Stories From a Decade as a JUCE Freelancer
Inside the Journey From Student to Full-Time Freelancer
Nearly a decade ago, I introduced myself on the JUCE forum as a music technology student. I was still a student, but wanted to gain experience in the field. Someone approached me, and this where a journey began. I was going to become a freelance JUCE developer.
Over the years I’ve worked with many different clients on audio software projects and most of them were me writing JUCE code, almost every day. Nobody taught me this. Not how to write JUCE, but also not the business side of freelancing. I learned a lot, and sometimes made big mistakes.
In this talk, I’ll share some stories from my journey. I'll approach it from both the technical and business side and reflect on the lessons learned. My goal is to help others who are considering, or already on, a path as a freelance JUCE developer.
Jelle
Founder
C++ Doctor
I'm Jelle Bakker, a C++ engineer based in Zijtaart, The Netherlands I've worked for almost a decade as a self-employed developer on commercial audio software. In 2025 I founded C++ Doctor to help other developers write better C++.