johnjlocke

That was my thought, too. You can always build a portfolio piece, or construct a case study by having a side project (a good example is Ryan Stewart with LacesOut.com).

Hopefully there is a contract in place for this project. See what your lawyer says. There probably isn't a family emergency, he's just broke.

Thanks for verbalizing this. There are a slew of talented developers in the Valley, all of whom can do the technical work. The paid audition is a chance for both the hiring company and the candidate to make sure their values are aligned.

The sports analogy is partially correct, but college prospects in all the major sports have to go to the talent recruiters before they are signed. (NBA tryouts, NFL Combine, etc.)

The process of applying for a new job while you still have a current job will take time, no matter what the process looks like. The hiring company will want a series of interviews, and either a whiteboard, pair program, or code audition. A small project would perhaps take a little more time than these other methods, but should not take take that much longer, provided the hiring company has put some thought into what small projects they are giving to you to audition. If they pay you for your time, that is also respectful.

If you are happy with your current job, then there is no need to apply to a different job, so this scenario would never come up for you.

What if the hiring company culled the list down to a set number of candidates and gave them all paid contract work, on something they needed done anyway, as an audition?

This gives both the applicant and the company a chance to see how working together might go. The company gets something on their to-do list done, and the candidate gets paid for their time.

The advice so far is very sound; I will add this as well. In the future, work with a contract, and never work without one again. This first thing to do in future projects is define the scope and make sure that both you and the client are in agreeance on what will be delivered and when for how much.

For this project, the blame is entirely on yourself. That is not meant to be harsh. No contract, you were not clear on what you were doing but took the job and did not set expectations correctly. This is a learning experience - communicate where you are with the project to the client on a regular basis from now on.

Giving vague feedback to disqualified candidates may be necessary to cover lawsuits against the hiring company, but does nothing to make the would-be candidates grow or improve.

I don't do it because I want money, success, or fame. I do it because I deeply want to make a meaningful impact on the world. I don't want to stop working.

Rick, you need to be really careful what you wish for, because you might just get it.

Perhaps this article was brilliant content marketing for Moleskine notebooks. That seemed to be the hero of the article, not the author.

This point cannot be stressed enough. If you hide stuff from your spouse about money, you're going down a real bad road. If your life at home is shaky, there is no way you are going to be able to lift a business successfully. The two cannot be siloed off from one another.

That philosophy is also in The Richest Man in Babylon and every single book written on finances ever. If you can't pay yourself first, you will never save anything.

Moving to the Bay Area could potentially add $100K to OP bottom line, but it's not about what you make, it's about what you keep.

Consulting has no long term value only if your goal is to build a 100% product based revenue stream.

Finally...a rational statement about what is really going on. I do think Facebook will survive, as infrastructure for the internet, but the history of all social networks says they have a time limit before they are replaced by something cooler. Right now, there is nothing better, so no one is jumping ship en masse.

The anger has nothing to do with "nerdiness". It's economic. Since tech is the one job sector that is not suffering, wouldn't it be nice for some of them to volunteer something to help the community? Seeing as they have some to spare and others have very little?

And where do you suggest that all the other residents of San Francisco move? The street?

Rattling off excuses for why "that will never work" and not even attempting will not solve anything either. Funny how design is all about problem solving until it forces people out of their comfort zone and challenges them to meet people who are not like them.

Isn't Network Solutions the company that got caught buying up domains that users would search for, if they didn't buy them immediately? Thereby forcing users to backorder domains at an increased cost? This post does not surprise me. GoDaddy isn't close to this bad.

Depends on the skill and expereince level. An engineer would be a high level developer, for instance. I think the connotation of coder is a little bit negative for anyone with skill level.

LESS and Sass compile to CSS.

So developers actually have to know quite a bit of Photoshop in order to translate designs into authentic representations of a mockup.

I do a lot of front end development for agencies, but also a good amount for my own projects. I only present mockups to clients, so we are all on the same page.

What I do with the PSDs for my own projects is use Layer Properties to name the color (and if applicable, the font, weight, and pt size). That way, when I go to do the build, I can glance at the layer and get that information quickly.

Many PSD designers group layers, but don't put extra effort into naming layers. Little things like that make a huge difference in time.

Sure, Ivan. Just feed into the stereotypical myth that women just don't want to program - because their female brains can't handle anything beyond cooking, cleaning, and child raising. Is that what you're trying to say, broski?

This is how things actually roll in the real world. You can stick to your principles, but it may cost you. I do think that the PG situation is a bit of damage control. While not having enough female founders (or founders with a foreign accent) is a symptom of what's wrong, the root problems go a little deeper.

The quality of the idea, execution, and team is what should matter. Not the color of skin, not gender, sexual orientation, accents, or anything else. But here we are...

We can't pretend that SWM are the only ones who can create a good product, and if our tech heroes happen to fuck up or say something that isn't right, I don't think it helps to ignore it.

Apparently so. It's the stupidest thing I've ever heard. SV, specifically startup culture, is a large part of the tech world, but far from the only portion of it. I suspect the preference for young founders is not being able to "see the world through hacker eyes", but as was suggested earlier the willingness to burn the candle at both ends in order to make a startup succeed to the level that VCs wish. Young people are less likely to have families or an outside life.

At some point, most people actually worry about buying a home, getting married, things that require resposibility and consideration of someone besides themselves.

Don't worry! You'll be in the same situation someday, and then you will realize how ridiculous your statement is.

Because a person with a felony background or very bad credit has access to trade secrets and information which they can sell for money at a tech job. Plus, it's hard to sell yourself as a culture fit, as most geeks have never done time in jail, mush less prison.

People have a different perspective on life when they are 20 years old as opposed to 30, 40, or 50. Elance is definitely not a way to make a living or be taken seriously by a potential employer.