Tag Archives: people

Thoughts

There's hope after all for independent web developers

Three weeks ago, I wrote a post describing my thoughts on the web development industry, and things looked pretty bleak. I did promise a brighter outlook in a short while, and this post is the fulfillment of that promise.

So, what can we do to ensure that we’ll continue to have jobs? Well, we can do any of the following, and these are loose thoughts, in no particular order:

  • Develop our skills even further, and become more specialized in the new and cutting edge technologies, that aren’t yet offered by the “masses”. Make a living from that, although we’ll live in constant stress, always re-learning, always jumping on the next “hot” technology.
  • Form networks of peers, and work together on projects while maintaining our cherished independence. I’m not talking about cheesy networking, I’m talking about finding people who are really good at doing certain separate things, and sticking together in teams, then bidding for projects and sharing the revenues.
  • Who says we can’t lead? We can form our own companies, and hire specialized developers for the projects we have contracts to do. But that would mean we wouldn’t be by ourselves anymore, and I for one like being by myself.
  • If you can’t beat them, join them. We can seek employment with the larger companies that will gobble up the market, or are already doing so. Or, we can seek employment with already established brick and mortar companies that need web developers as they realize more and more of their technologies will need to move from the desktop to the web.
  • Develop free or low cost turn-key solutions, and hope we make enough money from donations or from the sales volume to sustain our efforts and allow us to make a living.
  • Develop systems that fill specific needs, and support those systems. Sell them to niche industries. Question is, how do you gain credibility as a one-man team when companies are looking for long-term solutions where support can be provided indefinitely? If you’re gone, what happens to the system? Those are real questions that demand good answers.
  • Move offshore and do our work from there. I would imagine there’s an offshore market for Americans who understand American business and the Americans as a people.

Furthermore, we can differentiate ourselves on service, on approachability, on geographical closeness, on people-to-people relationships, through networks, because of no language barriers, through innovation, truthfulness, and trustworthiness. Those are all very, very real and tangible assets that we can develop and possess, to our most definite advantage.

I think nowadays, by far the biggest differentiator is innovation. Just look at the slew of Web 2.0 companies that have sprung up, and they’re all getting funding! It’s shocking, even to me. But while innovation opens doors, good work, reliability and good customer service keep people coming through those doors. And the great thing is that while not all web developers are innovators, all web developers can and should strive to do good work, create reliable products, and provide good customer service.

You may think I’m being dismissive, but it’s true, and I speak from personal experience when I say this. Treat your clients well, make good products, and they’ll keep coming back. Not only that, but they’ll recommend you to others. You want to know something? I have never gotten a client solely through my website. It’s shocking to say that about a web development business, but it’s true. My clients may have used my site to research me and to read more about my services, but I get clients after personal meetings with them. And they usually find out about me not from my website, but from my previous or existing clients. Or, they’ll have interacted with me in a completely different setting, like my community or my church, where my occupation didn’t matter that much, they liked what they saw in me, then contacted me for work-related purposes. That’s important to remember!

Another important aspect is trustworthiness, and I can’t emphasize this enough. You’ve got to be credible. Your clients need to be able to trust you. My clients trust me with their SSNs and credit card numbers and passwords to various accounts. I don’t ask them for that information, they give it to me and ask me to help them conduct transactions related to the projects we’re working on. It goes without saying that I do my best to delete that information from my mind and computer, because I don’t need to know it beyond the project itself, but if that’s not trust, I don’t know what is. And that’s the sort of relationship you need to establish with your client. When they trust you like that, you know they’re going to stick with you. And if you continue to be honest and hold to your promises, that relationship will only strengthen.

So it turns out that the secret to a good career as a web developer is no secret at all. It’s simply good business, and that’s a relief! Here’s to our collective entrepreneurial success!

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Thoughts

A doctor's view on "free lunches" and politicians

The following open letter from Dr. Sanford Siegel, President of the Chesapeake Urology Associates, to Rep. Henry Waxman (R-CA), was pointed out to me this morning. I asked Dr. Siegel’s permission to post it in its entirety on ComeAcross, and he agreed. I’m struck by how true this letter rings. My father is a doctor. He works hard, seven days a week. He wakes up at 5 in the morning and usually works till 10 or 11 at night. Whatever “free lunches” he gets when he goes to get CMEs (Continuing Medical Education) or to attend conferences and seminars in order to become a better doctor are well deserved. On the other hand, I’m not so sure how well deserved the salaries of our politicians really are, considering their work ethic, isolation from public sentiment, and openness to lobbyists. But then again, the tactic of distracting the public has been employed by politicians for ages, so this should be no surprise. Read Dr. Siegel’s letter, it’s an eye opener!

Dear Mr. Representative,

On Saturday July 29, 2006, there was an article on the front page of The Baltimore Sun entitled “Medical Salesmen Prescribe Lunches.” This article describes how the pharmaceutical representatives use free lunches to gain access to Doctors. In this article, you are quoted to say, “It’s obvious that drug companies provide these free lunches so their sales reps can get the Doctor’s ear and influence the prescribing practice. That’s not the way it should be done. Physicians should get their information from peer review and objective sources.” I am a physician, and we do get our information from peer reviewed journals and continuous medical education meetings. We are required to have 50 hours a year of continuing medical education. The reps simply supply valuable prescribing information about the use of the
drugs and their benefits.

Instead of insinuating impropriety on the part of Doctors and Pharmaceutical reps, maybe you should look into how your Congress functions. You are a member of the most abusive Congress in history. You are a member of Congress that will only work 76 days this entire year. That is the lowest number of days in history. They call this Congress, affectionately, the “Tuesday to Thursday Club,” as the Representatives come to work on Tuesday and leave Thursday afternoon. The lowest salary paid to a Congressman is $165,200/year. If you think I am misinformed, please refer to the ABC news report done on Saturday July 29th. They did the piece on, “Are we getting our monies worth?” Obviously, we are not.

The average salary for a Pediatrician is less than $100,000/year. They work 7-days-a- week, 48 to 50 weeks a year. They have not had a pay raise in 15 years. When was your last pay raise? We get “free” lunches from these Pharma Reps so we can learn about new drugs, their benefit to our patients, and where they will be harmful. Most of us will take 10-15 minutes a day for lunch, and most days we do not get lunch. We cannot see them during office time. Our days start at 7-8 in the morning and don’t end like other people’s work days. When we finish office hours, we go to the Hospital to see patients, and it does not end there, either. We then can go home and make phone calls to patients for an hour. We do this every day, 5-6 days a week. That is a far cry from your 76 days a year.

Your quote makes reference to the influence they have on us to use their drugs. Are you so naive to believe that a turkey wrap or a piece of dried out chicken parmesan will make us use a drug which we do not feel will be beneficial to our patients? Why is it legal for the airlines to give frequent flier miles for inducement to people to use that airline or for the restaurants who provide these Doctor lunches to have “frequent buyer” programs where “each dollar spent earns points that can be exchanged for movie tickets, gift certificates to Home Depot or Nordstrom or an ‘executive spa treatment,'” for the Reps who buy them? Should I believe that the junkets to Scotland for your colleagues to play golf, the lavish dinners they throw for members of Congress, the free airplane tickets or Super Bowl tickets, etc., do not influence you and your votes? Are you getting your information from, as you said, those “objective sources, the highly paid lobbyist?” How can you be so self-righteous? I am so insulted by your comments.

Like most Congressmen, Doctors are honest, hard-working people and dedicated to the people they serve. We do not abuse or take advantage of the system. Tell me what you would do without us? There may be a few bad apples, but the medical care in the United States is second to none. Is it made worse by these lunches? We have been hammered with 40% to 50% cuts in our reimbursement over the last 15 years. The Doctors share of the health care pie has shrunk from 30% to 8%. Overhead continues to soar. Healthcare insurance rates to my employees rose 24% this July. Two weeks later, I got a letter telling me this same company was reducing our reimbursement by 21%.

Dr. McGuire, the CEO of United Healthcare, was paid 1.6 BILLION (yes Billion) dollars last year. You must know that because CALPERS was so incensed they have filed a grievance with United Healthcare. Have you looked at them? Don’t you think that is just a tad more egregious than chicken parmesan?

This article has stirred a fire in me. I am angry that people of such influence, such as you, could attack us for something like lunches. There are so many important issues to address. Fix health care for the poor; bring peace to Afghanistan, Iraq, and the Middle East. Do something meaningful about these problems, and the historically low approval rating (26%) for this Congress may improve.

If you’d like to contact me to discuss this matter further, I can be reached at ssiegel585 [at] gmail.com or 410-581-1600.

Very Sincerely,

Sanford Siegel
President, Chesapeake Urology Associates

cc. Members of the 109th Congress
The Baltimore Sun
The Baltimore Examiner
Baltimore Business Journal
Washington Post
Washington Times
The New York Times

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Reviews

The Insider (1999)

The Insider (1999), is a thrilling, suspense-filled movie depicting the events that surrounded the 60 Minutes Interview with Dr. Jeffrey Wigand, a former tobacco executive. He was the first to give public testimony that the addictive properties of nicotine were well known, and manipulated, inside tobacco companies.

I saw it last night, and it was my first time seeing it. All of the actors in it were really good. I understand that the movie fictionalized some of the events that took place, for dramatic effect, but the general gist of what went on is certainly portrayed.

This is a wonderful movie to watch, because it portrays one man’s struggle with his conscience. Should he do the right thing, and risk losing his job? Then, should he continue to do the right thing, and risk losing everything, including his family, and possibly incur jail time? Those were tough times for Dr. Wigand, and because he chose to do the right thing, people are much more aware of the negative health effects of nicotine. The backhanded tactics used by tobacco companies are now common knowledge, and consumers are safer because of it. Millions of people can probably thank him for motivating them to stop smoking, and this movie played no small part in that.

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Thoughts

Michael J. Fox campaigns for stem cell research

Michael J. Fox appeared in some TV ads recently, to support stem cell research for Parkinson’s disease. The ads showed him moving uncontrollably, due to Parkinson’s. They were candid, and truthful. I’ve always liked Michael as an actor, and I thought he’s been a real gentleman throughout his ordeal with Parkinson’s. I agree with him, and with the ads. Stem cell research should be allowed, because it holds the potential for so many cures. So I was shocked to hear that Rush Limbaugh — although it shouldn’t be a surprise that he’s callous and inconsiderate — accused Michael of faking it in the ads. I love Michael’s response, which shows, again, how much of a gentleman he is:

“The notion that you could calculate for effect … People out there with Parkinson’s are going, would that we could.”

If I had been in his place, I wouldn’t have minced my words — and perhaps, that’s why I’m not in his place. Bravo to you, Michael! Keep up the fantastic work you’re doing, and I do hope they find a cure for Parkinson’s soon!

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Events

Happy 300 millionth, USA!

We turned 300 million today (people, that is) here in the grand old (or young, depending on your point of view) US of A. Yay!

Lots of us to go around, all of us immigrants (although some would think otherwise). We love big, open spaces, big cars, big houses, big meals and given our experiences when we go shopping, big clothes as well. (Is is so hard to make pants in a 30 waist?) We have it so well in this country, that we forget how badly others have it. As a matter of fact, we’re so busy doing so well (or trying to, anyway) that often we lose sight of what’s important (our loved ones, family, friends) in the pursuit of the American dream.

The opportunities in this country are amazing — like nothing else in the world — and that’s what’s caused us to get to 300 million. People are drawn to this country from all corners of the world, and after they get here, they multiply like rabbits — you know people, 2.2 children is the American way…

We’ve got some of the most polarized politics in the world. Everything is made into a political issue, and if possible, drawn to the national level, where Democrats fight against the Republicans over some minuscule thing while the important things, like our national debt, education, crimes of all sorts, infrastructure improvements, energy consumption, conservation of our environment, pollution prevention and serious medical research don’t get the attention they deserve.

The world wouldn’t be the same without the United States. Some say we meddle, and some say we help. I say we’ve lately been mostly meddling and sticking our noses in someone else’s pots — we’ve gotten into serious debt for it, too, not to mention we’ve made more enemies. Ah, but it wouldn’t be the US of A if they didn’t try to police the world, wouldn’t it? I guess you take the good with the bad if you live in this country, and you try to speak out against the bad.

So there you have it. A country like no other, and we’re 300 million strong! God bless America!

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