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# Why Great Developers Stay Poor


- **Date:** Thursday, Jul 9, 2026
- **Time:** 14:35–14:40 (5 min)
- **Room:** Airstream 1
- **Event:** World Congress 2026 Europe

## Recording

[Watch recording](https://www.wearedevelopers.com/videos/100102-why-great-developers-stay-poor)

## Description

Most developers are excellent at what they do. They deliver clean code, meet deadlines, and keep clients happy. And yet, many of them whether freelancing or running their own IT business  struggle to build financial stability, charge what they're worth, or land clients who actually value their work.
Jawed Sahebjan spent years in that exact position  executing projects and waiting for the next contract. Until he changed one thing of how he thought about his role.
In this talk, he shares how he went from short-term contractor to strategic partner generating over 1 million euros in revenue with just a handful of clients. No team. Just a fundamental shift in how he positioned himself.
You will leave with a concrete understanding of why technical excellence alone keeps you stuck, and what actually moves the needle  whether you are an IT freelancer or running your own tech business.

## Speaker

### [Jawed Sahebjan](https://www.wearedevelopers.com/@jawed-sahebjan)

IT-Freelancer Forge


## Related talks at this congress

- [Why Developers Abandon Your Product in the First 10 Minutes (And How to Stop It)](https://www.wearedevelopers.com/events/world-congress-2026-europe/sessions/1231-why-developers) — Marcos Placona
- [ Your Code Is the Sales Team Now](https://www.wearedevelopers.com/events/world-congress-2026-europe/sessions/1448-your-code-is-the) — Marcus König
- [It's Dangerous to Code Alone! Take This: Developer's AI Survival Guide](https://www.wearedevelopers.com/events/world-congress-2026-europe/sessions/1262-it-s-dangerous-to) — Salih Gueler
- [Engineering/Manager Pendulum: Generating compound interest on your career](https://www.wearedevelopers.com/events/world-congress-2026-europe/sessions/1396-engineering-manager) — Marcin Olichwirowicz