Lessons in Web Design
I used to design, build and maintain lots of websites - this is not so true any more.
I made the common mistake of taking an interest, which became a hobby, and it becoming (like it had a mind of its own) a business ...
This was never planned, and this is probably the lesson to be learned from ever trying to turn a hobby into a business ... make sure you sit down and work everything out before hand - don't drift into doing work for people just because you can.
I used to have people pass my name to friends, relatives and business partners who would just want 'a small website' to show off their [insert product or service here] - 'nothing fancy' ...
... this invariably lead to dozens of rebuilds ... the 'oh we thought it would look better in purple' scenario ...
...
I once had redesign job with a large law firm - I actually sorted out a contract for this job, but of course, in between 'adding a bit here' ... 'uploading a document there' and sorting out any teething problems, I ended up doing a lot more work than I'd anticipated.
This was then exacerbated by the person who had been named my main contact with the firm, singularly failing to read or act upon any of the tutorials I had spent hours designing and creating for their use.
Unfortunately for this person, they decided to pass their fustration that they didn't actually know how to maintain a website, on to me ... I received a rather curt email asking where she could find a book on the subject ...
... this would have been an acceptable (if rather rude request) had it not been true that the website I had built obviously records who has edited the website and when they had edited it ... she had never logged in ... I replied to her email with this information and she soon after left the company ... although I was offered compensation for the hassle, I decided somebody else could take over...
... this also reminds me, I once had a website developer (who was taking over the maintenance of a website from me) tell me it was ok for me to give him access to my hosting account as he'd been a vicar and a probation officer ... wtf?
Firstly, did I mention that I used to be an astronaut and butler to Prince William (oh no, hang on I just made that up) and secondly, I think you'll find anybody (regardless of their profession or supposed social standing, is just as likely or unlikely to be crooked as the next person) ...
These assumptions by the guy I could have forgiven if he hadn't then gone on to suggest I had access to the clients domain name, when I didn't ... again, I could have forgiven his accusation, if he'd ever apologised when it was obvious that he'd been wrong ... vicar ... hmmm ...
... so, the upshot of my dalliance in the web design arena is that I no longer take on many projects at all and if I do, I'm very very very careful to have all contingencies laid out before I embark on anything, and I always ask for a payment up front ... This does I know, make me sound like a bit of a corporate busybody, but thats unfortunately the way things have to be ...
that all being said, I'm always happy to help out if I have a spare 5 minutes - I've helped a number of people for free (from all over the world) ...
I've added to my Joomla! modules because of requests from users, and I've helped redesign Joomla! templates to accommodate users requests ... I'm working on a Virtuemart problem at this very moment ...
Lessons from attending job interviews
Ok, I don't run a medium to large business, nor an employment agency, and I understand it can't be very easy ... that being said, might benefit these people to consider the following observations ...
