Archive for August, 2009

I was having a discussion with my friend the other day about my process and the use of Photoshop Mock ups (PSDs) before actually coding a site up. As I mentioned in my post, I do not- I sketch and then go right to coding. My friend does use photoshop first. I wanted to take the discussion here. Below is a poll- do you PSD first? Tell me why in the comments!

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I came across this story in the September 2009 issue of .net magazine on pricing, in an article titled, Be the boss: deciding how much to charge by Mark Boulton:

Legend has it that the artist Pablo Picasso was once sketching in a park when a woman approached him and asked him to draw her portrait. Of course, she was going to pay him, so after agreeing they sat down and- after a few moments of study- Picasso used a single pencil stroke to capture the woman’s likeness.

“It’s perfect,” she said. “You’ve managed to capture my essence with one stroke, in one moment. Thank You so much. How much do I owe you?”
“Five thousand dollars,” Picasso replied.
“What? But it only took you five minutes!” she sputtered.
“Madame, it took me my entire life,” he answered.

It’s a great story, and a nice reminder that when a freelancer prices, it should take into account our experiences, not just the amount of time we spend on a project.

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I wrote a post on my personal blog titled, “What Developers can Learn from Home Improvement” (the TV show). It was a fun little post that I thought about while watching the show, and how programmers and web developers can learn a few valuable lessons from the show. Check it out!

Smashing Magazine has a nice little list of how freelancers can increase their productivity. While all of the tips are very good, I find Making a Plan really helps, and I need to limit the amount of time surfing the web. Seriously, I do that entirely too much. It’s a good list that is definitely worth checking out!

Photo by L. Marie

Photo by L. Marie

As a software developer, we focused on process a lot in school, learning about serveral different types of processes from more traditional to agile. No matter what your profession is, it’s likely that you have your own process for a project. The process is important because it helps you more quickly get into a comfort zone for the project, making you more productive. Today we are going to take a look at mine.

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Hey everyone. I’m considering writing a book called, “The Student Freelancer” and wanted to get an idea of how many people are: A- student freelancers and B- interested in buying a book about it. The poll is below. Thanks!

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