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The Prosperous Software Consultant (2018)

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Re: The Prosperous Software Consultant (2018)

#51

Post by swinnipeg »

kasey_junk wrote: post #49
tptacek wrote: post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Clients expect the work they plan to get done. They don't care about the hours you spend unless you demand they care about it, by running an hourly meter.

One thing I’ve always been curious about is why law firms so aggressively meter. Wouldn’t most arguments you’d apply to software consultants apply to them as well?

Not all do.

For example a defense Attorney defending a DUI charge will likely be a flat fee. They will also charge according to what it is worth to you.

e.g. If you were Palo Alto's most successful real estate agent, and were at risk of losing your drivers license, you will be charged accordingly when you show up at the doorstep of a prominent defense Attorney.

Re: The Prosperous Software Consultant (2018)

#52

Post by jcadam »

I'm going gray and have been thinking about going the freelance/consultant route. Problem: Getting started without having to go to freelance sites and charge considerably less than what I can get as a FTE.

I make a very comfortable salary these days, but I worry about only having a single income stream.

Re: The Prosperous Software Consultant (2018)

#53

Post by LAC-Tech »

bruce343434 wrote: post #12
fsloth wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Everything does not need to be made part of culture wars. Why would using she be any different than he? It's like Alice and Bob of oh so many quantum thought experiments but without Bob. If there is only one protagonist you have to go 50/50.

Off topic question for you: I'm an ESL speaker and I notice a trend where some people phrase it like "Everything does not need" But in my head it sounds better as "Not everything needs" Is the latter not acceptable English? Or is it something regional? In my language, it is customary to negate individual nouns, but some English speakers seem to only ever negate the verb.

For me the difference is in emphasis, if I read it out loud

"Everything does not need" emphasises everything.

"Not everything needs" emphases not.

It's subtle, and probably subconscious, but it has an effect.

Re: The Prosperous Software Consultant (2018)

#54

Post by LAC-Tech »

jsjsbdkj wrote: post #37
InitialLastName wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"They" has been an acceptable third-person non-determinate singular pronoun since at least the Canterbury Tales: "And whoso fyndeth hym out of swich blame, They wol come up..." That your English teachers were misinformed prescriptivists isn't the language's fault, and shouldn't be used as a ruler by which you measure the writing of others.

They're from idaho based on the username, so they haven't caught up to chaucer yet...

This is true. I notice that practically all Californians I meet have a deep knowledge of Middle English and have studied Chaucer extensively. They even pronounce 'Chaucer' correctly, which is very rare globally.

Comments like this are why I love Hacker News.

Re: The Prosperous Software Consultant (2018)

#55

Post by papandada »

jcadam wrote: post #52

I'm going gray and have been thinking about going the freelance/consultant route. Problem: Getting started without having to go to freelance sites and charge considerably less than what I can get as a FTE. I make a very comfortable salary these days, but I worry about only having a single income stream.

Freelance sites means competing on price (I know, not really, but pretty much). LinkedIn has worked great for recruiters bringing contracts to me, along with keeping in touch with other contractors and them sharing work with me. This might depend on your location, industry, and area of expertise. But it's kept me humming since I went independent in 2015.

Re: The Prosperous Software Consultant (2018)

#56

Post by LAC-Tech »

I know these are just examples, but the article keeps mentioning specialising in progressive web apps.

As a user I want to use PWAs.

As a developer I prefer to program PWAs.

But as a contractor, nobody wants them. Everyone is happy to use react native and spend hours/days debugging their build each time they do a minor upgrade to XCode.

I could advertise myself as a PWA specialist. But I've yet to see evidence that anyone would care.

Re: The Prosperous Software Consultant (2018)

#57

Post by neurotrace »

throwawayboise wrote: post #26
julianeon wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> If 'he' isn't (for some reason) acceptable as a gender-neutral pronoun, wouldn't 'they' be a better fit? There are people, today, who will fault you for not using 'he' or 'she', since client is singular and 'he' & 'she' (unlike 'they') is too.

I'm one of them. Grew up with "they" as strictly plural. Had enough red ink on school essays that the lesson sank in. Every time I see "they" in a singular context it's like mentally stubbing my toe on a tree root. I have to stop, go back and re-read to be sure I didn't miss something that set up the plural context. If you insist on being gender-neutral, you have to write "he or she" which quicky gets tiresome. Or re…

Someone may say that "he" is gender-neutral but it's not in practice

Re: The Prosperous Software Consultant (2018)

#58

Post by Silhouette »

bruce343434 wrote: post #12
fsloth wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Everything does not need to be made part of culture wars. Why would using she be any different than he? It's like Alice and Bob of oh so many quantum thought experiments but without Bob. If there is only one protagonist you have to go 50/50.

Off topic question for you: I'm an ESL speaker and I notice a trend where some people phrase it like "Everything does not need" But in my head it sounds better as "Not everything needs" Is the latter not acceptable English? Or is it something regional? In my language, it is customary to negate individual nouns, but some English speakers seem to only ever negate the verb.

Logically, the two constructions have different meanings. The first is equivalent to "nothing needs", so it excludes the possibility of some but not all things needing, while the second includes that possibility.

However, some people use the first incorrectly when they really mean the second. This happens often enough that you could argue the incorrect usage has now become idiomatic as well.

Re: The Prosperous Software Consultant (2018)

#59

Post by rukuu001 »

zerr wrote: post #46
tptacek wrote: post #39

This is a pretty good post. I've also done pretty well consulting. Some quick notes. First: $210k/yr is not necessarily really good money for a US software consultant. When consulting full time, please try to keep two things in mind: (1) Your cost basis is higher than it was when you were a W2 FTE. If you're making $100k/yr in salary, your employer is paying substantially more than $100k/yr to keep you on staff; you…

> day rate Didn't the clients expect holy 8 hours in this case? Another class of freelancers/consultants which are missed out from this discussion (hourly rate vs other): long-term/indefinite flex-time workers. No estimations or promises, just pay-as-you-go for several years or more. With the hourly rate, in this setup, one can work 5 hours one week, 0 hours second week, 35 another week... So a kind of very flexible…

>Didn't the clients expect holy 8 hours in this case?

It's your day, not theirs. Accounting for number of hours spent in a day on client work is just getting back to hourly charging.

Re: The Prosperous Software Consultant (2018)

#60

Post by kapilgorve »

LAC-Tech wrote: post #56

I know these are just examples, but the article keeps mentioning specialising in progressive web apps. As a user I want to use PWAs. As a developer I prefer to program PWAs. But as a contractor, nobody wants them. Everyone is happy to use react native and spend hours/days debugging their build each time they do a minor upgrade to XCode. I could advertise myself as a PWA specialist. But I've yet to see evidence that a…

That's the thing. You are supposed to specialize in market demand skills. You could be God mode engineer in computer hardware design. But it seems there is not enough traction there right now.
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