Quote:
Originally posted by Backov
You tell me - you know them, why aren't they doing this with you?
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I'm just feeling out the role of the software designer... #1 I'm not in a hurry on this -- I have several of my own scripts in development. #2 I'm curious about this aspect of software engineering -- and I'm inviting discussion on the subject. The elance comment looks interesting -- I'll look into it. You don't hear about software designers very often... That's because most coding projects solve existing problems. A business has a problem -- they ask coders for a quote -- there's no problem if somebody steals the idea. Really the money is born in the idea -- not so much in the tedium of the execution. Although process can still breed new ideas -- the most obvious features can be detected will in advance while fleshing out the functionality.
You can't clearly see an idea to fruition if you don't understand the technology and its limits -- development time, computer resources, etc. The same goes in reverse -- many programmers are not very creative.
Usually there is a client with a problem and then they approach the programmer... but usually these are not the most successful projects -- the most successful projects find a solution to a problem that does not yet exist (example: cell phone) -- offering something to people that they never knew that they needed... Using this logic you are always first to market.
Examples: java, hotmail, ICQ, napster... Nobody said -- "hey I need to run this application in the surfer's browser and I'll pay you $1,000,000 to code a secure, platform independent applet interface that will be supported by Netscape and MSIE..."
Somebody had a vision. In the software world -- that vision is much clearer when the person with the idea has an understanding of all aspects of the project, the target market and the technology.