Bill SerGio, The Infomercial King
-
This is a comment from Bill SerGio. It seems that a few of the programmers who frequent this website simply do not like me, and I wanted to say a few things about that. But I do share some things in common with those who seem to dislike me so much. All of us love programming and we derive a sense of accomplishment from writing code that works. Most of you work for some company and a few, like me, own their own businesses. It takes a very different mentality and view of life to be your own boss--it doesn't make you smarter or better--it is just different. I look at programming as a way to make money. I don't approach programming in the same way that programmers who work for a company would. I write an AD for a program first. An ad that would sell the benefits of that program--what will it do for the user... and I focus on what I know people really buy like Greed, Vanity, Houses, and Fear of God... Then I design the user interface--stricly from the point of view of giving the user the illusion that the program is easy, great and will give them a lot of benefits. This has NOTHING to do with writing code! The code is that LAST thing I write, and it is just to make the buttons work. My approach is what works for me in my business and is no better or worse than anyone else's approach that works for them in what they do. I would point out that, without MARKETING, few programmers would have a job. It seems to me that the marketing of software is AS important as the writing of it and really can't be separated. When you sit down to write a programmer, it seems only logical that you have FIRST developed the marketing plan for it and that you coce th eprogram to fit that marketing plan. I have gotten many emails from people who frequent this site and have enjoyed the articles I have posted. The others, well, empty barrels make the most noise! .:cool: Bill SerGio
:confused: I don't know, I suppose you are earning lots of money following your rules and so on... but in my case I...
1. must make things easy:
the users of my programs are operators of the machines that my company make; and usually they have not seen one computer in all they whole life.2. must make things reliable:
If one of the machines that we make fail (the software hangs or something like that) I can kill somebody, or break the machine that usually is something very expensive (120000€ more or less in mid range machines).If one of those previous points are not working I will get:
1. Continuous calls from my customers saying me that they won't pay the final part of the payment until it will be solved.
-
Possibly a lawyer trying to make me pay lots of money if any operator/machine has been damaged.
-
I won't sell another machine to that customer.
-
I won't sell any machine to anybody that that customer knows.
NOTE: I know that no ad will change any of the 4 points above if one of the two rules that I must follow are not accomplished. -
-
This is a comment from Bill SerGio. It seems that a few of the programmers who frequent this website simply do not like me, and I wanted to say a few things about that. But I do share some things in common with those who seem to dislike me so much. All of us love programming and we derive a sense of accomplishment from writing code that works. Most of you work for some company and a few, like me, own their own businesses. It takes a very different mentality and view of life to be your own boss--it doesn't make you smarter or better--it is just different. I look at programming as a way to make money. I don't approach programming in the same way that programmers who work for a company would. I write an AD for a program first. An ad that would sell the benefits of that program--what will it do for the user... and I focus on what I know people really buy like Greed, Vanity, Houses, and Fear of God... Then I design the user interface--stricly from the point of view of giving the user the illusion that the program is easy, great and will give them a lot of benefits. This has NOTHING to do with writing code! The code is that LAST thing I write, and it is just to make the buttons work. My approach is what works for me in my business and is no better or worse than anyone else's approach that works for them in what they do. I would point out that, without MARKETING, few programmers would have a job. It seems to me that the marketing of software is AS important as the writing of it and really can't be separated. When you sit down to write a programmer, it seems only logical that you have FIRST developed the marketing plan for it and that you coce th eprogram to fit that marketing plan. I have gotten many emails from people who frequent this site and have enjoyed the articles I have posted. The others, well, empty barrels make the most noise! .:cool: Bill SerGio
I don't think you should care that people don't like your tone or something. I think its great that you're taking the time to write articles to help out others (and possibly show off, but what of it?). Feel better. :) "One of the Georges," said Psmith, "I forget which, once said that a certain number of hours' sleep a day--I cannot recall for the moment how many--made a man something, which for the time being has slipped my memory."
-
That's a rare example. Spolsky has an audience with his outspoken nature and many a folk go to his blog to read about his views on the software development process. Oh ya, and while you're reading about all of these good software development rules, I have this product over here to help you do it "right". This is marketing, plain and simple. He's very fortunate that it costs him nothing. The rest of us slouches gotta pay da man to do our sales and marketing. :(( Custom Software, Custom Solutions. Yye Software. http://www.yyesoftware.com
billb2112 wrote: He's very fortunate that it costs him nothing. It only costs him nothing if he costs his time at $0 per hour.:rose: Neville Franks, Author of ED for Windows www.getsoft.com and coming soon: Surfulater www.surfulater.com