Hey, this is the Daily Overpass! My name is Eric and I make apps!
Now today, I want to talk about how you should never let anyone
belittle you as a software developer.
Alright, every so often, I will turn down a client project not
because I can't do it or I don't have the time, or it's too difficult or
anything like that. Sometimes, I'll turn down a client project
because I don't like the prospective client that pitches it to me. It
doesn't happen that often because I've seemed to be - because I'm pretty
open-minded about these kind of things. But every so often, you'll get someone
who just rubs you the wrong way. And I have this a couple of weeks ago.
I was trying to put my finger on why I didn't want to do this project. It
was how I was quoting for it and I was like as I was going through it and
really, I don't really like this. And then I started thinking about it wasn't
so much the project itself because it was an interesting project, it was the
person who pitched it to me and everything was - they used a lot of
language that like I just need to knock up that - "Eric, if you just knock up this
forum here, knock up this, just slap this together..." And it was using things like
that. I just didn't like the idea of - I didn't like the way that the language
they were using was belittling my profession as a software developer.
And it's not new. I mean, I've faced this kind of stuff through my whole career,
working at investment banks, working in large corporations. There's some people
who really admire what you do and there's other people who see it as you
know you're a resource. And every so often I'll get that you're a resource
person and then I just sort of turn it down. The worst kind of people
are people who are a little bit more technical than others. So like maybe they
know how to put an access, Microsoft Access form together, or a SharePoint
form or they could do something in some WYSWYG editor or some app
builder. They assume that because they could do all that with so little
knowledge that you should be able to do it, and ten times the speed or
it should cost a lot less than everything like that. You get into
that kind of thing, you start thinking, "Yeah, you know what, I'd really don't
want to do it." I did that. I just urned down this project.
"This is not something that I want to work on, but but thanks very much for
bringing it to me." And they were like, "What? Why is it? Why is it?" I was
trying to think of a good reason but I cannot say it's like "You, man, you just
rubbed me the wrong way. You see, you strike me as a high-maintenance client."
And you know, if you've ever had one, you know what I'm talking about.
Where it's just everything is - everything is an ordeal and everything you do is
like they could have done it better. If they - if they'd just done it.
The reason I'm making this video is because I'm sure there's a lot of you,
guys, out there who's experienced this too, especially junior developers. I
want to tell you, guys, never let anyone belittle what you do. See, the thing is
think about software development in my opinion is that anybody can do it. I
honestly believe that anybody if they took the time and they (laughs) all the late
night hours and sat there and racked their brains, and made all the mistakes
and spend all the countless hours. You know, thinking about things in the shower
like, why isn't that code not working and and you just going through all the
pain that we go through. They could do it but they don't. Which is fine. Which is
why they hire us. And that's why they appreciate what we do. But every so
often, if you get someone who doesn't appreciate what you do and they treat
you that way, you know, screw them. And that's one of
the nice things about having your own company, is that you don't have to take
it on those projects that you don't want. And you don't really have to give a very
good reason. It was like and yeah my reason I didn't say, "You know, what
it's just you and I don't sit well with - because I'm still at
the heart of it." It's still very polite but it was just - I'm just saying, you know
what, this is not something I really want to do. The technology just
doesn't sit right with me. I think you know there's other developers out there.
I think you would find someone. And really, it was just - it was just that - it
was that those few conversations where I thought this guy doesn't think what I do
is important. This guy doesn't see the value in what I do. So, if he doesn't see
the value then, there's no reason selling it to them. So anyway, let me know what
you, guys, say. Have you ever had experiences like this? If you work in a
corporate environment depending on how many different places you've worked odds
are, you've had somebody you work with who's been like this? Where it's just
been, you know, that you're just a tool. You're just a resource. You're just like -
you're like a hammer or something like that. Then there's gonna be other
people who really admire what you do and they wish they could do it too.
Those are the people you want to work with. Anyway, those are my thoughts for
today. What do you, guys, think? Have you been in that kind of situation? That
is it for today! I will talk to you, guys, again tomorrow!