4 ms·

Just curious: why do you think people care about geography more than skill?

by dcurtis 17y ago

tptacek 17y ago
I don't know about Sachin, but we like working with locals so we can meet them face to face without paying thousands for travel expenses.
- alabut 17y ago
  To keep the logic going (that Dustin may have been implying) - why meet face-to-face and pay thousands for travel expenses?
  - mediaman 17y ago
    - People prioritize those who they have met in person: it's why in-person meetings are so important in sales. - There's a higher likelihood they share networks, or have the potential to share networks, which provides additional incentive to do a good job. In short, all the reasons that geography still matters in most businesses.
    - tptacek 17y ago
      I was just thinking, so we could share a piece of paper to draw on. But those reasons make sense too.
      - deleted 17y ago
        [deleted]
      - alabut 17y ago
        You can be separated by distance and still easily use paper to quickly iterate through ideas. 37signals themselves do this - they're geographically distributed yet use Sharpies to think through rough interface ideas: http://37signals.com/svn/posts/466-sketching-with-a-sharpie http://37signals.com/svn/posts/466-sketching-with-a-sharpie http://37signals.com/svn/posts/1880-the-different-sketch-styles-of-the-designers-at-37signals http://37signals.com/svn/posts/1880-the-different-sketch-sty... All of my freelance clients in the last few years have been startups in the Bay Area (where I live) so I understand all of those reasons and the benefits of proximity. Hell, I wouldn't have moved up here if I hadn't read Hackers And Painters in 2005 - I wanted to be where the action was. But I've been slowly doing less and less on-site work and have gotten to the point where I don't do much more than weekly meetings and not even that with some clients, so I can't help but realize that I could've technically been anywhere in the world for all intents and purposes. And these aren't low-paying entry level portfolio builders either, it's real paying work with the same challenges as always. So again, are the reasons for working with a local designer more important than overall skill and portfolio?
dirkstoop 17y ago
It's not only about caring more, but also about which filters are offered. Since "near this city" is filter 1 and price range is nr. 2, people are going to pick their city to shorten their options from several hundreds to a couple dozen to make it easier to choose. Not too big of a deal right now, but once there are 10x as many designers on there, this is going to be one of those straws clients will grasp on to, even when geography really isn't that relevant to them.

Just curious: why do you think people care about geography more than skill?

by dcurtis 17y ago

Just curious: why do you think people care about geography more than skill?

I don't know about Sachin, but we like working with locals so we can meet them face to face without paying thousands for travel expenses.

alabut 17y ago
To keep the logic going (that Dustin may have been implying) - why meet face-to-face and pay thousands for travel expenses?
- mediaman 17y ago
  - People prioritize those who they have met in person: it's why in-person meetings are so important in sales. - There's a higher likelihood they share networks, or have the potential to share networks, which provides additional incentive to do a good job. In short, all the reasons that geography still matters in most businesses.
  - tptacek 17y ago
    I was just thinking, so we could share a piece of paper to draw on. But those reasons make sense too.
    - deleted 17y ago
      [deleted]
    - alabut 17y ago
      You can be separated by distance and still easily use paper to quickly iterate through ideas. 37signals themselves do this - they're geographically distributed yet use Sharpies to think through rough interface ideas: http://37signals.com/svn/posts/466-sketching-with-a-sharpie http://37signals.com/svn/posts/466-sketching-with-a-sharpie http://37signals.com/svn/posts/1880-the-different-sketch-styles-of-the-designers-at-37signals http://37signals.com/svn/posts/1880-the-different-sketch-sty... All of my freelance clients in the last few years have been startups in the Bay Area (where I live) so I understand all of those reasons and the benefits of proximity. Hell, I wouldn't have moved up here if I hadn't read Hackers And Painters in 2005 - I wanted to be where the action was. But I've been slowly doing less and less on-site work and have gotten to the point where I don't do much more than weekly meetings and not even that with some clients, so I can't help but realize that I could've technically been anywhere in the world for all intents and purposes. And these aren't low-paying entry level portfolio builders either, it's real paying work with the same challenges as always. So again, are the reasons for working with a local designer more important than overall skill and portfolio?

dirkstoop 17y ago

It's not only about caring more, but also about which filters are offered. Since "near this city" is filter 1 and price range is nr. 2, people are going to pick their city to shorten their options from several hundreds to a couple dozen to make it easier to choose. Not too big of a deal right now, but once there are 10x as many designers on there, this is going to be one of those straws clients will grasp on to, even when geography really isn't that relevant to them.