Ask HN: Start a web development company or take job as a web developer

I'm guessing you live in USA. Here in Europe being a contractor in IT business pays much more than targeting permanent positions.

Also - if you have an idea for a startup then definitely it would be a good idea to release a free demo and encourage people to pay for rest of the work through sites like https://www.indiegogo.com; I liked this idea when seen this project: http://screeps.com/

Hope this helps :-)

When you're just starting you have to take any opportunity that comes your way. For me, that meant freelancing until I could land my first job. That likely means the same for you. There's a lower barrier for entry for getting contract work rather than full time work. My first few jobs were low paying, hundreds of dollars, whereas hiring someone full time is likely thousands + there are other employer obligations that are involved.

My advice is see your first clients as being critical to your resume. If you have a LinkedIn try and get them to endorse you. If you think you left them really happy ask for a quote/recommendation (maybe offer them a discount on future work for a quote). Then from there, network like mad until you work work under web devs that are much smarter than you. No better way at improving the craft than working under the experts.

I think you should start out as a freelancer. You get to use all your skills and in the mean time prepare the base for your real company at a later point when you have enough clients.

At least that's what my boss did 10 years ago. Now, he hires me and 12 other employees ;)

I worked full-time for 5 years, freelanced for 1 year & then moved back to full-time.

I have the intention of starting my own business eventually, but I didn't have any money saved, so when I freelanced, I would constantly have to be hustling jobs.

I ended up with some good (not great) permanent clients & was making great money, but even then, I was designing & building websites only (mostly Wordpress) which wasn't the work I wanted to be doing. I wanted to work in startups on a product & realised that going back to full-time was the better option for me.

If you haven't ever worked full-time for someone else, I would recommend doing that first. You can still learn a lot about running a business in a full-time job - sometimes even the most important things like communication, managing a team etc. It's also a good chance to work out what you actually want to do whilst having a steady pay-check.