Kassem wrote@rolf: To be honest, I wouldn't mind it if that poser charged the client a couple grands, because this way he's not really hurting me (and other programmers as well as the whole IT market), he's only hurting the uninformed client. The whole problem with charging $200-$300 for a website is that it makes it seem to others (who know nothing about what we do) that our job is fairly simple and that we shouldn't be charging anything more $400 per project. Others already do not appreciate our work, and under-charging this way is making it even worse. If the guy uses Joomla and charges $2000 for the website, eh sa7ten 3a albo (good for him), just do not hurt the reputation of the whole business by going too low.
One more thing I would like to add. You guys are saying that if relying totally on CMS is what it takes to stay competitive, then I should do exactly that. Why would I even bother? Money isn't the only thing that motivates me to work (although it does have a big influence, no one can deny that). If I'm going to end up not-really-coding (which I enjoy A LOT), then I should probably find some other job that I do not necessarily like but pays better? Plumbers are pretty expensive today, I might as well become one if that's how things are going to be :)
I think it hurts the business big time. These people are making big bucks without any technical skill whatsoever. Look at the messages they are sending:
- To make money you must be good at fooling the customer, regardless of your skills
- If you want a website done you will need to shell out big money. This here will, I believe, make many potential customers stop looking and stick to mail, phone, sms, flyers instead (and put their money there)
- Even if you shell out that amount of money there is no guarantee that the website will be one of good quality, it's highly likely that it'll be buggy and render wrongly across half the browsers, but you'll just have to accept it, because this is the way it is.
But hey, maybe you're right, sahtein 3a 2albon!
Kassem wroteOne more thing I would like to add. You guys are saying that if relying totally on CMS is what it takes to stay competitive, then I should do exactly that. Why would I even bother? Money isn't the only thing that motivates me to work (although it does have a big influence, no one can deny that). If I'm going to end up not-really-coding (which I enjoy A LOT), then I should probably find some other job that I do not necessarily like but pays better? Plumbers are pretty expensive today, I might as well become one if that's how things are going to be :)
CMS is not cheating. For lots of jobs it is actually faster and more efficient to work from scratch. You will find that good quality code does not need to be appreciated by the customer. Good quality code will actually make you work faster and gain more money!
But do not do any stuff the customer does not want. That is a mistake I have fallen into and hope not to fall into again. It is one thing to try to improve yourself, but making the customer pay for something he did not ask for is another thing.