[AccessD] my situation....

Microsoft went from 95 percent of the desktop market to around 25 percent.
No one's fault, just the reality. The market is just as big (a lot bigger)
than it use to be but it all moved to the web.

Access is still the best tool to boiler-plate a system into place but then
instead of migrating to the desktop you migrate to the web. Not easy by
today's common knowledge and it is just going to take us old-timers a bit of
time to get up to speed...and becoming .Net experts is not necessarily the
route to go.

Those that have got 'up to speed' have been able to demand and get the
incomes that 'us' of the nineties had previously enjoyed.

Your skill sets are far beyond just the implementation and application used
and maybe if it can be deployed into a marketable stand-alone (or even web
based) package?... I think few developers, even now, make money on one-off
products.
 
Jim

-----Original Message-----
From: accessd-bounces at databaseadvisors.com
[mailto:accessd-bounces at databaseadvisors.com] On Behalf Of Mark Simms
Sent: Thursday, February 28, 2013 6:16 PM
To: 'Access Developers discussion and problem solving'
Subject: Re: [AccessD] my situation....

I just want to let everyone know that I've made most of my hard (Very Hard)
earned income by doing Excel VBA
Work over the past 2 years.
I've done complex, multi-workbook, multi-source automation projects that
integrated data from disparate sources.
I built a huge optimization model that was driven by a 3rd party linear
programming optimizer written in C++.
I recently built a supply chain management tool that integrates with a
specialized ERP/CRM application built specifically for chemical
distributors. The tool is a completely menu-driven app written for Excel
2010 and the user never needs to touch one worksheet or one
cell....everything is form or menu-driven. It tells them what-to-buy and
when-to-buy it....a complex optimal order quantity model that is completely
integrated and automated. All they do is push some buttons...and filter the
results. I even created a complex piece of code to remember their filter
settings...a non-trivial task when filters are based on icons or color.

After reviewing the thousands of pages of design notes I developed over the
past 5 years, and then looking at this work relative to the people who were
salaried at the companies I contracted at...
I'd say I did about 5 TIMES the work of any of one those employees....for no
benefits, no healthcare, nothing.
And moreover, it was about 10-20 times the work of any of the managers,
principals or VP's at these organizations.
One manager I encountered....worked for Comcast...and never came to work.
Over the 3 months I worked for him, I saw him 2 times. TWICE in 3 months !!!
And he was paid handsomely with great benefits.

I recently confirmed the desperate nature of this job market in IT
contracting:
A bid for a small 6 month contract at a "nobody" firm had me facing a list
of 84 competitors.
84 !! Again, no bennies, no healthcare.

I think my days in this business are rapidly coming to a close.
Interestingly, I am now bidding on an Access project that likely will be my
last contract.
I just reviewed the app this evening.
It's to do the complex payroll app for a crane operations company that has
union workers...with multiple skills, rates, and locations.

A grisly discovery from reviewing the data: some of these union workers are
making more per hour than I am....plus they get benefits....and they have no
formal college education either.



-- 
AccessD mailing list
AccessD at databaseadvisors.com
http://databaseadvisors.com/mailman/listinfo/accessd
Website: http://www.databaseadvisors.com