[thelist] Design/Development Goes Third World?

errr.... i am starving in Mexico and do web development..

sheesh....



-----Original Message-----
From: Palyne Gaenir [mailto:palyne@sciencehorizon.com]
Sent: Tuesday, May 30, 2000 12:56 PM
To: thelist@lists.evolt.org
Subject: Re: [thelist] Design/Development Goes Third World?


One more note (hope all my previous tips helped) that Ben's post made 
me think of.

When I worked for a Fortune50 corporation doing web devel, I went in 
at 8am, took two 15 minute breaks and a 30 minute lunch, and went 
home at 5:30pm.  Holidays off.  Somebody else signed my paycheck and 
I didn't have to worry about that.  Intranet experts in databasing 
and hardware and server OS's took care of all the hard stuff.  
Editors worked with clients to get me nice content.  Proofreaders 
viewed everything done.  Graphic artists (I mean REAL artists, like 
who draw by hand as well as computer) were available if I needed 
them; CAD, CATIA and other engineering-level graphics which could 
also be movies; Director programmers who did advanced multimedia work 
were there if I needed something along those lines; tons and tons of 
clip-art type stuff for graphics.  A massive research library was 
available for the asking, anything my little heart desired.  Also had 
a G-3 that rocked, 21" monitor, nice quiet, comfy working space.

I made web pages, graphic design, architecture and navigation.  HTML, 
DHTML, javascript; GoLive; BBEdit; Photoshop/illustrator. 40 hours a 
week.  Wow.  What a life.

(Note: Of course, like all big web groups, the clients paid a fortune 
for it. I once did a (personal) project year prior that I charged 
about 4K for, around 1996.  The client called whatever web firm does 
Starbucks and asked them to look at the site and quote it.  They 
quoted $60K minimum and that was WITHOUT certain functions.  The 
client never argued my quotes again.  And from that point on I raised 
my prices some. ;-))

The company I worked for was union, though my team was outside their 
specs.  Working in that environment and seeing what being union 
actually did to the work, to the people, was literally nauseating.  
How to bring in communism and kill human spirit. Every day without 
fail some truly amazing, asinine, expensive, ridiculous, nonsensical 
thing would become apparent or come about due to the stupid 
circumstances that being union put on the people in it and those 
working with it.  I mean even my boss, who actually WAS union and 
supported it (feeling he made more money thanks to it), admitted 
constantly that it was the most poisonous thing to happen to good 
business practice, made no sense, supported the worst habits and 
killed the spirits of the best people.

I now consider unions an unfortunate disease.  I cannot get far 
enough away from them.  I would close any company I owned before I 
would let it go union.  To me this isn't a business issue, it's a 
political issue that becomes a human spirit issue -- a fundamental 
level concept that is more than a small matter.

Now as an independent web developer, I work all the time.  Days.  
Often nights.  Sometimes weekends.  Now and then a holiday.  Not 
every waking hour -- but a lot of 'em.  I do a helluva lot of work on 
my own time, either just to learn something, or to help some cause I 
admire to have something on the web.  I have no resources beyond the 
pricey books I have to pay for and the internet's options.  I have no 
help beyond other developers I can find to answer Q&A, or someone I'd 
have to pay $60/hr to ask questions of.  I'm chronically in a fix 
because I *need* to know a lot of server/db issues that I don't yet, 
and don't have time to learn on top of 1001 other things.  My income 
varies, sometimes good, sometimes not, some depends on the time I 
have to spend that's my own time, some on the 'bulk' payments I tend 
to get instead of the weekly income.  It's harder, longer, and less 
secure.

I wouldn't trade it for the world.

I used to say that if I was starving in Mexico, you would find me 
cleaning houses for the rich in Los Angeles.  You do what you need to 
do to survive.  If I were a person in India with a decent education 
and computer, I'd be teaching myself web development.  I cannot 
resent anybody for doing what I myself would do.

PJ

<promises>More tips coming as soon as I finish the project I'm 
learning new stuff for...</promises>
--------
Palyne Gaenir
ScienceHorizon Web Media
http://www.sciencehorizon.com
palyne@sciencehorizon.com
Toll-Free 877-316-0763

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