{"type":"rich","version":"1.0","provider_name":"Transistor","provider_url":"https://transistor.fm","author_name":"The Product Engineers Podcast","title":"Your Hourly Rate Is Broken (Here's What AI Changed) | With Judith Bohlert","html":"","width":"100%","height":180,"duration":2814,"description":"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.\nThis 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.\nWe 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.\nTIMESTAMP\n0:00 — How AI changed a Monday morning for a freelance dev\n4:15 — Tools that actually work: Claude Code, Cursor, GitHub Copilot\n5:41 — Repricing your work: hourly vs fixed vs productized vs value-based\n17:46 — Use AI to work less, not more: the case for the four-day week\n22:04 — Personal brand as the only moat when code is a commodity\n35:00 — The freelancer label is dying, the consultant role is rising\n38:54 — Advice if you want to start freelancing now\nGUEST\nJudith 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.\nWebsite:https://www.judithboehlert.com/\nNewsletter (low noise newsletter):https://www.lownoiseclub.com/\nLinkedIn:https://www.linkedin.com/in/jboehlert/\nCONNECT WITH PRODUCT ENGINEERS\nHost: Peppe Silletti\nLinkedIn:https://www.linkedin.com/in/peppesilletti/\nPeppe's website:https://peppesilletti.io\nProduct Engineers Community:https://discord.gg/4sMtRNSgU4\nShare this episode with a freelance developer friend who's billing hourly...","thumbnail_url":"https://img.transistorcdn.com/8v5L1kod14AJua78aUC9VQ4Z3kRWRHsqmocpC-JMNJs/rs:fill:0:0:1/w:400/h:400/q:60/mb:500000/aHR0cHM6Ly9pbWct/dXBsb2FkLXByb2R1/Y3Rpb24udHJhbnNp/c3Rvci5mbS83ODc1/YTcxMTE2YjVlYjYy/MTBjZTBjZTVjZDIy/OTNkMS53ZWJw.webp","thumbnail_width":300,"thumbnail_height":300}