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"But I may do the same project for $100k which allows a company to reduce its internal helpdesk needs from, say, 25 people down to 5 people, saving $400k per ye
by edanm 14y ago
"But I may do the same project for $100k which allows a company to reduce its internal helpdesk needs from, say, 25 people down to 5 people, saving $400k per year. That should generally be a no-brainer too."
Here's the problem I have as a manger. Answer me these questions:
1. How do I know your software will actually allow me to replace 20 people?
2. How do I know the project will succeed, i.e. actually finish in a usable state?
3. How do I know the project will be on-time or on-budget?
Historically, software projects fail all three of these questions rather regularly. And most people who have any kind of dealing with software know this, so they know that it may end up costing them $200,000 to replace old software with buggy new software which doesn't do everything the old software did, requires training new people, and maybe doesn't even reduce costs.
That's what the parent meant - software projects are not as predictable as accounting. They also tend to take much, much longer and cost much more before you see whether they worked or not.
- rayiner 14y agoTo be fair, part of this is because companies consistently cheap out on programmers in a way they don't with accountants. I've worked with some tremendously good software consultancies that can really turn out product, but they charge exorbitent rates, just like PWC, etc.
- edanm 14y agoWhich I think is the point we're making here. Programmer should be paid more, and one of the ways to be paid more is to be more consistent in quality and price. But it's very hard for a potential client to gauge how good someone is. As opposed to accountants, who you can tell are good by school, company they work/worked for, etc. With programmers, at least today, you really don't have anything near that level of credibility - at most, you can work with firms that have a proven track record, but like you said, they cost a lot more in the long run.
- mgkimsal 14y agoHow do you know accountant X won't fiddle the books and land you in hot water? How do you know all the deductions are kosher. Even well-meaning financial people have conflicting views on what's allowed and not allowed. When talking about hiring an accountant or firm, it's still a crap shoot until you have a relationship and track record with them.
- edanm 14y agoLess so. With accountants/lawyers, you can usually tell someone is at least decent by school/company they work for/companies they worked for. There's also a lot of government intervention to make sure they act legally - I'm pretty sure that most countries force CPAs and lawyers to have a minimum level of credibility (studying, passing tests, etc.) This makes it easier to make sure the majority of the population makes at least decent decisions.