I was chatting today with a European freelance developer who is thinking about setting up a software agency. He asked me if I had any advice for him after building Salsita from a guy in his bedroom to a 40 person company with 25 full-time developers in a little over…
Why We Don't Do Fixed-Price Software Projects (And Neither Should You)
A few years ago, I took on a freelance project to implement an Internet Explorer component in C++. I was billing a healthy hourly rate on other projects at the time, but this particular client insisted on a fixed price. In a bout of temporary insanity, I made an exception…
Reddit's Anti-Spamming Policy is Counterproductive
Update: Looks like I got banned from Reddit for posting this. That makes me sad. In the mid-to-late aughts, when I was last blogging regularly, I would hustle by any means necessary to get my posts read and grow my RSS subscriber base. It was immensely satisfying when I finally…
The Silly Reason Why Apple Needs to Keep Growing
M.G. Siegler wonders out loud in a [recent post](https://medium.com/five-hundred-words/apple- the-oil-company-5b5983aa81e2) how Apple can continue to grow given the stupendous results they just announced for last quarter. They can't milk the iPhone cash cow forever, after all. But again, the bar is now just set…
What I Wish I Knew When Starting Out as a Software Developer: Slow the Fuck Down
The other day I read What I Wish I Knew When I Started My Career as a Software Developer, an article in Lifehacker adapted from a Quora answer by Michael O. Church. I haven't stopped thinking about it since. I guess I find it so thought-provoking because, while I agree…