[AccessD] On DB Bloat, Bad DB Design, and various

Porter, Mark MPorter at acsalaska.com
Fri May 21 17:55:03 CDT 2004


Odd, I charge MORE because I'm fully employed.

> -----Original Message-----
> From: DWUTKA at marlow.com [mailto:DWUTKA at marlow.com]
> Sent: Friday, May 21, 2004 12:12 PM
> To: accessd at databaseadvisors.com
> Subject: RE: [AccessD] On DB Bloat, Bad DB Design, and various
> 
> 
> I noticed that too.  Since I'm employed full time, I charge less for
> contract.  I consider it a trade off, not on my skills, but 
> on my demand of
> time.  I charge less because it's understood I can only work 
> on things at
> night, or on the weekend.
> 
> Drew
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: accessd-bounces at databaseadvisors.com
> [mailto:accessd-bounces at databaseadvisors.com]On Behalf Of Charlotte
> Foust
> Sent: Friday, May 21, 2004 1:50 PM
> To: Access Developers discussion and problem solving
> Subject: RE: [AccessD] On DB Bloat, Bad DB Design, and various
> 
> 
> EXCUSE ME??  *I'm* a doofus programmer who only charges $75 
> per hour ...
> Mainly because I do all my contracting on the side.  I'm 
> fully employed
> as a programmer building commercial applications, so 
> everything else is
> sort of a mad money.
> 
> Charlotte Foust
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Lawhon, Alan C Contractor/Morgan Research
> [mailto:alan.lawhon at us.army.mil] 
> Sent: Friday, May 21, 2004 10:33 AM
> To: Access Developers discussion and problem solving
> Subject: RE: [AccessD] On DB Bloat, Bad DB Design, and various
> 
> 
> On Friday, May 21, 2004 at 11:16 AM, Of Arthur Fuller said (in part),
> 
> <snip>
> 
> Yes, it's money in my pocket -- about which I never complain. 
> (Fuller's
> Second Law: money never arrives at an inopportune moment.) But part of
> me wishes that the client shouldn't have to re-pay for such low-level
> and obvious design decisions. The client got hosed, pure and 
> simple, and
> it angers me that I'm in the same business as the previous developer.
> 
> <snip>
> 
> Arthur:
> 
> Hello from Alan C. Lawhon.  (It's been a while since we last 
> conversed.)
> 
> Part of the problem here, (if there IS a problem), is in the eternal
> desire of a certain type of management automaton to minimize 
> cost.  This
> attitude is best conveyed as: "Writing software is labor.  
> Labor is just
> like any other raw material component in the manufacturing 
> process.  You
> find the cheapest 'labor cost' (per hour) and award the 'work' to that
> supplier."
> 
> There is little appreciation for the fact that highly skilled software
> developers, (like you, William, Jim Lawrence, Charlotte Foust, Rocky
> Smolin, and John Colby), are qualitatively worth ten (or even twenty)
> times the cost of your "average Joe" unskilled programmer.  
> The typical
> "cost conscious" manager will look at your rate, (say 
> $150.00/hour), and
> compare it to some doofus "developer" who only charges 
> $75.00/hour.  (Of
> course, we all know which "doofus" gets the job.)  You get called in
> only after the "cost conscious" manager discovers that his "cheap"
> programmer has actually turned out to be more expensive.  Of 
> course, the
> truth of the matter is that if this cost cutting manager had hired you
> to start with, (and payed your "exorbitant rate"), he would have wound
> up paying less - and getting more - for his money.  However, some
> managers don't see it that way.  They understand the cost of 
> everything
> and the value of nothing.  When such managers (and companies) get
> "hosed", you shouldn't feel bad about it.  They deserve 
> getting hosed -
> because they were so cheap - and stupid!
> 
> I sense that this "cheaper cost" mindset is driving the movement of
> software development jobs to places like India.  I have 
> nothing against
> folks in India.  They have as much right to work hard and try 
> to improve
> themselves as you or I.  However, the belief of some 
> "shareholder value"
> obsessed CEOs that they're "cutting costs" [by moving jobs to 
> India] may
> be shortsighted.  When I hear CEOs of companies like Intel 
> proclaiming,
> "We have to go overseas because there aren't enough skilled software
> developers here in the United States," I suspect that what they really
> mean is that there aren't enough "cheap" software developers 
> here in the
> United States.
> 
> To be totally objective about this, I don't think outsourcing software
> jobs [to India] is a threat to guys like you.  For some reason, work
> always seems to find its way to highly skilled (and talented)
> developers.
> 
> Alan C. Lawhon - (Semi-skilled developer)
> 
> 
> 
>   
> 
>        
> 
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