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I built this app and want to say first and foremost, thanks for checking it out! I also want to address a few common things I've seen mentioned. > 75¢ a minute
by mcadenhe 6y ago
I built this app and want to say first and foremost, thanks for checking it out! I also want to address a few common things I've seen mentioned.
> 75¢ a minute is not enough
I personally don't think it's too low for a job where there's no interview and the only requirement is > 100 rep on S/O. With a critical mass of question flow, answering questions on Call a Dev would beat working at your local gas station making $11.50 an hour.
The job market is ultra competitive for junior-intermediate devs. And there's not a lot of opportunities for them to make money b/w grinding leetcode, sending out resumes, and competing for contracts on upwork in a race to the bottom.
I made Call a Dev as a place to find a companion to help you while you are struggling with something. They may not know the exact answer to your question, but sometimes two heads are better than one and getting a little perspective from someone else is all you really need.
> 100 S/O rep is too high/low
For todays questions about whether aliens exist, where do babies come from, and why do my balls have sperm in them, it's admittedly too high. But until I get some real data points of people requesting refunds (which you can opt to do just by clicking a button after a call ends) it's seems okay.
> Letting people post anonymously/not having a report button
The first app I ever built on my own was all thanks to Michael Hartl and his rails tutorial from 7 years ago. As soon as I deployed that app I was eager to show him what his free tutorial had enabled me to build so I emailed him and he said, to paraphrase, "Cool. I can't really see it though because it wants me to sign up to use it."
Ever since then, I've been relentless about removing friction. That trade off means that a few troll posts are bound to get through and I'm ok with that. This app is still in the interesting project phase so adding a report button is a nice to have that I can add down the line, but after working on this for 3 months I had to get it out the door.
Appreciate all the feedback.
For anyone curious about the stack its an elixir/phoenix/liveview app.
- jasonkester 6y agoThe job market is ultra competitive for junior-intermediate devs. And there's not a lot of opportunities for them to make money b/w grinding leetcode, sending out resumes, and competing for contracts on upwork in a race to the bottom. I’m not convinced that digging out a new, lower, bottom is the right solution to this issue. If you were truly stuck on a problem at work, wouldn’t you be willing to spend $2 or even $5 per minute to solve it? That could be the difference between your service paying sweatshop wages versus actually providing a viable option for underemployed devs.
- mcadenhe 6y agoThe solution to underemployment is more work. And I wouldn't characterize the opportunity to make > $10 for less than 20 minutes of work from the comfort of your home sweatshop wages.