Working independently. It's fairly common in the tech world, but there are also many, many misconceptions and stereotypes. Josh has been working independently as a developer for the better part of the past fifteen years and has learned many lessons not only about what it means to work freelance as far as lifestyle goes, but also many practical bits of info about dealing with money, contracts, clients, personal marketing, and how to fix things when it all seems to go wrong. Christin Roman has just made the big jump from working as a full-time user experience designer to working independently. She will speak about the process of making the big leap -- what sort of planning it took, what the dangers were, and how it's turned out so far. And we can both speak to the idea of working freelance as a lifestyle choice -- balancing work and life, etc. We would also like to keep this open to audience discussion about experiences and techniques for living the life of a freelance rockstar!