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Landed a contract to develop a SAAS system. Quoted 4 months to delivery. About a month in I realized I had made a terrible mistake and would likely need 6+ mont

Landed a contract to develop a SAAS system. Quoted 4 months to delivery. About a month in I realized I had made a terrible mistake and would likely need 6+ months. But I had already been paid 50%. I just started working 18 hour days for the next 4 months (I ended up delivering 1 month late). The code was not great but it worked and still works with no issues 3 years later. I get a nice check from it every month but try to not look at the code base because it is horrifying. I learned a ton though during that time. Fear is a wonderful motivator.

imjared 10y ago
> Fear is a wonderful motivator. I'm convinced this is part of what drives home so many "oops" lessons for me and helps me figure out what I can do to mitigate them in the future. For example, I learned the value of caching when we launched a client's site on a nationally televised show. We didn't have caching and when tens of thousands people hit it after the show's host mentioned it, it went down. Just as we got it back up, the show aired in central time. Boom. And That was a bad day but I will always remember the value of not just writing code and delivering a website, but trying to understand how it will be used and in what capacity. And caching. Always caching.
- Vinnl 10y ago
  Luckily caching is not one of the two most difficult things in computer science :)
jetti 10y ago
>Fear is a wonderful motivator. For me, deadlines are a motivator. I'm a horrible procrastinator but I do my best work right before a deadline
yawz 10y ago
> Fear is a wonderful motivator :) Experience is the bag of s*#t that we carry with us. There's no teacher like dealing with real issues. And if you survive them you're stronger.
afarrell 10y ago
> Fear is a wonderful motivator Depends on the person. I find that getting good sleep, vigorous exercise, and a clear direction works much better for me.

imjared 10y ago

> Fear is a wonderful motivator. I'm convinced this is part of what drives home so many "oops" lessons for me and helps me figure out what I can do to mitigate them in the future. For example, I learned the value of caching when we launched a client's site on a nationally televised show. We didn't have caching and when tens of thousands people hit it after the show's host mentioned it, it went down. Just as we got it back up, the show aired in central time. Boom. And That was a bad day but I will always remember the value of not just writing code and delivering a website, but trying to understand how it will be used and in what capacity. And caching. Always caching.

Vinnl 10y ago
Luckily caching is not one of the two most difficult things in computer science :)

jetti 10y ago

>Fear is a wonderful motivator. For me, deadlines are a motivator. I'm a horrible procrastinator but I do my best work right before a deadline

yawz 10y ago

> Fear is a wonderful motivator :) Experience is the bag of s*#t that we carry with us. There's no teacher like dealing with real issues. And if you survive them you're stronger.

afarrell 10y ago

> Fear is a wonderful motivator Depends on the person. I find that getting good sleep, vigorous exercise, and a clear direction works much better for me.