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One of the best sayings I've heard is that you don't charge for the time it takes you to do something, you charge for all the time it took you to learn how to d

One of the best sayings I've heard is that you don't charge for the time it takes you to do something, you charge for all the time it took you to learn how to do it. University isn't free, time spent learning as a junior (probably at another company) isn't free, and programming isn't something anyone can do well. The only real measure should be the result.

pantulis 5y ago
This is a classic 1958 spanish film. 30 glorious seconds. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q-w7JCTOpwU https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q-w7JCTOpwU "Do I owe you something?" "That's 100 pesetas". "100 pesetas just for tightening a screw?" "No, that's free. It's 100 pesetas for knowing which screw needed to be tightened".
- mc32 5y ago
  I think that’s a riff in Steinmetz’s bill[1] to the Ford Motor company for fixing a generator. “ According to Scott, Steinmetz listened to the generator and scribbled computations on the notepad … Then he told Ford’s skeptical engineers to remove a plate at the mark and replace sixteen windings from the field coil. They did, and the generator performed to perfection. Henry Ford was thrilled until he got an invoice from General Electric in the amount of $10,000. Ford acknowledged Steinmetz’s success but balked at the figure. He asked for an itemized bill. Steinmetz, Scott wrote, responded personally to Ford’s request with the following: Making chalk mark on generator $1. Knowing where to make mark $9,999. Ford paid the bill.” [1] https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/charles-proteus-steinmetz-the-wizard-of-schenectady-51912022/ https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/charles-proteus-stein...
  - dtech 5y ago
    This story/joke is so old and I've heard it in so many contexts that I doubt it really happened.
    - mc32 5y ago
      This story probably happened —maybe not exactly as told here; however, the framework of someone making something ordinary valuable through precise application of knowledge is likely older than Steinmetz.
easton_s 5y ago
I've made the analogy many times to various managers, "A tracheotomy is a small incision, the difficult part is where to make it." I leave out that since I built Frankenstein's monster I may be the only one that knows where to do it :)

pantulis 5y ago

This is a classic 1958 spanish film. 30 glorious seconds. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q-w7JCTOpwU https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q-w7JCTOpwU "Do I owe you something?" "That's 100 pesetas". "100 pesetas just for tightening a screw?" "No, that's free. It's 100 pesetas for knowing which screw needed to be tightened".

mc32 5y ago
I think that’s a riff in Steinmetz’s bill[1] to the Ford Motor company for fixing a generator. “ According to Scott, Steinmetz listened to the generator and scribbled computations on the notepad … Then he told Ford’s skeptical engineers to remove a plate at the mark and replace sixteen windings from the field coil. They did, and the generator performed to perfection. Henry Ford was thrilled until he got an invoice from General Electric in the amount of $10,000. Ford acknowledged Steinmetz’s success but balked at the figure. He asked for an itemized bill. Steinmetz, Scott wrote, responded personally to Ford’s request with the following: Making chalk mark on generator $1. Knowing where to make mark $9,999. Ford paid the bill.” [1] https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/charles-proteus-steinmetz-the-wizard-of-schenectady-51912022/ https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/charles-proteus-stein...
- dtech 5y ago
  This story/joke is so old and I've heard it in so many contexts that I doubt it really happened.
  - mc32 5y ago
    This story probably happened —maybe not exactly as told here; however, the framework of someone making something ordinary valuable through precise application of knowledge is likely older than Steinmetz.

easton_s 5y ago

I've made the analogy many times to various managers, "A tracheotomy is a small incision, the difficult part is where to make it." I leave out that since I built Frankenstein's monster I may be the only one that knows where to do it :)