5 ms·

I am struggling with that: how to market myself as a consultant, knowing that all code sucks?

by Tichy 16y ago

twymer 16y ago
Just remind your clients that your code sucks less than your competitors.
- mgkimsal 16y ago
  Indeed, knowing that things suck and being able to document why they suck, and why your approach is somewhat better is a good skill. It's not all smoke and mirrors - it's providing a somewhat objective assessment of the situation. I provide unit tests and documentation for projects - many others don't. Well... showing that to a client and saying "you're getting this which will help you understand what I'm doing, and help future devs understand what I did" is just good sense. If the client values it, they will pick you over someone else. If they don't value it, they will after they choose the cowboy over you . :)
access_denied 16y ago
This is a strategic decision your clients have to make. So basically it comes down to you wanting a) talking to clients about these issues 'consulting' or b) not talking about these issues. What do you want? Which working env is what your business should be to you? If you are ok with talking about these issues to your clients, you should set it up in a way that let's you charge consulting fees for all the talking. Then you can take your time and educate about code quality and what it means for your clients if they buy bad code. The alternative is of course to work only on projects where you are the only coder A-Z. (Maybe I can write a more helpful text, if you make your question a bit more clearer.)
patio11 16y ago
"I made X several million dollars." Why talk about code?
- Tichy 16y ago
  If I knew how to make X several million dollars, I would probably also now how to make myself several million dollars. I agree that if I had make X several million dollars, it would be a good hook.
  - patio11 16y ago
    So you know my whole shtick is engineering marketing outcomes, right? I'm working for a client right now, doing SEO/conversion optimization/metrics/etc. It is quite reasonable to expect that I will increase their business by 5%. (I quoted a much, much higher number than that.) I could do that for myself, too, no problem. Step #1 to making myself a million doing it: grow a business to where it gets $20 million in sales annual. Step #2: Successful A/B test. Or, alternatively, make $CLIENT a million and get paid handsomely, without the "build a business for a decade" step.
    - Tichy 16y ago
      Good idea, and I'd actually like to get into that area of work. Will study your articles as a starting point :-)
JaredRichardson 16y ago
You know it sucks. Find the right tool set and practices to help your clients improve. You can't fix it overnight, but there's ~so~ much room for improvement in our industry.
barrkel 16y ago
Does anyone know why user access_denied, who has a [dead] sibling comment to this comment, seems to have been "hell banned"? Showdead needs to be set to true to see the comments or profile. http://news.ycombinator.com/submitted?id=access_denied http://news.ycombinator.com/submitted?id=access_denied It disturbs me that, looking over past submissions and comments, there doesn't seem to be any egregiously bad behaviour.

I am struggling with that: how to market myself as a consultant, knowing that all code sucks?

by Tichy 16y ago

I am struggling with that: how to market myself as a consultant, knowing that all code sucks?

twymer 16y ago

Just remind your clients that your code sucks less than your competitors.

mgkimsal 16y ago
Indeed, knowing that things suck and being able to document why they suck, and why your approach is somewhat better is a good skill. It's not all smoke and mirrors - it's providing a somewhat objective assessment of the situation. I provide unit tests and documentation for projects - many others don't. Well... showing that to a client and saying "you're getting this which will help you understand what I'm doing, and help future devs understand what I did" is just good sense. If the client values it, they will pick you over someone else. If they don't value it, they will after they choose the cowboy over you . :)

access_denied 16y ago

This is a strategic decision your clients have to make. So basically it comes down to you wanting a) talking to clients about these issues 'consulting' or b) not talking about these issues. What do you want? Which working env is what your business should be to you? If you are ok with talking about these issues to your clients, you should set it up in a way that let's you charge consulting fees for all the talking. Then you can take your time and educate about code quality and what it means for your clients if they buy bad code. The alternative is of course to work only on projects where you are the only coder A-Z. (Maybe I can write a more helpful text, if you make your question a bit more clearer.)

patio11 16y ago

"I made X several million dollars." Why talk about code?

Tichy 16y ago
If I knew how to make X several million dollars, I would probably also now how to make myself several million dollars. I agree that if I had make X several million dollars, it would be a good hook.
- patio11 16y ago
  So you know my whole shtick is engineering marketing outcomes, right? I'm working for a client right now, doing SEO/conversion optimization/metrics/etc. It is quite reasonable to expect that I will increase their business by 5%. (I quoted a much, much higher number than that.) I could do that for myself, too, no problem. Step #1 to making myself a million doing it: grow a business to where it gets $20 million in sales annual. Step #2: Successful A/B test. Or, alternatively, make $CLIENT a million and get paid handsomely, without the "build a business for a decade" step.
  - Tichy 16y ago
    Good idea, and I'd actually like to get into that area of work. Will study your articles as a starting point :-)

JaredRichardson 16y ago

You know it sucks. Find the right tool set and practices to help your clients improve. You can't fix it overnight, but there's ~so~ much room for improvement in our industry.

barrkel 16y ago

Does anyone know why user access_denied, who has a [dead] sibling comment to this comment, seems to have been "hell banned"? Showdead needs to be set to true to see the comments or profile. http://news.ycombinator.com/submitted?id=access_denied http://news.ycombinator.com/submitted?id=access_denied It disturbs me that, looking over past submissions and comments, there doesn't seem to be any egregiously bad behaviour.