🚀 go-pugleaf

I have been following the NextStep programmer shortage thread with great  
interest. I just posted an answer lamenting the lack of Next telecommuting  
consultant positions. I have a feeling there may be lots of Next  
programmers like myself prepared to do part-time consulting over the  
network. So...

If you fit into the following description, please send email to me on how  
you fit the description. I will compile a list of available telecommuting  
Next consultants and their capabilities and publish it (as a public  
service). Maybe there's power in numbers. Maybe I'm the only one. Maybe  
this is a crazy idea in this "on-site only" era. I'm curious.

1. You own a Next computer, or you work in a Next environment where your  
employer doesn't mind you using the machines for consulting purposes. I  
suppose this could include third party developers who do consulting on the  
side.

2. You have enough experience with the Next that you can write a NextStep  
application in a reasonable amount of time. This is a tricky point. I  
expect that this issue can best be handled as a productivity per $  
adjustment. If this idea gets going, I will try to generate some standard  
numbers for the next community. I expect that billing rates could range  
from $15/hr to $100/hr depending on your productivity rate.

3. You have other kinds of experience that could be useful on a part-time  
basis (e.g. quality assurance, documentation, system administration, etc).

4. You are attached to the net and can absorb network connect charges (if  
any) until billing reinbursement.

5. You are prepared to work at least 15-20 hours a week.

6. You can function legitimately as a consultant. This refers to income  
tax status, providing your own health care, covering miscellaneous  
reimbursable costs, doing billing, etc.

7. You can provide security at your site.

8. You are prepared to possibly make one plane or car trip to the  
employer's site as part of the contract.

Can you think of others?

I expect that the potential employers of these "telecommuting consultants"  
would include:

1. Third party developers who need some part-time help to get through a  
"crunch".

2. Large commercial Next sites developing custom Next apps. Here I assume  
the part-time projects would tend to be more long-term (less critical).  
Part-timers could fill in gaps in the project not covered by the on-site  
full-timers.

3. Individuals (like faculty) who don't want to fool with the programming  
but have an application need nonetheless. Again probably less time  
critical.

Can you think of others? Let's compile a potential list for distribution  
purposes.

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Greg Colello
Carnegie Institution, Department of Plant Biology
Stanford University
gcolello@biosphere.stanford.edu (NeXT mail OK)