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For the quiz builder, I think brainbench is commonly used for this - creating good exams is a difficult problem. I personally think contributions to existing o

by keefe 17y ago

For the quiz builder, I think brainbench is commonly used for this - creating good exams is a difficult problem. I personally think contributions to existing open source is the best idea for small projects. imho most apps that are started from scratch require a while to get really useful.

percept 17y ago
Thanks, that's a good point. The idea was for groups with custom questionnaires, such as smaller companies, but I was concerned that canned tests wouldn't be offered and it's possible that potential users would prefer to have them. What I'd really like to do is create a couple of small but useful apps that at worst could be used as portfolio pieces, as I need to find some freelance work and most of my recent work is walled up inside organizations (another reason I never want to have to return to the enterprise world as a FTE).
- keefe 17y ago
  Yeah, I am in a similar position. Are you working on any application of your own? I am, so most of my effort goes towards that. I am interested in the questionairre idea as well and in fact I have a polling piece of code I am working up for my portfolio right now. I just keep the portfolio stuff separate from my main work - I don't want to address issues like scalability, security, cost of servers on something that I primarily want to use as a portfolio piece. I'm contemplating something open source as a better example than some pseudo-open portfolio piece that I just use to demonstrate some basic techniques.
  - percept 17y ago
    Sounds familiar. I've been working on an app for a couple of months but am putting it on hold because my blog posts and tweets haven't generated any preliminary interest, AdWords rates in the category are too high and the development life cycle for the product is too long. Meanwhile I need to start bringing in some income so I'm hoping to find consulting work. So I'll be thinking about some more ideas (quickly, because there's not much time). Depending on the platform Heroku's Blossom plan might be a good hosting option for a portfolio app.
    - keefe 17y ago
      I don't think anybody has much interest in random people talking about software that hasn't been written yet. I barely keep up with sites that are already up and I'm pretty interested in the space... Where are you looking for the contracting work? elance/odesk/etc?
      - percept 17y ago
        Have you used those successfully? I got a good client off Guru in 2000 but that was a long time ago and I think I just got lucky.
        keefe 17y ago
        Nope, but others have recommended them to me. I haven't even signed up yet - I was just curious because I will likely have to look for that kind of work sometime relatively soon.

by keefe 17y ago

percept 17y ago

Thanks, that's a good point. The idea was for groups with custom questionnaires, such as smaller companies, but I was concerned that canned tests wouldn't be offered and it's possible that potential users would prefer to have them. What I'd really like to do is create a couple of small but useful apps that at worst could be used as portfolio pieces, as I need to find some freelance work and most of my recent work is walled up inside organizations (another reason I never want to have to return to the enterprise world as a FTE).

keefe 17y ago
Yeah, I am in a similar position. Are you working on any application of your own? I am, so most of my effort goes towards that. I am interested in the questionairre idea as well and in fact I have a polling piece of code I am working up for my portfolio right now. I just keep the portfolio stuff separate from my main work - I don't want to address issues like scalability, security, cost of servers on something that I primarily want to use as a portfolio piece. I'm contemplating something open source as a better example than some pseudo-open portfolio piece that I just use to demonstrate some basic techniques.
- percept 17y ago
  Sounds familiar. I've been working on an app for a couple of months but am putting it on hold because my blog posts and tweets haven't generated any preliminary interest, AdWords rates in the category are too high and the development life cycle for the product is too long. Meanwhile I need to start bringing in some income so I'm hoping to find consulting work. So I'll be thinking about some more ideas (quickly, because there's not much time). Depending on the platform Heroku's Blossom plan might be a good hosting option for a portfolio app.
  - keefe 17y ago
    I don't think anybody has much interest in random people talking about software that hasn't been written yet. I barely keep up with sites that are already up and I'm pretty interested in the space... Where are you looking for the contracting work? elance/odesk/etc?
    - percept 17y ago
      Have you used those successfully? I got a good client off Guru in 2000 but that was a long time ago and I think I just got lucky.
      - keefe 17y ago
        Nope, but others have recommended them to me. I haven't even signed up yet - I was just curious because I will likely have to look for that kind of work sometime relatively soon.