Just under three years ago, I participated in a game localization jam in Tokyo that sparked my career as a freelance Japanese to English game translator. It was never my plan to be a translator; in fact, I wrote my undergrad thesis on translation and came to the conclusion that I did not want to be a translator. (I know now I was doing it wrong, though that’s a story for another time when I feel guilty about neglecting my poor little website months down the road.) I did know I never wanted to work in an office, so the freelancing part was definitely intentional.

Since then I’ve met plenty of people also in the industry or looking to get into it, either as a freelancer or as an in-house employee; our conversations inevitably lead us to weigh the risks and benefits of our chosen paths. Considering how many people ask me about it, I figured it was time I accumulated the pros and cons in one place. Ta-da!

Most of my experience is as a freelancer, though my current project has me working in the office for a while for this phase of the game, so now I actually have some (veryveryveeeerry limited) perspective for comparison. This list is in no particular order and is far from comprehensive. If you have anything to add, please leave a comment! I talk about this all the time and someone always has a point I’ve never thought about before.

PROS of freelancing

• You set your own schedule. As long as you meet your deadlines, it doesn’t matter what days of the week you work.
• You set your own rates. (Whether the client pays those rates is another story, though, as you’ll see in the CONS section.)
• No commute (unless you count the walk from your bed to your workspace…assuming your bed is not your workspace).
• No need to dress for the office. I rock PJs like 90% of the time.
• You can stay home and cuddle with your cats (or if you’re weird and have other pets, I guess you can cuddle those too).
• Nap time. I can’t tell you how much I miss being able to just take a nap when 3 PM hits me like a fist made out of bricks.
• Work only on projects you want to work on.
• Take time off whenever you want to. No bosses to approve days off!
• More flexibility to travel, since you either don’t work or just take your work with you if you really must.
• Live wherever you want.*

*To a point; networking is super important. We had plenty of work while we were traveling and when we were living in Colorado, but we’re so much better off back in Japan with all the opportunities for networking and community involvement. Still, if we DIDN’T want to live in Japan like crazy people, we would still be able to work.

CONS of freelancing

• Not having a schedule can make time management difficult.
• Unless you live with someone who also works from home, you’re by yourself a lot. No coworkers to walk over to and start chatting with. Luckily I have Jeff, but we have separate work spaces and keep different schedules (I work more in the morning, he works more in the evening), so we end up hardly seeing each other anyway…
• Job stability? More like “every day I’m hustlin’.” (Please don’t shoot me.)
• No sick leave, no paid vacation, no insurance or other benefits.
• You don’t get paid if you don’t work.
• Your devious kittens WILL use every card in their hand to get you to pay attention to them and not work. Honestly, how I get anything done is a miracle to me. HAVE YOU SEEN HOW CUTE MY CATS ARE I MEAN COME ON.
• Fewer chances for professional development/growth. They aren’t non-existent, but overall just easier to access and more available when you work in-house.
• No extra compensation for working overtime or on weekends.
• You have to fight to protect your rates. Clients will always (okay not always but a lot of the time) try to bargain you down. (DON’T LET THEM. AND AGAIN FOR THE PEOPLE IN THE BACK: DO. NOT. LET. THEM.) Other times there are awesome projects you want to work on that pay peanuts, and that can be an agonizing decision.

I know plenty of people who prefer going into an office, and you know what? That’s awesome, too. I can totally see the appeal, especially if you love the company you work for and the people you work with. Whether or not freelancing is for you depends on so many factors, but it wins in my books for one big reason: it gives me ultimate control over my time, which is more valuable to me than anything else.

Hopefully this proved useful for anyone in any field who’s on the fence, or anyone even just curious. I’m always down to answer any questions and I love hearing from other people’s perspective, so please leave queries and stray observations in the comments!