World Congress 2026 Europe Jul 9, 2026 Session details

Why Great Developers Stay Poor

Jawed Sahebjan

Jawed Sahebjan warns that pristine code alone will never make you rich. Transition from a basic task executor to a strategic partner using value-based pricing.

Pause
Mute Enter Fullscreen
#1 about 2 min

The limitations of relying solely on technical excellence

Focusing exclusively on coding and new technologies limits the financial stability and client appreciation of talented developers.

#2 about 1 min

Shifting from a task executor to a strategic partner

Transitioning from basic task delivery to value-driven solutions enables freelancers to charge significantly higher rates.

#3 about 1 min

Overcoming sales reluctance by building a strong developer brand

Establishing a solid market position helps developers overcome their reluctance to sell and attracts better business opportunities.

#4 about 3 min

Consolidating project platforms to bypass costly tech recruiters

Centralizing project acquisition through a custom CRM eliminates middleman fees and simplifies client management for independent developers.

Matching moments

5:24 min

The current state of freelance contracting in tech

Chris Heilmann +2 · LIVE

5:11 min

Navigating independent consulting and tech career growth

Gil Zilberfeld · LIVE

3:18 min

Career background and the intrinsic rewards of mentoring developers

Oliver Sturm · Coffee With Developers

3:13 min

Navigating developer side hustles in the modern economy

3:15 min

Establishing an independent online developer identity without frameworks

Chris Heilmann +2 · LIVE

2:19 min

Marketing products to developers without aggressive sales motions

Chris Heilmann +2 · LIVE

Upcoming sessions on this topic

Open session

World Congress 2026 North America

September 25, 2026 · 13:30–14:00

Stage 3

Lessons from 20 Years of Bootstrapping an Open Source Business to $50M+

Peter Farkas

Percona, Founder

Peter Farkas
Open session

World Congress 2026 North America

September 25, 2026 · 16:50–17:20

Stage 4

Engineering Moneyball: How We Benchmarked Google vs Meta

Jirka Bachel

Co-Founder & CEO

Jirka Bachel
Open session

World Congress 2026 North America

September 24, 2026 · 14:50–15:20

Stage 9

How to generate business value through performance optimizations

Nikolai Sidiropulo

Software Engineer at Meta

Nikolai Sidiropulo
Open session

World Congress 2026 North America

September 25, 2026 · 16:30–16:40

Outdoor Stage

12 Names for the Same Thing: Why Developer Experience Can't Grow Without a Common Language

Artem Mukhin

Software Engineer at Microsoft

Artem Mukhin
Open session

World Congress 2026 North America

September 25, 2026 · 14:10–14:40

Stage 1

The Broken Rung: How AI is Rebuilding Software Development from the Ground Up

Tomislav Tipurić

Chief Technology Officer, Nephos

Tomislav Tipurić
Open session

World Congress 2026 North America

September 25, 2026 · 16:00–16:10

Outdoor Stage

public void saveMoney(AI): The Developer's Guide to Unit Economics

Hrushikesh Pokala

Senior Software Engineer Lead at Equifax

Hrushikesh Pokala