It's been an interesting 3 months since I decided to gamble away my Professional Career by leaving the cushy Desk Job, and becoming an independent, freelance software developer. And while spending the first two months totally goofing off is a great way to blow off some steam, it definitely takes a toll on the finances.

Now it's February, and I'm finally back behind my trusty computer console - focused on hashing out a handful of ideas I've toyed around with in the past. Unfortunately, I'm still at least 8 weeks away from having anything “presentable” to the public in Alpha or Beta form.

It's time to curb the excess spending and manage the burn rate until the expenses are within the means of the cash flow. While I'm not giving up a good Steak and Wine dinner for some Cup-o-Noodles, I have resorted to a whole bunch of “frugal living” changes that I haven't used since.. oh... college.

Managing the Burn Rate (expenses) to fall within the projected Cash Flow (income) is an essential skill that separates the successful freelance consultants from the rest of the pack. And boy, let me just say, it's been TOUGH to take the Burn Rate down from a once cushy Software Engineer's salary to, well, “zero with a handful of deals in the pipeline”.

This is the classic “Feast and Famine Cycle”, and I'm knee-deep in the Famine cycle. It'll remain a Famine Cycle until a few of those deals close and the payment checks are banked. 

After several months of diverting my free time to studying for Microsoft's Certification Exams, I'm pleased to tell the world that I'm now a Microsoft Certified Professional Developer - specifically, I'm certified as an MCPD: Enterprise Application Developer .

It was a brutal exercise that took almost a year for me to accomplish.

I took the Self-Paced Study approach for the 5 exams required, as I'm usually more effective going through books.  The books I used will also serve as a bookshelf reference, in case I ever need to refresh my mind on something.

About the only thing I didn't care for, throughout this exercise, was to force myself to reframe my thinking process to accept (or at least understand the reasoning behind) "The Microsoft Way" of doing things.  The "Enterprise Professional" Exam was the last one on my task list, and it was particularly difficult for me to choke that content down.  I had to bite my tongue and answer Exam Questions "The Microsoft Way", instead of "The Lalee Way".  No points for style or elegance in thinking -- it's all multiple choice answers.  <more>