Typical Day
Webb Masterson is an early bird. He likes to get up at the crack of dawn, take his Doberman for a run around the neighborhood, and then settle down on his sofa with his laptop and a cup of coffee for a long, hard day of work.
By 7:00AM, Webb is checking his email and pulling together his schedule for the day. Once upon a time, he was a freelance web designer and graphic artist: He did everything from building websites for local businesses to crafting paper products—think business cards and wedding invitations—for family and friends. Webb is a laid-back individual with lots of hobbies, but he also had the discipline to make it as an entrepreneur.
Recently, however, Webb has become involved with a company run by a friend of his older, software-developing brother. The company, Haiku, designs and develops websites and apps for a wide variety of businesses, and Webb was hired last year as a full-time web designer for the firm. It doesn't matter that he lives in Atlanta and Haiku is based in Dallas; so long as he has an Internet connection, he can work.
Webb's schedule for today is simple: code, code, and then code some more. This is pretty different from what Webb did as a self-employed web designer. Whenever he would build a website, he generally had to spec the layout, integrate graphics or video or apps into it, and write any code in HTML or XML.
He would go back and forth with his clients about what they wanted their websites to look like and do, until he ended up with results that were both visually appealing and fully functional. In other words, when he was freelance, Webb did everything.
That isn't how Haiku works. Now, Webb is a part of a team that includes other web designers and graphic artists, as well as Haiku's founder and its marketing director. He's also found himself coding on a daily basis—in Javascript, of all things. He's lucky he has a knack for picking up new computer languages.
As Webb gets to coding, he envisions how his lines of code will integrate with the rest of the team's work. For the last couple of weeks, he’s been busy with an app for one of Haiku's high-priority clients. He's never been so heavily involved in architecting and coding an app before, and he's really excited to be a part of this work, especially as he thinks the app is going to be a big hit with its target demographic: people who love to shop for deals online.
By 10AM, several of Webb's co-workers who reside in Texas are online and coding. Haiku's employees use Skype to communicate amongst themselves. Webb codes, occasionally submitting a question or an answer to a query via Skype. At 11:30AM, he packs up his laptop and heads to a local coffee shop with WiFi and awesome sandwiches. He tries to get out of the house for a couple of hours every day as a part of his work routine so he doesn't feel like a prisoner in his own home.
By 2:00PM, Webb is back on his sofa with his Doberman at his feet. He puts in a couple more hours of coding, and then breaks to go to the grocery store and buy food for dinner. He'll probably code for three or four more hours post-pasta, simply because Haiku is trying to get the app developed as quickly as possible.
Normally, Webb's job doesn't require him to be "on" so much, which is one of the reasons he loves being a web designer. Once upon a time, as a college student in Mississippi, he had dreams of being an artist, like a paintbrush-and-canvas artist. Webb realized, however, that while he had an eye for making things look good, his artistic skills weren't stellar enough to pay the bills. So, he turned a hobby he'd had since junior high—web design—into a career.
Not only does web design net Webb enough money to live a comfortable bachelor lifestyle, but it generally leaves him plenty of time to pursue his hobbies, which include painting, throwing pottery, cooking, rock climbing, and jogging. Webb also loves the freedom of being able to work from anywhere he wants, so long as he has his laptop and an Internet connection.
In fact, once Webb finishes up his part on this app for Haiku, he's going to take a working, month-long vacation in Costa Rica. He plans to surf when the waves look good and code the rest of the time.
At 8:00PM, Webb calls it a night and takes his dog for a walk. He watches a couple of episodes of Family Guy on Netflix and then hits the hay. He'll have another long day of work tomorrow, but since he gets to mix the web design he loves with so much personal autonomy, he knows he won't mind putting in the extra hours.