Should I have my own domain/Web site as a DB contractor/consultant
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Personally I don't see much point in having a website - unless you're trying to demonstrate something. Your own domain is useful though, I've had mine for the last 15 years purely for email purposes. I run Microsoft Exchange these days from home on it (on a Mac Mini of all things) using a static IP address from BT. The benefit of this: the places I work always block gmail/hotmail etc. but don't know about my own webmail URL so I always have access to email at work. Ha!
Regards, Rob Philpott.
I maintain a web site just for that - to demonstrate web service, silverlight, and asp.net skills. The server is at my house, so before going on an interview, I can load up whatever I think I'll need to demonstrate, and take my laptop with me just in case they want to see the source code.
.45 ACP - because shooting twice is just silly
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Just my $0.02 worth... If you want to be taken seriously in the market, you need a website. Period. If you want to showcase your skills, set up a professional looking site to do so, and handle email through your own domain. An email account with gmail, yahoo, aol, msn, etc looks unprofessional and cheap, and it will be noticed. If you're unhappy with the domain you have, abandon it and register a new one. I know that's hard, as almost any random collection of characters is now registered by scumbags who park them and charge extortion to release them, but it's worth the effort. You're a professional website designer - design a new one for yourself, and do it right. You are your most important customer, in this case. If you can obtain letters of recommendation from past customers, make them available on your website. Include your resume and contact information, and a page for visitors to describe a job and solicit your bid, at a minimum. Do it right, and your website could be a great source of contacts and jobs; without one you'll be missing opportunities you never knew existed. Good luck...
Will Rogers never met me.
Roger Wright wrote:
If you're unhappy with the domain you have, abandon it and register a new one. I know that's hard, as almost any random collection of characters is now registered
Speaking of domain names. Which do you think is better? 1) Your name 2) Something else like "AGreatDeveloper.net" or "AmazingCodingDude.com" etc. I've owned my own name for a few years, (which happens to be name I've used as an online identity pretty much everywhere for years and has always been easier than without the 'P' because it makes it a bit more unique and less likely to be taken when registering for different places.) but I can't decide if it's a bit vain and whether I would be better switching to something else.
Simon
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I've had my own domain and Web site for years, but I've never been happy with the domain name (too long + difficult to spell). Also, I'm no longer in the Web site design business - I'm focused on database stuff and database apps, so I don't really need a showcase for my work. Ss it is 'that time of year', I'm strongly considering rationalizing my on-line presence; migrating to a gmail account, dropping the dedicated Web site and smartening up my Facebook and LinkedIn profiles. Does anyone have any thoughts as to the advisability of this? Do I need to have my own domain name/Web site to look professional? What do you guys do?
What Roger said. Marc
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Roger Wright wrote:
If you're unhappy with the domain you have, abandon it and register a new one. I know that's hard, as almost any random collection of characters is now registered
Speaking of domain names. Which do you think is better? 1) Your name 2) Something else like "AGreatDeveloper.net" or "AmazingCodingDude.com" etc. I've owned my own name for a few years, (which happens to be name I've used as an online identity pretty much everywhere for years and has always been easier than without the 'P' because it makes it a bit more unique and less likely to be taken when registering for different places.) but I can't decide if it's a bit vain and whether I would be better switching to something else.
Simon
Simon P Stevens wrote:
Which do you think is better?
Why one domain? I have several! All of which are right now not really functional. :( Something to work on in my, harhar, spare time. Marc
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Roger Wright wrote:
If you're unhappy with the domain you have, abandon it and register a new one. I know that's hard, as almost any random collection of characters is now registered
Speaking of domain names. Which do you think is better? 1) Your name 2) Something else like "AGreatDeveloper.net" or "AmazingCodingDude.com" etc. I've owned my own name for a few years, (which happens to be name I've used as an online identity pretty much everywhere for years and has always been easier than without the 'P' because it makes it a bit more unique and less likely to be taken when registering for different places.) but I can't decide if it's a bit vain and whether I would be better switching to something else.
Simon
Simon P Stevens wrote:
Which do you think is better? 1) Your name 2) Something else like "AGreatDeveloper.net" or "AmazingCodingDude.com"
AspDotNetDev.com. Oh, sorry, *sombody* already has that one. :-\
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Simon P Stevens wrote:
Which do you think is better?
Why one domain? I have several! All of which are right now not really functional. :( Something to work on in my, harhar, spare time. Marc
From your domains listed in your profile it seems that your non-name domains are for specific projects/products (or were at one time, I've been to them before but they're rather blank now). I don't have any single project (outside of my work) big enough to justify it's own domain.
Simon
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Personally I don't see much point in having a website - unless you're trying to demonstrate something. Your own domain is useful though, I've had mine for the last 15 years purely for email purposes. I run Microsoft Exchange these days from home on it (on a Mac Mini of all things) using a static IP address from BT. The benefit of this: the places I work always block gmail/hotmail etc. but don't know about my own webmail URL so I always have access to email at work. Ha!
Regards, Rob Philpott.
lol I do the same but mostly cause I like the windows mobile sync and prefer having mail on my own machines rather than in the cloud while still being able to access it via the web when I need to, etc. Shame WM doesn't support multiple exchange profiles though I think that's finally been fixed in WP7.
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Simon P Stevens wrote:
Which do you think is better? 1) Your name 2) Something else like "AGreatDeveloper.net" or "AmazingCodingDude.com"
AspDotNetDev.com. Oh, sorry, *sombody* already has that one. :-\
Isn't it just so dam annoying when a company names their server side scripting technology after you.
Simon
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From your domains listed in your profile it seems that your non-name domains are for specific projects/products (or were at one time, I've been to them before but they're rather blank now). I don't have any single project (outside of my work) big enough to justify it's own domain.
Simon
Simon P Stevens wrote:
I don't have any single project (outside of my work) big enough to justify it's own domain.
OK, that makes sense. I guess was rather myopic in my world conception there. Marc
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Just my $0.02 worth... If you want to be taken seriously in the market, you need a website. Period. If you want to showcase your skills, set up a professional looking site to do so, and handle email through your own domain. An email account with gmail, yahoo, aol, msn, etc looks unprofessional and cheap, and it will be noticed. If you're unhappy with the domain you have, abandon it and register a new one. I know that's hard, as almost any random collection of characters is now registered by scumbags who park them and charge extortion to release them, but it's worth the effort. You're a professional website designer - design a new one for yourself, and do it right. You are your most important customer, in this case. If you can obtain letters of recommendation from past customers, make them available on your website. Include your resume and contact information, and a page for visitors to describe a job and solicit your bid, at a minimum. Do it right, and your website could be a great source of contacts and jobs; without one you'll be missing opportunities you never knew existed. Good luck...
Will Rogers never met me.
Thanks for the input - great thoughts. Thing is though, I am *NOT* a professional Web site designer. I'm primarily a relational database guy. Obviously you're probably asking yourself what the heck I'm doing at the Code Project, but I've got sucked into doing the Web app development side of things. Its just not where I want to place my focus. Long and short of it is that (based on your guys' feedback) I need to decide on a better domain name, and start by using that for e-mail, then come up with a Web site in the future.
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Thanks for the input - great thoughts. Thing is though, I am *NOT* a professional Web site designer. I'm primarily a relational database guy. Obviously you're probably asking yourself what the heck I'm doing at the Code Project, but I've got sucked into doing the Web app development side of things. Its just not where I want to place my focus. Long and short of it is that (based on your guys' feedback) I need to decide on a better domain name, and start by using that for e-mail, then come up with a Web site in the future.
My mistake, I read that you do (did) web design and thought you were an old pro changing hats. Sorry 'bout that... And CodeProject is just the place a relational database guy ought to be - we have a whole section reserved for you. As for the website, there are a number of great web developers here who might just need some RDB help one day. Perhaps a trsade can be arranged. Be creative! :-D
Will Rogers never met me.
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Roger Wright wrote:
If you're unhappy with the domain you have, abandon it and register a new one. I know that's hard, as almost any random collection of characters is now registered
Speaking of domain names. Which do you think is better? 1) Your name 2) Something else like "AGreatDeveloper.net" or "AmazingCodingDude.com" etc. I've owned my own name for a few years, (which happens to be name I've used as an online identity pretty much everywhere for years and has always been easier than without the 'P' because it makes it a bit more unique and less likely to be taken when registering for different places.) but I can't decide if it's a bit vain and whether I would be better switching to something else.
Simon
If you're a consultant/contractor, you are your own business, and your name is perfectly okay. "AGreatDeveloper.net" and "AmazingCodingDude.com" are both infantile, IMHO, and I wouldn't for 30 seconds entertain the thought of hiring anyone with such a domain name. But I'm an engineer, not a marketing moron or HR idiot - who knows, you might get lucky! For my purposes, I hire professionals who convey an image of maturity and quality, and one of the clues I use is the website. The domain name should indicate an age greater than 13, the email should be owned, not grabbed for free from public sites, and I should be able to gain a reasonable familiarity with the skills offered from the web before I place the initial call. If you're not comfortable with your full name for a domain (shorter is better, I think, since people have trouble remembering long domain names), try using spstevens, or sps, or even spsconsulting as a domain, and stick with the .com or .net TLD. It's really a matter of what feels comfortable to you, and what you think will be memorable to your customers. After all, when you're done pleasing them, you'll want to leave them something easy to remember for referrals!
Will Rogers never met me.
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If you're a consultant/contractor, you are your own business, and your name is perfectly okay. "AGreatDeveloper.net" and "AmazingCodingDude.com" are both infantile, IMHO, and I wouldn't for 30 seconds entertain the thought of hiring anyone with such a domain name. But I'm an engineer, not a marketing moron or HR idiot - who knows, you might get lucky! For my purposes, I hire professionals who convey an image of maturity and quality, and one of the clues I use is the website. The domain name should indicate an age greater than 13, the email should be owned, not grabbed for free from public sites, and I should be able to gain a reasonable familiarity with the skills offered from the web before I place the initial call. If you're not comfortable with your full name for a domain (shorter is better, I think, since people have trouble remembering long domain names), try using spstevens, or sps, or even spsconsulting as a domain, and stick with the .com or .net TLD. It's really a matter of what feels comfortable to you, and what you think will be memorable to your customers. After all, when you're done pleasing them, you'll want to leave them something easy to remember for referrals!
Will Rogers never met me.
Roger Wright wrote:
If you're a consultant/contractor
Not currently, but I plan to in the future.
Roger Wright wrote:
"AGreatDeveloper.net" and "AmazingCodingDude.com" are both infantile, IMHO
Bad examples perhaps. I was thinking of things like CodingHorror[^] or TheOldNewThing[^]. site run by individuals, but with more creative names than just JeffAtwood.com or RaymondChen.com I suppose if my long term view is to freelance work the domains I have will be perfectly suitable when the time comes to stick something on a business card. In terms of short, I also have "sps.me" which is the shortest relevant domain I could find. I know it's a bit of a random tld, but I figured short is good (particularly if mobile/touch keyboards are the future), and short relevant .coms don't come cheap (or at all).
Simon