Sol Barrera Watters - Web Developer, Language Expert, Artist and more...

The other day I was teaching in the University (UDI) and I was talking to one of the other professors.  He mentioned he had a site and I asked him if he was using a CMS to facilitate his work.  He said, "I do all of my own coding, I trust it more".

Now I have a question for you, do you want to be a star web developer or do you want to build a succesful web development firm?  What's the difference, you ask?  Why can't you do both? First things first... the difference is, a star developer can get the big bucks in the right firm, anywhere from 1500 to 4k if you know how to negotiate, the succesful web firm.. you get more than that.. but you don't get to have all the fun coding.  Instead you get to do other fun things, like cash in your paycheck...

Without being glib, when you need to make a profit, you need to do good work fast. If your star developer already has a set of tools that lets her do things fast then you are ok, but if that same developer takes two weeks to do an ajax slideshow from scratch, you are in trouble, specially if you are paying them 1500 dollars a month.  That's $750 for something that could cost $20 bucks plus maybe for hours implementation ($38 bucks labor).  See the difference?  no?  your accountant can tell you about it, it's as simple as the difference between red and black.

Now, a few years back I would have laughed about this.  I would think, but the great thing about being a web developer is being able to play with the code, create things from thin air, demonstrate what a great coder I am and become the worlds greatest web developer. Today I have a loan to pay and I need to make a minimum payment every single month.. that adds reality into the mix, that means as much as I love to code I need to make a profit.

As I am writing this, I've just realized, this is why our fees have skyrocketed in the past few years, either we increase the fees or we go bankrupt.  The point I am trying to make, is you have to make a decision about what you want to be.  Once you do that, you have to compromise and you know what, having extra money in the bank is pretty nice.

Now the professor made a good point, if he is a star web dev, he might have pretty robust code, but if you are buying a script you can bet there was a team of people doing the coding and making sure it was 99% robust AND they will give you tech support.  Sometimes it's just one developer but there is usually a forum of coders where they can help with the app.

As to whether you can do both, I can't answer that, but what I've lived is that it is pretty hard.  Maybe you could hire someone else to do the management and run the company for you, but if it's just you trying to build something on your own, you might not be able to do that.

Either way, at some point you will have to make a decision that might break your heart but will help you build a life. Put your pride aside and become an entrepreneur. Or better yet, make your own software and sell it, but stop being proud of working endless hours and sweating it out, when your skills can give you so much more than something to complain about.