NYCPHP Meetup

[Ben Sgro]

Hello again, 

Ed you make great points ( plus I'm a little jealous ). It appears I was
quite spoiled at my last job. 

Ken, I am discouraged by your examples because they are so true. But its
somewhat comforting to know that I am not alone.

Thank you for your responses. I believe I will try to acquire enough clients
that I no longer need a day job. That would be great.

In the mean time I'll try and make the best of the situation at hand.

- Ben

-----Original Message-----
From: talk-bounces at lists.nyphp.org [mailto:talk-bounces at lists.nyphp.org] On
Behalf Of edward potter
Sent: Thursday, August 17, 2006 10:21 AM
To: NYPHP Talk
Subject: Re: [nycphp-talk] General Q; Programming Jobs & Expectations

Freelance is brutal!  (slightly off-topic)

Projects will ALWAYS take 10X longer then you think, the clients will
NOT pay you for all those extras hours unless you grovel.  Checks may
never appear. Health Insurance is astronomical on your own. And you'll
miss all those cool people you'll meet in the office setting _along
with the stability of a weekly check.

Why am I still a freelancer?

Looks sunny today, I think I'll take a bike ride, catch a movie, a
frosty brew and maybe a game of chess in the park.  I can hit the code
at 5 or 6 PM and work till 2 AM.

Life is kinda of short, isn't it? ENJOY it while you got it!

:-)  ed

On 8/17/06, Mike Hjorleifsson <mikeh at dtev.com> wrote:
>
>
> Present it in a positive way.. they may be receptive. You will run into
this
> more often then not unfortunately
>
>  ________________________________
>  From: talk-bounces at lists.nyphp.org [mailto:talk-bounces at lists.nyphp.org]
On
> Behalf Of Ben Sgro
> Sent: Thursday, August 17, 2006 9:51 AM
> To: talk at lists.nyphp.org
> Subject: [nycphp-talk] General Q; Programming Jobs & Expectations
>
>
>
>
>
> Hello all,
>
>
>
> I've been following the list now for a bit, lots of great discussion.
>
>
>
> I recently moved to NY from NH where I was doing php/mysql/c development
for
> a small start-up.
>
> We had very detailed specs, excellent coding styles (use of includes,
small
> modular procedures and plenty of comments).
>
> Software was engineered first through a specification and given at least
> 'some' thought prior to implementation.
>
>
>
> Now, starting my new job in NY I am at a larger company that is much more
> successful than my last. However,
>
> I am constantly running into files with no comments, spaghetti structure
(or
> non at all) limited includes (large amounts of duplicate code) and NO
specs
> what-so-ever on an extremely large project & database(s) with 100's of
> stored procedures (again with no comments).
>
> This effects my work directly as it takes unnecessarily long to become
> familiar with the code that is spread across multiple files and templates
> with no comments or structure.
>
>
>
> So, my question is: Is it unreasonable of myself to have expectations of
> 'engineered' code or is this (current job) just the way things are.
>
> Is it crazy to think I can change things from the bottom, by writing the
> specs and speaking with the other programmers to reach a consensus on
'best
> practices' and create 'grassroots' support? Should I just 'suck it up' and
> put in my time, then move to another job?
>
>
>
> I've been consulting along with my fulltime work for about 2 years now,
and
> I believe that is what I truly enjoy, being my own boss.
>
> But I do need a paycheck every week, so this is not yet a viable
> alternative.
>
>
>
> Thanks for your time, I am eager to view your responses!
>
>
>
> - Ben
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
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