long long semi-rant about why this keeps happening ( was RE: [thelist] My company got ripped off)

[Joel D Canfield]

Brian's rant of the day.
> <snippage />
> How is it, that we struggle to make 1-2k on a full corprate website
> free-lancing...  and yet, firms like this score 10k on a RE-DESIGN?
And
> half-ass it at that.
> 

I like the old definition of expert: a guy from out of town, with a
briefcase.

Goes back to the old scriptural proverb that 'a prophet is not unhonored
except in his home town.'

I worked for a guy who wouldn't let me do *anything* with my
computer/web/database knowledge. He outsourced everything to people who
came to me for advice on how to do it.

When I left, he called me and offered me $10,000 to finish the website
the outsourced company never finished (side story, but in fact, they
took $10,000 from him and a few dozen others, then disappeared.)

The site never went live due to his bankruptcy, but I made more fiddling
with his stuff while he decided what he wanted than I made at my real
job for about six months.

Most of the time, our own employers, unless we were hired to a web dev
position, see it as our 'hobby' no matter how much we earn at it, or how
good we are. If only we could convince them that we're professionals,
they might give us more credence when we tell them, 'Hey, I could build
the company website; I could do that redesign.' Here's the rub: there
are no generally recognized certifying documents for a web designer.
Heck, there aren't even any generally recognized titles for web
designers.

You can't go to your boss and say, "I'm a Certified Operator of Random
Kilobytes, so I can do a better job on the website than someone who
*isn't* a CORK." Yes, we all know that certification means you know how
to take a test; it's real world experience which shows whether or not
you can actually *do* the job. I prefer both; get the cert, know the
job, but many employers, faced with a choice, will do some CYA
calculations and hire the person with the cert.

When this internet thing gets out of infancy and becomes a teenager in
the world of commerce, we'll hopefully have gradations of certification
of some sort which will show clearly that, f'rinstance, while I've been
doing web design for nearly 10 years, I'm not nearly as qualified as
some folks I know who've been doing it for three, and they *deserve*
better pay or whatever.

Until then, we need to educate people. Brian, you've got a great
opportunity to educate someone there at the office. Create an informal
but *professional* explanation of what's wrong with the site - and then
drop it.

As technicians, there is a frequent tendency to put human relations and
professional etiquette on the back burner (if it even makes it to the
stove.) Sure, maybe you (some of the posters to this and other lists)
wouldn't make these same comments to the person directly - but you
posted them, in this case, to the largest web dev discussion list on the
planet. Now go try to educate a reluctant employer with your sarcasm,
condescension, and and disdain recorded here in public. Think you'll get
two words out?

Business professionals know that there's *always* someone watching,
someone listening. If we want to educate the folks with the money and
power to give some of it to us instead of the person down the street,
we'd darn well better behave like professionals in *every* professional
venue, and keep our personal rancor and disdain (which is often *well*
deserved) for more private moments.

Lest anyone misunderstand, I'm not commenting on any of the posts to
this thread, or to any posts to thelist at all. It's my own personal
rant about how many, many technically amazing people shoot themselves
(and all of geekdom) in the foot by disdaining or even temporarily
eschewing personal and professional etiquette. 

joel the web guy