Ted Roche wrote:
> Yeah. right. I gave up an international guru practice in VFP and
> became just another novice LAMP coder for the money, fame and glory.
> (More like blame and gory.) There's a glut of LAMP developers out
> there and they offer double-minimum wage rates, since they just got
> out of school (college, high or grade) and live at home with Mom. They
> were raised on this stuff, code faster (but buggier) than I do, stay
> up for days at a time, and will take a job for $200 fixed to establish
> a reputation. And let's not even start on offshoring! My rates didn't
> exactly skyrocket when I chose to work out of a state with more moose
> and bear than people. But I am loving it, 'cause software development
> is what I do, and Open Source lets me do it better.
>
This is what tempts developers like myself to consider getting out of
this career. Yes, I love developing solutions, and they're good ones
according to my clients; however, it's very stressful with the way
technology keeps changing...and I'm not that old, either and feeling the
anxiety!
> The interesting thing is that the problems we run into are very
> similar, whether it's VFP or PHP, PostgreSQL or DBFs, milling machines
> or mailing machines. Communicating with the clients, properly setting
> expectations, educating them about the software development process,
> helping them to figure out their *real* requirements, estimating the
> projects, working out the user interactions, designing the data model
> -- all that stuff is pretty similar. The big differences are whether
> you terminate or continue a line with a semi-colon, and whether you
> need to PACK or VACUUM the database.
>
> Sorry if we touched a nerve, MB. Sometimes we play a little rough.
>
Like I said...I'm just edgey given the shit I'm wading through. No
offense taken really. I do acknowledge your depth of experience as much
more than mine, regardless, and hence my respect/deference for your
opinions on these kinds of things.
> But to get back on topic: "Bidding for jobs based upon the number of
> tables involved:"
>
> No, don't do that.
>
I look at it this way: how long am I going to be tied up with this job
if I get it, given the scope that has been defined? Let's say it's 2
months....then I decide "Ok, it I want to bill $xxxxx this year, that
means I should bid 2/12 of $xxxxx for the job. Perhaps a bit more to
pad it for a little scope creep (that I would allow as a courtesy...but
not to be taken advantage of). Does this logic have any merit or is it
crazy too?
--
Michael J. Babcock, MCP
MB Software Solutions, LLC
http://mbsoftwaresolutions.com
http://fabmate.com
"Work smarter, not harder, with MBSS custom software solutions!"
©2007 MB Software Solutions |
