If you’re freelancing as a software engineer, you’ve probably noticed something a bit weird: your freelance pricing is now working against you. The faster you go, the less you bill.
This episode is a conversation with Judith Bohlert — a freelance software engineer based in Germany, self-employed for 3 years, building greenfield MVPs and prototypes for early-stage startups — about how freelancing with AI tools affects the job, pricing, and the identity of an independent engineer.
We get into the case for moving from time-seller to product engineer-consultant, why a productized service or a value-based offer is now the obvious response to AI freelancing economics, and why your personal brand — not your stack — is the only moat left when average code becomes a commodity.
TIMESTAMP
0:00 — How AI changed a Monday morning for a freelance dev
4:15 — Tools that actually work: Claude Code, Cursor, GitHub Copilot
5:41 — Repricing your work: hourly vs fixed vs productized vs value-based
17:46 — Use AI to work less, not more: the case for the four-day week
22:04 — Personal brand as the only moat when code is a commodity
35:00 — The freelancer label is dying, the consultant role is rising
38:54 — Advice if you want to start freelancing now
GUEST
Judith Bohlert is a freelance software engineer based in Germany, with around 3 years of self-employment experience, focused on greenfield MVPs and prototypes for early-stage startups. She writes the low noise newsletter — a calmer take on working in tech, without hustle culture or the productivity-hack treadmill.
Website:
https://www.judithboehlert.com/
Newsletter (low noise newsletter):
https://www.lownoiseclub.com/
LinkedIn:https://www.linkedin.com/in/jboehlert/
CONNECT WITH PRODUCT ENGINEERS
Host: Peppe Silletti
LinkedIn:https://www.linkedin.com/in/peppesilletti/
Peppe’s website:
https://peppesilletti.io
Product Engineers Community:https://discord.gg/4sMtRNSgU4
Share this episode with a freelance developer friend who’s billing hourly and starting to feel it.
