Entries tagged “work”

One lesson I keep learning is get out as soon as you can if you’re in a sub-optimal situation.

So I’m out a large chunk of change, spent endless (un-billed) hours going back and forth with my client and I have very little to show for and I have a client who’s disappointed with my work. Boo.

Well I learned quite a few lessons in consulting in all of this and being a subcontractor.

Get out early

If a project isn’t going the way you think it should, or you foresee something not being a good relationship. Get out early. Get out before you start.

For me I felt like I was leaving a client hanging - even though I felt like I was getting a raw deal, even though I knew their expectations weren’t being met. I figured we both put effort into this and I might as well see it through.

I persisted with this, even after there were situations where it no longer made sense to continue. I persisted. I stuck to it, even during a conversion of our part of our house into a rental and managing a daunting move across country and negotiations for full time employment at Yahoo! I decided to put my nose to the grind and stick through it.

While life changes alone weren’t a reason to abandon a project, it was clear from other goings on that I should have not persisted. The client could have subcontracted quite easily to a number of other firms, and we could have just cut our losses. In the end we both had losses and nobody wins.

Meanwhile I got out or rejected a lot of projects simply because I saw similar patterns emerging, or that it wasn’t going to be a good communicative fit. I am glad to not have that extra baggage on my shoulder.

Don’t sell yourself short

I had a negotiated rate with this client that was less than what I normally charge. I never raised my rates even when many of my clients were paying a significant amount more.

I had… for whatever reason had worse relationships with people who paid a lower hourly rate. I know their is a psychology of value that people perceive with higher rates. You’ll treat a $20 pair of jeans like crap, and complain about them wearing out, but a $80 pair of jeans that you wear on special occasions you’ll treat like gold.

After raising my rates, I realize now that I do better work when I’m compensated for it. I feel better about the work I do. The clients don’t waste my time (paid or otherwise). The communication is also dead-clear. Nobody risks miscommunication when the stakes are high.

It’s hard to do because you want to be able to help people and be accessible, but in the long run this works for the best. The clients I do have now really appreciate me, and really respect my expertise.

Work on interesting projects or short projects or both

I decided a lot of development is tedious. Build this module, make this crud, create this form, etc. Some development is fun and interesting and engaging.

Engaging work is hard to come by, generally people who approach me about large projects have some grandiose vision which I don’t necessarily share, or think will pan out.

It’s a bad idea to get involved with those projects, because money alone can’t motivate you.

If the project spans more than a few months and its not engaging… it will be a drag. You might out of guilt pass up better opportunities and be stuck in a bad situation. Let someone who is motivated by a project work on it, and go move on to better things.

Estimate well and get it down in writing

I can trace the beginnings of failure with this project from before I started it. I was asked to give an estimate on the project and I ball-parked it. The estimate wasn’t supposed to be committal, but it ended up being construed as such.

Estimates define expectations and even if they are ballpark figures they aren’t always flexible.

Large projects are hard to estimate. It helps to have a detailed specification, sketches, etc, but really the onus is on you to make sure you can create a detailed estimate. There’s two schools of thought on estimates. One is that they can never be accurate. The other is that they can be done and take a lot of work more than the actual development in some cases.

I believed in the former, but everyone wants the latter. Strive for the latter and pad numbers if you have to. If you over-estimate you get free money. If you under-estimate… someone ends up paying more than they expected or working more than they expected.

A detailed outline of every step and every check off point should be made. This is where large projects get broken down. You may want to just agree to work on one module at a time, rather than the whole thing.

If you’re not willing to do the estimate, or if it’s not coming out right, you can ask your client to come up with the check points and you can use that as a starting point. Either way, the school of “estimates don’t work” isn’t going to cut it.

Follow the money

I was being subcontracted. For how much, I did not know. But I had this feeling that it wasn’t for enough money. I used to resent working for companies, or being subcontracted, because I felt they were making a mint off me. But I now no if the margins are too tight, you run into a lot of other problems. Large margins can afford yo to go over an estimate. They can also allow you to increase your rate over time.

It also removes guilt. There is a lot of guilt that is to be had for charging clients for work. I myself wouldn’t pay a developer to develop my own hair-brained idea, unless I had some source of funding. Make sure you know that one exists, and then you won’t feel bad charging a decent price.

Don’t count your chickens before they hatch

I ended up bringing in a contractor to help me finish up the site. I thought it would work, but my margins were nil. I ended up not getting paid my last invoice, and I had to pay my contractor out of pocket. It wasn’t really pocket change either. I was so sure that we were going to see the project through and that my client who had a reputation of paying me on time fell through. It will take me months to recover from it.

Closure

I paid up my contractor, and had to write this all off to a life-lesson. Even before this ended I learned to take smaller or at least more interesting projects. I learned to not compromise as much on my rates. I also keep better tabs on the money. I want to help people develop web sites, not deal with headaches, long nights, chasing down clients for money.

Katie and I are “officially” moving to California. A lot of people have been asking questions about this, so I’ll try to create a FAQ:

Why are you moving?

Short answer:

I got a job at Yahoo!/Delicious

Long answer:

I work on the symfony project a framework that makes building quality web sites easier. I will be contributing to this project in a way that is beneficial to Yahoo!. Furthermore, Katie and I are looking for an adventure. Moving out of our home in Minneapolis and into a new part of the country will be a big adjustment for us.

Where in California are you moving?

We are moving to the San Francisco Bay area. We will find a place when we arrive. We will likely be in Mountain View or if we can find some place affordable, the City of San Francisco.

When are you moving?

We are moving in early November. I start my job in mid-November.

That's really soon?

Yes! I know!

What will you do with your house?

We own a duplex, we'll rent out the half we live in. We're also finishing up our attic as I type. Initially our good friends Marc and Sadie will live here.

What about your cats?

We are not sure. They will eventually join us in California, but we are not sure if they will come with us right away in November, or later.

You're going to have a going away party?

Of course, just email me

What about your car/bikes?

Car is being shipped to CA. We bike a lot and intend to do so in California, so we'll be moving our bikes as well.

Are you excited?

Yes.

What is Katie going to do?

We will be getting an apartment that has a pool. I can only imagine she will spend her days making daiquiris sitting by the pool.

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The Taj Mahal was vandalized yesterday. [ the Dawn Group ][ Rediff India ].

I've been watching this slow pattern of visible anti-Muslim rhetoric spewed by the BJP/RSS/VHP (unholy trinity that acts in the name of Hindusim). It's out of hand, and if India wants to stay a true republic for all people Muslim and Hindu alike, it will need to change the climate.

India is on the verge of turning into a racist state that abuses its religious and racial minorities like Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Pakistan, Afghanistan and Israel. Right now its in the hands of a signle party, the BJP.

The BJP has remarkable similarities to the National Socialist party of 1930s Germany. Given the chance they'd remove any remnants of the Islamic period of India - including the 14% Muslim population.

I'm being harsh and extreme, but it is deserved. This is not the Gandhiesque Indians, these are not the open minded Hindus, these are extremists who defile Hinduism by claiming all Islam and foreign cultures as an enemy to it.

This offends me to no end as an Indian American. The Taj Mahal is one of the greatest monuments of India. The wonderful intermixing of Hindus and Muslims is a beauty. I strive to understand Islam and relate it to the teachings my family has passed onto me. It is remarkably similar. If only the extremists would realize this.

They cannot blame Islam for the terror in Kashmir. True - many Islamic groups have committed acts of terror in Kashmir - but we as Indians must accept our acts of terror, our occupation in India. The moral high ground will always win.

My "stand in" logo, until I actually work on my crescent moon, is in the top left corner ('be like water'). It was quite an adventure to learn that IE for windows (any version) does not support PNG propperly.

Wednesday we went to Valleyfair again with our kids. That was okay. Molly and I rode the Wild Thing three times and got a picture. It's "cute." We also went on the Hydroblaster twice. Thursday we didn't do too much. One of our kids, Priya, got in trouble. That was funny. Friday was the open house, and I think that went pretty well.

I went to see the Mask of Zorro with Nick Skinner and Molly. It was a neat movie. Fun for all ages. Today I am going to invade a small town. I'll be more detailed later.

Yesterday I went Rollerblading with the kids. It was my first time. I am not very good at Rollerblading, but would like to get better. I am thinking of buying some blades and then practicing in my garage until I can navigate normally. Then I'll use them as a means of transportation. Or, I could not do that and walk. Some of the kids tried to help me. That was nice of them. I pitted Marc's kids against Marc.

Today, however, at Valleyfair Marc's kids were turned against me. Well some of them. I didn't care that much. We went on a lot of rides and had a moderate ammount of fun. I have no idea about tomorrow's trip to Valley Fair.

Tom's web page is really funny. Like you find out about all the games Tom plays.

The group of kids we have for SEI II are great. They are all smart and in class they are well behaved. The girls get obnoxious during break time. Actually not all the girls. One girl is really cool and lots of people mistake her as a TA (unless they mistake Molly and I as students). She's into nanotechnology, genetics, quantum physics. Very cool kid. We'll certainly miss these kids. Marc's kids aren't that great.

Thursday we went to an orchestra concert at Orchestra Hall. We took my cousin with us too, it was pretty neat. The concert had two good pieces at the beginning. The rest I didn't like because it was all opera-like. Adam, Molly, my cousin and I later went shopping at Rainbow. Molly went home and Adam, my cousin and I had icecream sandwhiches (Kempswich).

I talked to my cousin for a while. I won't see her for at least three years since she'll be in Germany with her family. It's wierd. I think she's looking forward to it.

Friday (yesterday) at the Northrup Turnaround where we pick up our kids there were huge trucks and busses. It was of course Tori Amos and her stuff. We didn't see her, but we did see her stuff. Marc and I asked around the trucks whose stuff was whose and well we were pretty much right. I offered my kids $20 if they could bring Tori Amos to class. They failed, but I don't blame them.

Later that day Molly and I ate with Raj, Kelly and Adam. Then Molly and I went to DanAmy and we went to see the Wedding Singer. The second time around made me "get" everything. Everything made sense now that I remembered it was the eighties that the story takes place. Once again. I recommend this "Romantic Comedy." It is funnier than hell.

Today I woke up at 5, left home at about 6 and went canoeing after Paul Heinecke (and another boat went after Laureen Ojalvo) while they swam 5 miles in Lake Minnetonka. Paul didn't make it all the way. Laureen of course did, she got second place for her age group. I think she rules! Paul almost made it, but for a person who had very little sleep, did a lot of work the day before, and has not swum in supposedly 17 months... wow... that was awesome. I realize that I may enjoy canoeing when there is less weight and people on the boat. Less chance of things going bad I guess. It was nice after I finished canoeing. This was my second time going. I went before with school that was cool too. I think I should go again except with fewer people in the boat (four gets crowded).

Went to Tanya Zhu's house for her Graduation Party. Most of the people were tired from canoeing or swimming or Smashing Pumpkins the night before or a mix. Now I'm tired.

I Sunday I went to the Wave Pool with Adam, Laureen, Kit, Jenwa, Kerry and Ben Schack. It was a lot of fun, albeit the $6 admission + $2/2hour increments for the tubes was a little much.

Afterwards we (well all of us besides Kit) went to Good Earth. Unfortunately I went with Molly and her parents to the Good Earth in the Galleria on Saturday. It was fun none the less. We had a nice waitress and gave her a large tip and a children's menu that was all colored.

The whole day was very very fun. It was one of those days that made summer and friends seem enjoyable.

This week Molly and I work at the ITCEP/UMTYMP office. Doing inventory and stuff. It's pretty dull, but it is a nice environment. I found a few files from the Summer Institute I attended. That was cool. Today Katie came over to email people about something at Orchestra Hall featuring women composers on Thursday 16 July.

Hopefully I'll finish most of the Thank You cards tonight. Yesterday I asked my mom about the cards I had trouble with. Tomorrow I'm going to a wedding and Thursday morning I will for my first time fly to California. I come back Sunday and leave again on Monday for UIUC.

Here's what we've been up to this week:

Molly and I are working at the IT Center for Educational Programs. We are TAing for the PRIME summer program. This is by far the best job (between working for my Dad, and PNBD) ever. Although it is very frustrating being in charge of 18 sixth or seventh grade boys especially when the other TA, Molly, is dealing with seven docile girls. It's been very fun anyway. Tomorrow I hope it's hot, so I can swim. Although T-storms have been forcasted.

I was supposed to help people at Innovative Research work on their web site, but they have no money. So I will be doing far less web work this summer. This is unfortunate, because I make a lot of money that way. I did how ever recieve a payment from Nutrition Dynamics.

I've almost finished the Foundation Series. I have one final book to complete: Forward the Foundation. Yishan says it is the best in the series. After this book, I'll take a break from Sci-Fi and may delve into Tolkien, or Science.