[Phpwm] Web programmer / sysadmin for hire

[Richard Wallman]

On Fri, Sep 10, 2010 at 05:06:45PM +0100, Dan Dart wrote:

> I heard that sensible people charge sensible prices and get picked by
> those who want quality.

That's a really lovely theory, spoilt only by one thing - the real
world.

There is no canonical definition of "quality" - it's a purely
subjective term, which is why even cheap skanky stuff can advertise
itself as "high quality"

For "niche" work, yes, you could probably charge a reasonable rate, on
the basis that you're an expert in your niche, but for general website
building you're a commodity, and as such are subject to the normal
market forces (i.e. cheap imports :D ).

People don't know about code quality, or documentation quality, or
design quality - they'll pick the company that has the right balance
between a flashy portfolio and a cheap price. They don't know, and don't
care, that the next time they need some work done the devs are going to
spend hours facepalming and posting code snippets for others to laugh
it. It's a commodity - it works, and if it doesn't, you throw it away
and buy another cheap one.

-- 
Richard Wallman
Birmingham Open Source Solutions Ltd (#7222230)
http://www.bossolutions.co.uk