The Developers Guild

The Guild

A guild of builders.

For senior engineers who want the freedom of their own practice without doing it alone.

  • No dues, no fees, no quotas
  • Members set their hours, rates and terms
  • Fixed-price or by the week, their choice
  • Stronger together than alone

Why it exists

A guild of builders. Independent, equipped, and not alone.

Thousands of senior software engineers are being squeezed out of traditional jobs as companies lean on AI. The irony is that the same tools make one senior engineer, properly equipped, the equivalent of an entire development shop.

The Guild exists so those engineers can run their own practice without doing it alone. Members set their own hours, their own rate and their own way of working. They quote fixed prices or book by the week. They teach each other, cover for each other and learn together.

There are no dues and no membership fees. A member contributes a small share of what they earn through the Guild, only when they earn it. The Guild is a membership organisation whose members happen to be individual practices, and it is built to outlast any one person in it.

We are builders.

We love building. We would rather ship something that works than sit in a meeting about it. Agencies mark engineers up two or three times and companies feel every dollar of it. Engineers just want to ply their trade. The Guild is where that happens on fair terms, for the client and for the builder.

How membership works

How membership works

  1. Members are invited personally by another member or the Guild President. There is no application form.

  2. There are no dues, no fees and no quotas. A member who earns nothing through the Guild owes nothing.

  3. When work comes through the Guild and is paid, a small share goes to the common fund that pays for the advertising, legal cover and shared tooling, and a small share goes to the presidency for keeping the door and the toolbox. The member keeps the rest.

  4. Members set their own hours, rate and working window. They quote fixed prices or book by the week. Full time, part time, or a hundred hours a week is their call.

  5. Members own their client relationships. If a member leaves, their clients leave with them.

  6. Members cover for each other, teach each other and build the shared toolbox together. Decisions that affect everyone are made in the open.

The Guild charter

What every Guild engineer has sworn to.

  1. Invited personally. There is no application form, no bench, and no public listing. You meet engineers inside the platform after we have talked.

  2. Assessed on a recorded working session on a real problem, not a coding puzzle.

  3. Every piece quoted as a fixed price, in writing, before it starts. Overruns are theirs, not yours.

  4. A daily standup, at a time the client chooses, where the engineer demos the finished work from the last twenty-four hours. Every day of the engagement. Progress is shown, not reported.

  5. Built with agentic tools under guardrails, and reviewed by a human before it ships. Speed never skips judgement.

  6. One named person from first call to last commit, with another member to cover if life happens.

  7. Month paid ahead to the Guild's US company. One invoice, one W-9. Cancel at the end of any month. You own the code and the accounts from day one.

Sealed by every member on joining.

Offices

Matthew Summers, Guild President

The Guild is led by a President and is built to outlast any one person in it. As it grows, members hold its offices, and the presidency passes on when the time comes.

Joining

Membership is by invitation. If you know a member, ask them. If you do not, the best introduction is the work you have shipped.