiation means higher wages
4) You can integrate your work and family life in ways others can't. You can set your own hours and move them around however it works best.
The economy is healthiest when there are more self-employed individuals around and fewer employers or employees, for obvious reasons. As was once said, "too much capitalism does not mean too many capitalists, but too few."
I used to have the belief that most web businesses are uninspiring and useless, but if you go down that rabbit hole, you may as say every business out there is unimportant. Louis Vuitton and Prada just makes us more vain, and waste money. Who needs iPhones anyway when a regular ole phone can do? McDonalds kills people. Wall Street causes the recession. Cars? They pollute the air and are destroying the Earth!
Oh you give the automated beasts that run on our roads too much credit. Not only do they pollute our air but they are killing us. 20% more Americans died in auto accidents in September 2001 than in the 9/11 attacks.......
The point is that so much in life is really a matter of perspective. Being able to help customers is where the sense of accomplishment is at.
You're a developer, so why do you work for someone else?
Some people would much rather take a paycheck then try to run a business for obvious reasons.
Think about the biggest websites you visit or use on a regular basis: Facebook, Twitter, Flickr, Foursquare, or even Google for that matter -- all of them were created by developers who created something from little more than an idea in their head.
All companies with massive groups of highly-skilled developers who work for someone else.
Also the vast majority of web/mobile things these one- or two-person developer teams create are completely unimportant, uninteresting, trivial, superficial crap that I can't believe anyone would want to spend a significant amount of time creating and maintaining. It is obvious in 5 years time they will be gone and forgotten. Hardly much different from working on some back-office CRUD app only you get to use trendy languages and tools and pretend you're an 'entrepreneur'. Well you're not. Henry Ford is an entrepreneur, you just created a new way for rich people to distract themselves from their empty lives.
(Sorry, got a little venomous at the end. This wasn't directed at anyone in particular.)