Freelance or office work: where do IT pros have it better?

To many junior developers, freelance seems like the embodiment of the ideal, topped only by a beanbag in the office of some industry giant

You are sitting on the veranda of a bungalow somewhere in Bali, a cocktail in your left hand, a mouse in your right… while your clients sit in a stuffy office in rainy

St. Petersburg or noisy New York send over tasks and generous fees.

But then why haven't the best developers switched entirely to freelance?

Or does office work have its advantages after all? In

In CIS, office pay is usually higher than freelance pay, and there are more office job openings. But what about the other conditions?

Maslow's pyramid will help us compare freelance and office work in IT.

We'll walk through the seven levels of needs to figure out where a developer lives better: on their own or under an employer's wing.

Only strict time management and willpower can save a freelancer from "fusing" with their desk chair.

Otherwise both work and rest will happen without ever leaving the computer. And hello sedentary lifestyle, spine problems and extra weight.

Sitting in one spot nonstop leads to procrastination. And procrastination leads to dangerous deadlines, lost sleep, round-the-clock overtime and too much caffeine.

It harms your health and frays your nerves. Office: kt.team has a five-day work week.

When you have a set routine, work comes easier.

Employees pick a convenient start to their day, agreed with their manager, somewhere between 9 and 10 a.m. The lunch break is not only for eating in peace but also for running personal errands, taking a walk, reading, or working out (the Tolyatti office has a gym).

Work does not seep into every part of your life — home stays home.

Deadlines still happen, but they're far easier to handle with a team. Anna, HR Director: "There aren't many former freelancers at kt.team.

They had no real trouble adapting. On the contrary, those who traded freelance for the office admit that work finally stopped "eating up" all their time, and there were more chances to rest."

Protection from a client's arbitrary behavior is a sore point for freelancers.

Lists of greedy clients — and plain unreasonable ones who want Facebook-level features at the price of a WordPress blog — show up on many developer forums. And yes, they grow every day.

Freelance marketplaces don't protect you from them, and there are no unions for freelance developers either. Office: In the office, you communicate with the client through a project manager.

They "filter" requirements for reasonableness and take on all negotiations over timing, price and complexity of the work.

The employer bears responsibility for paying for your work, and also makes sure the client pays for the project on time and in full.

Now you have to keep track of how to pay taxes on your freelance income and which contributions you owe the state this month.

Didn't register your freelance activity legally?

Be ready for the juiciest orders to go to competitors: large companies won't work without a contract with a legal entity. And at any moment the tax authorities can show up with questions. Either way, there's no sick leave, no parental leave, no paid annual vacation — it's all on your dime.

It adds stress, but there is an upside too: you learn to rely only on yourself and plan your budget ahead. Office:

The upsides of office work: official employment, pension contributions, paid sick leave, vacation, and taxes already handled. For some, a record in their employment history is vital — to get a mortgage or to avoid losing custody of their children in a divorce.

Most of your contact moves online: business negotiations, discussions with colleagues and meetups with friends happen on forums, in messengers and on social media. And not every day.

There's another nuance: there's no one to get feedback from on your work except the client. That means no one to point out possible mistakes, suggest an easier path, praise or criticize you.

Miss the moment and your growth stalls, leaving you out of the loop. Office: At the office your colleagues and management are right beside you.

Every day brings an exchange of experience and growth; there's always someone to consult with.

You've surely heard of synergy — when a team's strength is far greater than the sum of each member's strengths.

And the thing is, you cannot achieve that on your own.

Working in a team may seem like a downside when moving from freelance to an office if you are an introvert, but modern office spaces solve this easily. At kt.team, for example, the office has dedicated quiet spots where you can work without anyone next to you.

A New Year's party, the company's birthday — admit it, if you freelanced for a long time after office work, you surely missed this.

Self-esteem grows along with the complexity of the projects.

But a solo freelancer can barely land large federal clients. Office: Danone, Snezhnaya Koroleva, TVOE and IKEA prefer to work with reputable partners.

For them, the team must work in the office — it's a sign of reliability, stability and better manageability.

That is why kt.team lands such clients, while freelancers do not.

A freelancer can raise their status by building a personal brand online and offline. But within the family many run into trouble — it is hard to convince your loved ones that you really do development as a freelancer rather than wearing a hole in your computer chair. Office: At the office your achievements are very easy to see.

You don't need to prove you're good — it's obvious. Interestingly, within kt.team's structure you can build an IT career both vertically (within one specialty) and horizontally (a developer can master a new stack or become a full-stack developer).

There's a grade system: your salary is reviewed every 3 months and grows along with your skills, experience and knowledge.

Here we're invested in every employee's growth, take pride in their successes and create the best conditions.

Freelancers have access to plenty of educational platforms, to the same books and events.

But you'll have to pay for your own development 100% yourself, and plan that self-development for the gaps between deadlines. Office:

To grow and learn new things, you need to be where the action is — and the action is where there are many great specialists.

We hold meetups, conferences, hackathons and trainings, inviting colleagues from other development firms, and we ourselves appear as guest speakers at other companies' events.

But experience is the best teacher, and there are enough interesting projects at kt.team for everyone. We have a company library, and the firm reimburses all costs for the professional literature you need.

Here you definitely won't stand still. Anna, HR Director: "Our employees who used to freelance decided at one point to switch to office work because of unstable pay and communication problems.

But the main reason was that they felt they had hit a "ceiling" and stopped growing professionally while doing development as freelancers.

Whether a person comes from another employer, from their own business (like our head of sales and several other employees) or from freelancing, we create a growth environment for everyone.

We help developers master a new stack, even one they have never used before. Everyone gets a mentor and a personalized onboarding plan.

If new experiences mean an employee wants to travel more, they can add unpaid leave on top of their paid vacation. Those who have proven themselves can work for a while from another city (for example from

Moscow you can work on the Tolyatti team).

We support a love of new experiences and discoveries."