Re: Free Software Development, Money, and the Hacking Experience

[gregor42]

Here's my $1/50:

I am a Computer Professional. I have held many positions from bench-tech all the way through CTO of a dot.com company. Currently I am a Consultant. (Sometimes referred to as the programmer equivalent of a Lawyer...ack!)

I LOVE open source software and I LOVE the GNU license.

Why!??? Simple, it gives me the ability to deliver highly sophisticated solutions to my clients WITHOUT OVERHEAD COSTS. Like ORACLE licenses and OS upgrade nightmares, etc...

I charge an hourly wage. Yes, the concept of such may be ludicrous to programmers... I read it somewhere that after all is said & done programmers, on the average, write 7-8 LINES of code a day.... (That they KEEP, when the project is complete..Don't flame me over this, it's not my statistic, it's IBM's, but I tend to believe it.)

Here's the TRUTH, as I see it anyway:

In THIS situation, money behooves me to take my time & Do The Job Properly. Which is how I WANT to work (Don't you?)

But Business Pressures (i.e. nagging clients & their accountants) attempt to force me to cut corners to Save Money.

So, by taking this approach, we create a win-win scenario. Usually I get my way & do a good job & get called back. That's what a reputation is about. When I'm not doing things 'correctly' I whine about it to the client. Sometimes they succumb & sometimes they call me back later & say "I know you're going to say 'I told you so', but could you please fix it now?"

There's no rule saying that because you're a programmer you can't be a smart businessman. Or at least act like a professional.

Wait! This isn't a Parachute, this is a Backpack!