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Re: General Consulting Advice Urgently Needed

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Lew <lewbloch@gmail.com> wrote in
news:827532.751.1322632952528.JavaMail.geo-discussion-forums@prgi20: 

> Novice wrote:
>> Touche! I certainly deserve that for this mistake. 
> 
> You have an excellent attitude and you will succeed brilliantly in
> software development. 
> 
> As for contracting, you are showing wisdom in doing some research
> first.  I will add that there are books and articles out there, none
> of which I can recall at the moment, that specifically address
> contractor concerns.  Mostly the folks in this thread have already
> recapitulated the high points, though. 
> 
> I wouldn't overthink the details of how the other guy will react. 
> I've done a fair bit of consulting, both successful and unsuccessful
> contracts.  I've learned that you need to make yourself comfortable
> with the terms of satisfaction. 
> 
> How do you know when you've done the job right?  Forget the money -
> you can charge almost anything, down to telling the guy, "You decide
> at the end how much I was worth."  Focus on the job - what do you need
> to accomplish, and by when? 
> 
> If you cannot succeed at that, the money will either not come to you,
> or will flow from you to the client. 
> 
> If you do succeed, the money will flood to you.
> 
> So insist on complete disclosure of absofuckinglutely everything you
> need to know about the task, first (well, after signing an NDA). 
> Spend the time up front, for free, to understand exactly what "done"
> will look like.  Don't take the job unless you can do that.  By when
> they want it. 
> 
> You may not know how to do it yet.  That's fine.  You just need to
> know what knowledge you will need.  That is, you need to know what
> questions to ask, not necessarily their answers at this stage.  But
> you know how you learn, and depending on the scope of WHAT THE PROJECT
> NEEDS, about how hard it will be to learn it.  Try not to learn too
> much for any one project - you should have a pretty good grasp of
> 75-80% of the technical matters to start.  More is good, but any
> decent programmer can fill in 25% without having to agonize over,
> "Should I charge for learning?" 
> 
> OF COURSE YOU SHOULD CHARGE FOR LEARNING!
> 
> Read the passage in /The Bonfire of the Vanities/ where the law
> partner explains how you bill your client for the minute you thought
> of them just before you teed off on that fourth hole with the dogleg. 
> 
> Doesn't matter.  All that matters is that you complete the project on
> time in a way that your client likes. 
> 
> So you'd better have a pretty clear idea of what they like before you
> bid. 
> 
I will take your advice to heart, Lew! I would really love to do this 
project and have it be a big success but I really do need to understand 
exactly what done is, as you put it, so that I am certain I can do it. If 
I can't do it, it's better to take this as a learning experience for what 
to do differently the next time than to take the project regardles - 
assuming it's offered - and make a mess of it. 


-- 
Novice

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Thread

General Consulting Advice Urgently Needed Novice <novice@example..com> - 2011-11-28 15:41 +0000
  Re: General Consulting Advice Urgently Needed Jeff Higgins <jeff@invalid.invalid> - 2011-11-28 11:37 -0500
    Re: General Consulting Advice Urgently Needed Novice <novice@example..com> - 2011-11-28 17:04 +0000
      Re: General Consulting Advice Urgently Needed markspace <-@.> - 2011-11-28 11:09 -0800
        Re: General Consulting Advice Urgently Needed Novice <novice@example..com> - 2011-11-28 19:48 +0000
          Re: General Consulting Advice Urgently Needed markspace <-@.> - 2011-11-28 12:14 -0800
            Re: General Consulting Advice Urgently Needed Rhino <no.offline.contact.please@example.com> - 2011-11-28 21:28 +0000
              Re: General Consulting Advice Urgently Needed markspace <-@.> - 2011-11-28 14:14 -0800
                Re: General Consulting Advice Urgently Needed Novice <novice@example..com> - 2011-11-29 05:24 +0000
                Re: General Consulting Advice Urgently Needed Martin Gregorie <martin@address-in-sig.invalid> - 2011-11-29 20:44 +0000
  Re: General Consulting Advice Urgently Needed Novice <novice@example..com> - 2011-11-28 17:53 +0000
    Re: General Consulting Advice Urgently Needed Novice <novice@example..com> - 2011-11-28 19:52 +0000
    Re: General Consulting Advice Urgently Needed Arved Sandstrom <asandstrom3minus1@eastlink.ca> - 2011-11-29 07:20 -0400
      Re: General Consulting Advice Urgently Needed Novice <novice@example..com> - 2011-11-29 16:06 +0000
        Re: General Consulting Advice Urgently Needed Lew <lewbloch@gmail.com> - 2011-11-29 12:04 -0800
          Re: General Consulting Advice Urgently Needed Novice <novice@example..com> - 2011-11-30 00:12 +0000
            Re: General Consulting Advice Urgently Needed Lew <lewbloch@gmail.com> - 2011-11-29 22:02 -0800
              Re: General Consulting Advice Urgently Needed Novice <novice@example..com> - 2011-11-30 20:28 +0000
  Re: General Consulting Advice Urgently Needed Roedy Green <see_website@mindprod.com.invalid> - 2011-11-28 10:03 -0800
    Re: General Consulting Advice Urgently Needed Gene Wirchenko <genew@ocis.net> - 2011-11-28 10:44 -0800
      Re: General Consulting Advice Urgently Needed Novice <novice@example..com> - 2011-11-28 20:13 +0000
        Re: General Consulting Advice Urgently Needed Gene Wirchenko <genew@ocis.net> - 2011-11-28 12:59 -0800
      Re: General Consulting Advice Urgently Needed Roedy Green <see_website@mindprod.com.invalid> - 2011-11-29 14:04 -0800
        Re: General Consulting Advice Urgently Needed Gene Wirchenko <genew@ocis.net> - 2011-11-29 15:07 -0800
    Re: General Consulting Advice Urgently Needed Novice <novice@example..com> - 2011-11-28 19:56 +0000

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