[consulting] Established clients seeking technical training.

[Chris Miller]

All good points.  The crowd seems to be in favor of training, so I'm glad I
posted.  I'd like to defend myself a bit though!

I really enjoy helping out on the d.o forums, IRC, presenting at and
attending camps, attending conferences, evangelizing, etc.  I think I have a
pretty good track record on the forums and IRC.  I've contributed a bit of
code, bug fixes, etc.  I've given dozens of people their first sip of
"Drupal cool aid".  I'm all about giving back to the community when I can.

The heart of this issue for me is...  The first place I point clients and
friends is the Drupal community.  This is where I learned my trade.  I've
pointed said friend at drupal.org, IRC, g.d.o, etc, and friend does not jump
on board with the community aspect.  I don't feel that I can deliver a very
effective "brain dump" in this context...  This is not how I learned, and
this is not the type of work I want to build my business on.

  Chris.

On Tue, Nov 17, 2009 at 11:55 AM, Jerad Bitner <sirkitree at gmail.com> wrote:

> While I can understand your want of job security, if everybody in the
> Drupal community took that stance, we would not have the awesome
> community we have today.
>
> The community takes more of a "Teach a man to fish..." approach,
> rather than, "A plumber wouldn't teach you how to fix the pipes."
>
> In this way, we all become knowledgeable and are able to build on each
> other's knowledge. This is a basic difference in 'Open source mindset'
> vs. 'proprietary'. You said you use Drupal and so are benefitting
> directly form this, so please don't take the opposite approach.
>
> I'm not saying you should teach him if you don't have the interest or
> time, but make that your reason rather then you don't think you
> _should_ teach him. Teaching is a great way to put yourself in the
> 'expert' chair to those you're teaching as well, and this can gain you
> more respect and clients than trying to keep it all to yourself.
>
> I guess I'm encouraging you to teach your friend, and if he really is
> your friend, I don't think you would actually mind doing so. If you're
> just looking to make a buck off of him, well you might want to
> redefine your relationship a bit. That sounds more like a client
> relationship, than friend. Though the two are not inseparable.
>
> Hope that made sense...
>
> On Tue, Nov 17, 2009 at 11:42 AM, Chris Miller
> <chris at trailheadinteractive.com> wrote:
> > Hello all,
> >
> > I have a friend employed by an established and profitable client of 3
> years,
> > that is asking for independent training and instruction on Drupal
> > development.  This friend has a few basic technical skills, and dabbles
> in
> > side projects.  We're using Drupal for several projects at said friend's
> > job.  I've heard the analogy that "A plumber wouldn't teach you how to
> fix
> > the pipes", and I'm looking for a nice way to say that to my friend.  Has
> > anyone else had to deal with this situation?  How did it turn out?
> >
> > Honestly I have no interest in training anyone to independently do the
> work
> > that puts food on my table.  I've thought about just charging 3x my
> normal
> > rate and milking it.  Is that wrong?
> >
> > --
> >  Chris Miller
> >  Trailhead Interactive
> >  http://www.trailheadinteractive.com
> >  406-750-0107
> >
> > _______________________________________________
> > consulting mailing list
> > consulting at drupal.org
> > http://lists.drupal.org/mailman/listinfo/consulting
> >
> >
>
>
>
> --
> ~Jerad Bitner
> CTO ~ Rapid Waters Development
> http://rapidwatersdev.com
> _______________________________________________
> consulting mailing list
> consulting at drupal.org
> http://lists.drupal.org/mailman/listinfo/consulting
>



-- 
 Chris Miller
 Trailhead Interactive
 http://www.trailheadinteractive.com
 406-750-0107
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