[consulting] oDesk

[Steven Scotten]

On May 5, 2009, at 10:34 AM, Chris Johnson wrote:

>> Oh, but I forgot, contractors are different from employees. It's OK  
>> for them
>> to over-inflate their experience and bill me for time spent  
>> learning what
>> they said they already knew how to do....
>
> No worse than people in your segment of the supply chain, Matt.  The
> sarcasm and nastiness is really out of place here.  Plenty of
> "consultants" like yourself are guilty of over-inflating their
> experience and skills, and billing for time spent not doing productive
> work.  Poor work and business ethics are not limited to any one
> segment of the marketplace.


I've been following this thread with interest. I'm amused and a little  
disturbed at the idea that it is wrong for someone—especially a  
technology worker—to bill for time doing research.

I have never been paid to do something I knew how to do before I  
started. Never. And I doubt that anyone with any self-respect has  
either. If you ask how to do something and I know the answer, I'll  
tell you, for free. If I don't, I can find out or figure it out. THAT  
is what I get paid for.

The least productive time I ever spend is when I'm writing code. If I  
spend twelve hours straight writing code, it's usually because my  
first ten ideas failed and I had to go try different iterations of an  
idea I wrongly thought should work. Then I give up, go home, go to  
sleep, and wake up with the answer. If I were truly "honest" I would  
be billing for the time I spent sleeping, not the totally unproductive  
time I spent coding, because that is when the problemsolving actually  
happened.

I've never been the kind of guy that could churn out lines of code as  
though I were breathing. But then, my most productive days are ones  
where the number of lines of code decreased, not the ones where they  
increased.

If you put oDesk on me, you'd probably think I was being productive  
when I was not and think I was being unproductive when I was not. If  
you don't think the fruits of my labor are useful, I'll gladly take  
them back and refund your money. But once you've done that, don't  
think you can use what I've done for you for free or ever call upon my  
services again.

If you don't trust me, you should work with someone you do trust. If  
you can't figure that simple idea out, I don't want your money.


Steve

PS not "you", Chris... the hypothetical client