[thelist] show of hands...

John Corry webshot at members.evolt.org
Thu May 9 20:54:01 CDT 2002


> On Thursday, May 9, 2002, at 08:25  pm, Ben Henick wrote:
>
> > Why build a skillset this broad?
> >
> > Because there's no way in hell that a lot of clients are
> going to hire
> > some huge team when they just need a single node of contact
> for their
> > customer base, which is measured in tens of thousands or perhaps
> > single thousands.
> >
> > If you specialize, you don't get that business.
>
> However, if you do specialise, you stand a *way* better
> chance of getting subcontracting work and/or getting onto
> *really* big gigs with daily rates you'll love.

That sounds great...but I think it kind of depends on where you are too.

I live in a community of about 100,000 (Maui, HI, USA). I have
relationships with my clients that keep many of them coming back again
and again, many of these relationships formed purely because I am a
member of the community here.

There arent' any '*really* big gigs' here'. There's a supercomputer the
air force uses for tracking space junk, but they don't need web
programmers...just ubergeek C++ programmers with 'top secret' clearance.

Here's the website for the biggest, most expensive hotel on the island
(with tourism accommodations being the single largest industry here,
this site represents the online presence of the community's preeminent
business entity) http://www.grandwailea.com. Now, this is a pleasant
site and all...but it is by no means so complex (visually, technically
or from an IA standpoint) that one person could not manage complete
responsibility for it. Hell, I'm one person and if I got this account
I'd have this site looking/working *way* better than *this*!

I guess if I were like, one of the baddest ass php guys (or graphic
designers, or flash people, or javascripters, or cold fusion pros, or
SQL server admins) around I could stay freelancing remotely at a high
hourly rate...I dunno. Seems like theres a glut of talent out there, why
hire remotely when there's all kinds of people available locally?

Just my $.02,
jpc




More information about the thelist mailing list