Hi Everybody..
I'm back again in this blog. With some bad and good news. The bad news is... I had failures. The good news are: I had successes and also my spirit is still burning.
So... let me tell You the story.
The BIG Failure
In my previous blog, I told You that I was developing software for a medium sized company. Before I start telling the stories, let me introduce you to the actors in my story. First of all, of course it's me. I was developing the software for the company. Second, are the bosses. There are two bosses in the company. The older one and the younger one. Let's refer them as the big boss and the junior boss. And third, is my friend who is a fellow programmer who gonna replace my position in developing software for the company.
So... just a few days ago, I decided to stop developing the software. The decision was made based on some facts and instincts.
The facts are:
- I've been developing the software for 9 months. Even though in those months, not all the time was spent developing this software, it is still a great amount of time.
- The amount of money I were going to receive is less than my worst hope, considering the amount of my work.
- The scope of my target is still unclear even at the time I resigned.
- I've been rejecting software development offers because I have not finished this project.
And my instincts said:
- Considering the last state of the project, I guessed that the project will last at least two more months. And there will be a plan for upgrades that will take about two to six months.
- I talked to the bosses, and I felt that they would be unhappy to raise the project value (a.k.a the amount of money for me). Not that they were unable or unwilling to do so. It was just... they will be unhappy about it. And that means that my works were unappreciated.
- There will still be many changes and updates related to my project scope. And the boss just don't care about my difficulties in this.
- I can finish other software project much faster than this one.
And I decided to:
- To state that the project had failed. And that I were unwilling to continue.
- Not to receive any payment, because I considered the project has failed and the company also got nothing from this. So we both lose precious time. Even though my loss were greater, but I consider this as my failure and therefore charge no fee for that.
And just a few days ago, I talked to the bosses about this. They did not agree about my decision. The big boss even offered a raise. But I stood firm on my ground, I lost my faith and trust to the bosses and because of that I was unwilling to negotiate. And then we agreed to find a successor programmer. I recommended my friend who was a fellow programmer to them.
The junior boss suggested that my friend to continue developing the software based on the codes I developed and will pay me for the code. My friend refused the offer because he thought that it will be confusing to develop application based on other programmer's code. My friend as the new programmer had previously succeeded in developing software for their other business branch, and we know that. So I and my friend suggested that he develop the software based on the software he had developed for that other branch. And so we all agreed on this. And there goes my hardwork and my money... sob. ha ha ha.
Do not afraid to fail, learn what doesn't work first, then see how you can make it better
Nowadays, there are many motivational sentences similar to above. So... let's summarize what I learned from the failure.
- Never make a deal which objectives and conditions are unclear. Not even to your trusted friends. Unclear agreement tends to create misunderstandings.
- Some says that ATTITUDE is the key to success. I read some books about this. And some translate attitude as the act of prioritizing customer satisfaction. I got the point and I believe that and that's one of the reasons that I was unwilling to receive payment. But from this experience, I believe ATTITUDE really has another subtle meaning inside. That is the ability to state oneself terms and conditions and also stand firm on oneself own ground. My failure will not happen if from the beginning I had decided and stated my terms and conditions to the bosses.
Fear not... Not all is lost
From the experience, I learned many things. First of all, I thought of some software development agreement concept. It is still immature, but they are still usable. I will try using them on my next projects. And i guess my new "ATTITUDE" will help a lot.
Second, I got many new skills and knowledge on Microsoft Visual Basic, and I believe that these knowledge is currently my greatest asset. But it is still up to me myself to be able to make the most of these. For example, if I were to slack off or switch job, some time in the future, these skills will become common skills or even become obsolete. And there goes my competitiveness.
The other one is successful
I also mentioned in my previous post that I would be developing software for the government. Fortunately this one was a success. I finished developing the software in about four months and received quite a large sum for it.
This project is very beneficial to me. I learned many new concepts and skills, I got much money and the client also still wanted to upgrade the software further. And that means another good business for me :D.
Tough Road Ahead
One Failure and One Success. Even though I received some large sum for the one success I got, due to the big failure, I am only barely able to cover my living expenses. And I won't be able to support a family at this rate. I am still a (promising and handsome :P) single guy now. I can live well with this condition right now. But if I were to marry somebody and to make that somebody happy, I need to earn more than this.
And so the journey continues. I am following up some software development offers, while perfecting the software development agreement concept. I also plan to write some books about programming and also monetize some blogs in the future.
That's all for now
See you later
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