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> Our other (kinda founder) who has been with us since the beginning does the back-end programming, without him it would've been hard. We are paying him about $

> Our other (kinda founder) who has been with us since the beginning does the back-end programming, without him it would've been hard. We are paying him about $25/hr below his market pay, but he went to college with me so he is helping with discount. The backend shouldn't be more than about 150 hours of true programming (not including research time). > > Here is the situation. The programmer is a dick. He has a house and baby so we try to cut slack, but he keeps on missing deadlines. He has almost no communication skills when we want to meet and work, he doesn't show passion like a founder. I count six red flags. You're paying below market rate; your programmer is a college friend who probably agreed to take the job as a favor; you've given a time estimate which is probably wrong; you excluded "research time" from the time estimate when you clearly shouldn't have; and you show obvious disrespect and no gratitude. And you wonder why you aren't getting his best work?

coffee 15y ago
Couldn't agree more. I think the two founders just have no clue. Good on them for sharing the details though, they probably have a genuine desire to understand why they are failing.
richardjortega 15y ago
Why assume my time estimate is wrong? I asked him for the estimate of hours. He doesn't include "research" time, I told him I'd pay for that time - he doesn't think it should be counted. In previous projects we've worked on, he has always underbilled we wanted to make sure that didn't happen this time. I managed our frontend dev team and I personally estimated their hours (since I've managed software teams before) and got only 10-20 hours over. I disrespect him because he started disrespecting me. Why assume the non-tech founder is always the bad guy? One email for instance - "We have our life savings in this. This one feature update has taken over three weeks, please give us an ETA. Can another developer assist?" Answer: "Guilt doesn't work... I won't be able to see this until Friday. Sure another dev can take a whack at it, I'll add him to repo" (Email sent last Tuesday).
- coffee 15y ago
  "I disrespect him because he started disrespecting me." That is very immature. "Why assume the non-tech founder is always the bad guy?" Because in most cases this is true. And when you write a post titled "My programmer is a dick..." what do you think people are going to assume? You demonstrate a lack of maturity and understanding of how to successfully engage with others. You came here asking for advice, don't be so defensive.
  - richardjortega 15y ago
    I debated responding to you. But I will, because I'm trying to truly resolve this situation with my dev. I don't know the first thing about you and I won't assume. I'm asking for comments on what to do next. Sorry if I called a "person" a dick, and sorry if that person happened to be a fellow "programmer". Would you have replied to this post had I posted "I'm having difficulty with my programmer meeting deadlines"
    - deleted 15y ago
      [deleted]
      - richardjortega 15y ago
        Were you trolling? :) - I like you coffee. Isn't the assumption that I have a marketing background an assumption too? My background is web development (mostly frontend), not application development. I don't think you gave harsh criticism - hell I think we might make good friends. You don't know me and I don't know you - I tried to sum up a year's worth of work into 3 paragraphs because I want the next step (with or without our current dev). I'm not here to argue, I'm not trying to feel sorry for myself. I'm here to talk amongst other founders and programmers in other startups. Have you ever had a "My boss is a dick..." and chatted with like minded individuals? Everyone has, I came here almost just to vent. I know the options but I also know the risks, but just maybe, I don't know everything... ;)
        15y ago

coffee 15y ago

Couldn't agree more. I think the two founders just have no clue. Good on them for sharing the details though, they probably have a genuine desire to understand why they are failing.

richardjortega 15y ago

Why assume my time estimate is wrong? I asked him for the estimate of hours. He doesn't include "research" time, I told him I'd pay for that time - he doesn't think it should be counted. In previous projects we've worked on, he has always underbilled we wanted to make sure that didn't happen this time. I managed our frontend dev team and I personally estimated their hours (since I've managed software teams before) and got only 10-20 hours over. I disrespect him because he started disrespecting me. Why assume the non-tech founder is always the bad guy? One email for instance - "We have our life savings in this. This one feature update has taken over three weeks, please give us an ETA. Can another developer assist?" Answer: "Guilt doesn't work... I won't be able to see this until Friday. Sure another dev can take a whack at it, I'll add him to repo" (Email sent last Tuesday).

coffee 15y ago
"I disrespect him because he started disrespecting me." That is very immature. "Why assume the non-tech founder is always the bad guy?" Because in most cases this is true. And when you write a post titled "My programmer is a dick..." what do you think people are going to assume? You demonstrate a lack of maturity and understanding of how to successfully engage with others. You came here asking for advice, don't be so defensive.
- richardjortega 15y ago
  I debated responding to you. But I will, because I'm trying to truly resolve this situation with my dev. I don't know the first thing about you and I won't assume. I'm asking for comments on what to do next. Sorry if I called a "person" a dick, and sorry if that person happened to be a fellow "programmer". Would you have replied to this post had I posted "I'm having difficulty with my programmer meeting deadlines"
  - deleted 15y ago
    [deleted]
    - richardjortega 15y ago
      Were you trolling? :) - I like you coffee. Isn't the assumption that I have a marketing background an assumption too? My background is web development (mostly frontend), not application development. I don't think you gave harsh criticism - hell I think we might make good friends. You don't know me and I don't know you - I tried to sum up a year's worth of work into 3 paragraphs because I want the next step (with or without our current dev). I'm not here to argue, I'm not trying to feel sorry for myself. I'm here to talk amongst other founders and programmers in other startups. Have you ever had a "My boss is a dick..." and chatted with like minded individuals? Everyone has, I came here almost just to vent. I know the options but I also know the risks, but just maybe, I don't know everything... ;)
      - 15y ago