Do independent developers still make a living on their own products?

Question

It has been said that the days of the independent developer are over, as modern applications require more professionalism in user interfaces, graphics, and so on.

Nevertheless, I imagine that there are a number of people on StackOverflow who are their own boss, who produce their own software, and who might even be making significant hobby income or an actual salary-level profit.

Are you an independent developer making a living (or a significant chunk of change) on your own product? If so, what's your product? Or, do you feel that the days of the independent developer are indeed over?

Answer 1

um... Don't the actual developers of SO (Jeff & Joel) qualify?

Answer 2

I don't think those days are over. There's nothing actively stopping anyone from releasing an application that they can charge (and collect a significant income) for. However, the average level of quality in developers has dropped significantly (as more people learn to write code, this is inevitable), so the ratio of people qualified to develop independently versus total developers has also dropped.

With the number of actual paying coding jobs in the tech industry rising at the same time, there is now a dearth of independent development, as the dwindling (relatively) number of good programmers get roped into jobs early rather than focusing on their own projects.

Answer 3

I have done well at various times with my namesake software (see my profile for the link), but you have to actively promote software to sell it, and as an indendent developer I don't have time to create software and go out and sell it. I think an independent developer can make a living on their own products, but only at the cost of not developing new products, which means it can't last forever.

Answer 4

The industry is currently 'ebbing' towards developers doing their best to either become contractors, or get into 'permanent' positions. This is due to a number of reasons, not the least of which is the economic situation. When the economy finally corrects itself, then you'll start to see more startups, more calls for independent contractors, and the tide will (once again) swing in the direction of the independent developer.

It will never 'go away', but it should fluctuate depending upon economic conditions and what new fields are created.

Answer 5

I'm concerned to see that you aren't receiving more positive answers, as I am in the midst of starting a product, JUnit Max, myself. That said, I see positive signs for small-scale software businesses:

• The cloud dramatically lowers the entry cost for scalable businesses.
• Social networks dramatically lower the cost for marketing. You don't need to spend $200K/year on a PR firm if you have 1000 twitter followers and Facebook friends.
• Payment services like PayPal or Amazon Flexible Payments Service dramatically lower the transaction costs for collecting payment, enabling micro-payment-ish business models.
• The global expansion of technology raises the overall market size, creating more niches (he says, hopefully).

I've found inspiration in the writings from 37signals: https://gettingreal.37signals.com/. I'll be posting regular updates of how my venture goes. Maybe we need a support group...

Answer 6

In the end it really depends on the developer. What you make, and how well you make it will determine if you can "make it" - regardless of the current economic situation. All a "good economy" does is enable lesser products to survive as people with more disposable cash are willing to fork over some quid to "give it a shot".

As mentioned earlier, due to the increasing number of programmers, the signal to noise ratio isn't what it used to be, but as also mentioned, that's to be expected.

How long you stay in business will depend on you and how willing you are to put in the effort.

In the end though, while everyone has the opportunity to make it, not everyone will make it.