This is my approximate proposal and estimation process:
1). This is a new and unproven client, and if so, I go with the gut feel estimate e.g. 3 months, 2 weeks, 6 months to see if they understand how expensive software development (or any custom professional services) could be.
2). Understand if a rough or precise estimate is required. Are they looking for a fixed-price bid? Convince them that fixed-price is not in their interest. If the client insists on the fixed bid and the project is large and undefined, bow out. If the client is looking for a rough estimate, or the project is smallish (< 2 months), continue.
3). The client relationship is existing or the client and I are on the same page with the rough costing. If the project is large, explain that the estimation task is large and time-consuming, and ask to be compensated for the task. If the project is small (<2 months), eat the estimation cost.
4).
a). Gather understanding and very rough requirements over several meetings, and create a document capturing this information.
b). Procrastinate and then break down larger system areas into "epics"
c). Create a set of releases that each deliver value to the customer
d). Estimate each "epic" and assign reasonably buffered estimate to each release.
5). Walk the customer over the document, timelines, budget estimates.
I understand how the personal responsibility plays into the climate change and already follow most of the best practices: biking to the office, driving electric (Ontario electricity), energy conservation at home, reducing consumption, but feel that I can do more.
Can someone suggest a few environmental charities that can be donated to?
No sure if you already do this, and know it has been said 1000xs before, but seriously, reducing/cutting meat consumption is probably one of the largest/cheapest impacts you can have for the personal cost.
And if you have the financial means to take the risk to be picky about your job (and are technically inclined), have a read of Bret Victor's "What can a technologist do about climate change?" post, so much to be done assuming it's not all too late already.
Most charities are about damage control, not dealing with the problem.
Another option, is invest in a Solar Share program if they are available in your country. Possibility for good returns and helps build more solar energy.
As a person who does freelancing and running the agency successfully, I can attest that "remote contractor living in exotic locales" is a recurring developer fantasy.
I have had quite a few people ask me how to get clients. I always struggle with the answer. What do you say referrals? It is a business like any other and you will need to exercise other skills besides software development.
In that sense, the article providing a different viewpoint is HN worthy as this is exactly where lots of entrepreneurial developers congregate.
I have been a Python/Django developer since 2007, and continue being passionate about the stack and learning to be more effective and productive as a developer and shipping higher quality code.
Over the years, I have built and contributed to many applications from large codebases with hundreds of million page views to small startups where the speed of feature delivery is paramount.
I am easy to get along and have a list of best practices (code refactoring, code reviews, TDD, continuous integration, and continuous delivery) I apply on projects.
Exercise a lot to the point of pushing your body to its physical limits. It will make you feel great, and improve your ability to learn new things and increase enjoyment of life.
Is that a personal project? I would be careful using any of the cutting edge technologies on the commercial projects.
Imagine the maintenance issues the developers that follow you will have if you do not pick the stack correctly.
For commercial projects, I would urge you to use something that is well-adopted React or Angular 2.
If the project is personal, then why not just have two smaller projects to utilize both tech stacks or even combine them. Nobody depends on you, and you have all the flexibility to play around and write the software as you please.
If you do end up playing with both, share your experience, and tell us which technology you prefer.
Python is a wonderful language where the speed of development and maintainability is concerned.
Django is a great framework for getting your web application and/or APIs built. The library support is also phenomenal (looking at Django Rest Framework for API development)
Rarely does the stack matter to startup success, why not pick up Steve Blank's
The Startup Owner's Manual about building THE RIGHT thing? Building the wrong product is the number one killer of startups why not focus there?
It sucks the way you have been treated, and I am surprised that they did not cave in and offer you the position after you held your line on not coming in for the second day.
Having made hiring mistakes myself, I am afraid of the getting the wrong person on board and the only way to truly know is to test a relationship by working together. Contract-to-hire is a good way to go, but good developers have full-time jobs, and it is hard for them to jump ship without concrete promises from the employers.
I doubt they are thinking of these requirements as "we can ask for anything because we are awesome". They are adding more and more check and requirements after unsuccessful relationships trying to prevent another failed hire. "Last guy was a drug user, let's add a urine test to our offer process."
As far as consolation, I have seen DrChrono positions for months on HN so can't be easy to hire with all those requirements.
1). This is a new and unproven client, and if so, I go with the gut feel estimate e.g. 3 months, 2 weeks, 6 months to see if they understand how expensive software development (or any custom professional services) could be.
2). Understand if a rough or precise estimate is required. Are they looking for a fixed-price bid? Convince them that fixed-price is not in their interest. If the client insists on the fixed bid and the project is large and undefined, bow out. If the client is looking for a rough estimate, or the project is smallish (< 2 months), continue.
3). The client relationship is existing or the client and I are on the same page with the rough costing. If the project is large, explain that the estimation task is large and time-consuming, and ask to be compensated for the task. If the project is small (<2 months), eat the estimation cost.
4). a). Gather understanding and very rough requirements over several meetings, and create a document capturing this information. b). Procrastinate and then break down larger system areas into "epics" c). Create a set of releases that each deliver value to the customer d). Estimate each "epic" and assign reasonably buffered estimate to each release. 5). Walk the customer over the document, timelines, budget estimates.