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maybe this should be the death of html thread.
i am currently studying an MSc in Mulitmedia, well one of my friends on the course was approached by a company to do a web for them.
It was to a site that contained about 20 products and a shopping cart so about 25 odd pages.
Ok so my friend does some research finds out about shopping carts etc. and quotes £1200
the company from what i can make out is going bust and this is like their last attempt to get business
ok they get back to my friend and said that his quote was far too high and another student quoted them £500.
now this is the type of thing that should be put to an end, £500 to me is exploitation of someone in a finacial difficulties
at the end of the day i wish these people would understand they get what they pay for
remember the saying "if you pay peanuts you get monkeys"
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Hey DeeDesigns,
In the quest to find cheaper solutions to quote for work I often visit sourceforge.net and sites like it. If I can implement a plug'n'play solution then I will in order to compete.
I suggets that your friend looks at http://www.oscommerce.com there is a fully fledged ecommmerce solution for free. I've had a look and first time I set it up in a couple of hours. Tell the client to provide pictures, prices and descriptions and a couple of hours later, ker-ching £500 for about a day to day and halfs work.
Another favourite of mine is Vbulletin which runs this board much cheapness for so much power. I won a contract cos another agency quoted £3000 to build a custom one and this is about £150 (if I remember right).
My philosophy is why re-invent the wheel when someone else has built one with low profile tyres and shiny alloys. ;-)
Happy shopping.
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I got one reply for all of you dummies. LEARN AS YOU GO and the more you learn the more valuable you become no matter how the technology advances. Don't stay in one technology, learn more and more and as much as you can. Unless of course you are working for the government, anyhow, you are getting paid because you know something, if you keep f**king around your knowledge gets old. I started out as a 3d modeler 5 years ago, and now i know everything theres about 3d and the web, i can admin the server, set one up in either unix or nt, design you a site that will do anything you ever dreamt of with either MX->XML->CGI->DB or HTML/Javascript->CGI->DB
and i dont have formal education. I worked for top 5 consulting firms and NEVER had a problem getting a job because i am very smart and stay on top of the technology. Getting a job is fighting a war and you gota be the best of the best to win.
Even designers, they cant puts around, having a talent wont cut it. You have to steer it in the right direction and let your creative sences grow.
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Hey rawbot,
All very well if you have a client that wants your technology solutions.
The point of this thread is how to compete at a lower level to get the money that pays the bills. You are also assuming that the submitters to this thread are tech-heads as well as designers. Trust me there are very few Web Professionals that can both design and build a technical back-end.
I do 3D, CGI, PHP, ASP, CFM, database, etc, etc all self taught but I still have time to contribute positive comments from my past experience to help others rather blowing out of my *ss about how great I am.
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I don't have an interested in learing to write a CGI Script or fiddling with Java. It's more important to me that I know what is needed and I can bring someone with that capability onto my team. I don't want to spend hours and hours at my computer I want would rather build wealth through leveraging my time and making my contribution to the sites we build in an overseer position and with my particular skills. I don't want to be the position where not at being at work means I am not making money my whole working life.
Use the net to find competent individuals who will price their contribution to your projects so that you have some room for fair profit. There are of course many of those people here at FK.
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This thread is extremely useful.
WickedWebz: i'm glad we're on the same (web)page.
SteveRedden: thanks for your "website quality grid", this is textbook stuff. i've copied it for future reference.
DeeDesigns: i've got to address your post! i'm surprised nobody did so far. you said:
"i am currently studying an MSc in Mulitmedia, well one of my friends on the course was approached by a company to do a web for them. It was to a site that
contained about 20 products and a shopping cart so about 25 odd pages.
Ok so my friend does some research finds out about shopping carts etc. and quotes £1200"
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- that's not very high (about $100 a page for a dynamic, database-driven website), but let's say it's fair.
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"the company from what i can make out is going bust and this is like their last attempt to get business"
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- yes. pre-bankrupt companies. those are very nice to work with. they are right up there with those other companies
that approach you with the following pitch:
"we have no money. but... we are getting ready to launch this -great- product that will revolutionize the
(insert any market here) business. trust us. if we have our website ready for the big convention next month,
we will become the greatest thing since slice bread. after that, you'll see, we will not forget what you have done for us."
if you are starting out in the web design business,
have a need to build up your portfolio (and you are still living with your parents);
if you are intrigued by the project, you believe it will help refine your skills in some areas...
i say: maybe... go for it .
otherwise: run. run away.
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"ok they get back to my friend and said that his quote was far too high and another student quoted them £500. "
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- please note that said pre-bankrupt company is very
careful in asking for -students- to do the bidding. why?
because most established designers will hang up the phone at this point.
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"now this is the type of thing that should be put to an end, £500 to me is exploitation of someone in a finacial difficulties."
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-it's your business, so you can take on that type
of client if you want to, but believe me:
the worst part of these types of project is not that you end up doing twice the work
that was planned for half the money you were promised.
the worst part of it is this:
in a few months, the company will come back and will
ask you to do more work for them.
and... they will recommend you to other companies just like them.
my advice: run! run!
don't look back!
[Edited by macmarts on 04-13-2002 at 01:43 PM]
