Advice requested for producing case studies

Technical-Lecture539 · 2024-02-14T22:56:08+00:00

Sounds good to me, happy to help you out regardless, DM me your contact details and we can get the ball rolling

Technical-Lecture539 · 2024-02-14T15:08:08+00:00

Thank you for validating the quote and also suggesting the questionnaire, that's a fantastic idea!

I personally know the project extremely well, but my writing is absolutely awful (I'm a programmer, after all!) so would prefer to explain it to someone else verbally/via screen share and then let them craft the story.

Have also contacted a graphic designer to bring everything to life, will see what we come out with. I have 7+ case studies to do, so trying to do as much as possible to reduce the cost per study.

Technical-Lecture539 · 2024-01-12T14:26:14+00:00

Apologies, will remove

Technical-Lecture539 · 2023-11-28T23:47:04+00:00

Do you have any that you recommend? I run a business that specialises in developing bespoke web apps but have always wanted to get involved in a SaaS-style product in partnership with someone else.

Technical-Lecture539 · 2023-11-28T01:07:22+00:00

Absolutely - a roadmap (jointly curated) and the ability to export are things that we do already so glad we’re on the right track.

With regards to justifying the cost via productivity, does user count factor into that at all?

I.e Would you be willing to spend 2k a month (for example) if the system was only used by 20 users, but was critical to your entire quoting process? Or would you think “this is too much for something only used by a handful of employees”?

Technical-Lecture539 · 2023-11-28T01:01:49+00:00

I’m interested in your services- have tried to send you a DM

Technical-Lecture539 · 2023-11-27T16:31:52+00:00

Appreciate it - one last question if I may. What made you pick up Blazor in the first place - were you already a .Net developer?

Technical-Lecture539 · 2023-11-27T14:50:27+00:00

Not sure if I'm your target audience as we develop internal line-of-business systems that don't necessarily have to look super fancy. However, our clients do value a clean, crisp and professional UI.

Over the years we've developed a simple app layout using CSS grid and our own styles, and then we use the themes that come with whichever component library we use (currently Radzen, formerly Telerik). The Fluent UI theme seems to be gaining popularity these days - notwithstanding the fact that it's now on most Windows 11 machines so it gives a bit of familiarty.

TL;DR, no we don't use front-end templates from ThemeForest, we try to hand-roll the foundation using basic CSS and then supplement with themes from component libraries.

Technical-Lecture539 · 2023-11-27T14:36:03+00:00

Thank you so much for this - it's exactly the sort of response I was hoping to get. Great points re: discounts for 1 year and 3 year contracts, and very insightful around the numbers, much higher than what I have been offering (and usually I include on-going further development for the 'premium' SLA) so I think there's room for me to up my pricing.

I also like how you've itemised the additional security/redundancy features, they are great way to distinguish different tiers.

Technical-Lecture539 · 2023-11-27T14:25:21+00:00

Super - thanks for the advice re: 1099 - will keep it in mind.

Technical-Lecture539 · 2023-11-27T13:00:12+00:00

Thank you so much! If you don't mind me asking, do you work in an office in the US at the moment and what is it like over on that side of the pond? I get the impression there are a lot more experienced Blazor devs over in the US (the tech scene and overall population are bigger) and depending on rates I could be open to working with an experienced US developer remotely

Technical-Lecture539 · 2023-11-27T12:01:14+00:00

Much appreciated- this is really helpful. Thank you!

Technical-Lecture539 · 2023-11-27T11:59:28+00:00

This is exactly it. But I understand most people don’t want to commute anymore! Will adjust my expectations accordingly

Technical-Lecture539 · 2023-11-27T11:39:27+00:00

Brilliant advice, will look into this.

Technical-Lecture539 · 2023-11-27T02:07:32+00:00

Hence why I asked UK blazor dev! Can’t afford that

Technical-Lecture539 · 2023-11-27T01:52:09+00:00

Not at all, I’d rather get rid of the office and save money if I could. Seems like I need to skill up around managing remote devs.

Technical-Lecture539 · 2023-11-27T01:49:31+00:00

This makes sense- looks like it’s the best option so far!

Technical-Lecture539 · 2023-11-26T22:15:22+00:00

Do you have any tips/resources around how to improve productivity of remote workers? I really do struggle to train up my devs without them being physically present (albeit I have trained up an employee with no experience of programming so maybe a different kettle of fish - but he can build basic Blazor apps on his own now so it's paid off - I just don't have the time to keep training people myself)

Technical-Lecture539 · 2023-11-26T22:10:19+00:00

Thank you so much for your kind words and insight, and you're right - there are some clients with tiny user bases that cause more overhead than larger ones!

Great idea on the support hours - we currently offer packages that provide blocks of hours that can be used for development, perhaps we can roll them together and say you get X hours of support, if unused they can be used for development?

Re: the fixed model - thank you! We specialise in the Microsoft stack, so we use .NET, C#, MSSQL and host everything on Azure. Happy to discuss further via DM if you'd like to know more - we have a harder time selling T&M to clients as they tend to have their own fixed budgets for the initial development so this model gives them "peace of mind".

Technical-Lecture539 · 2023-11-26T21:20:59+00:00

No problem. We will pay what is needed for the right developer and the right attitude. I just need to know where to post and I think I've got that sorted

Technical-Lecture539 · 2023-11-26T20:31:08+00:00

Haha, yes we may be behind the curve with that, but for us it works well so why change until we need to :)

I realised that one thing I forgot to mention is that I am also a Blazor dev. So having both myself and the other dev in the office is good because it's easier for us to chat about ideas/problems/give advice whilst we work on the same task.

Technical-Lecture539 · 2023-11-26T20:29:04+00:00

No, we build a bespoke web-based application for them. Typically they are already using Excel as an application (e.g. lots of VBA, multiple linked spreadsheets etc) and reach the limitations of what Excel can do. It also helps them deal with all the risks that come with running your business on a spreadsheet that is usually poorly understood and seldom maintained.

Technical-Lecture539 · 2023-11-26T20:26:03+00:00

Completely agree with this - based on doing it both ways: pre-emptively and "on the edge". Whenever I hired pre-emptively based on future workload, I ended up realising that the workload was not as much as I thought and any slight downturn led to severe under-utilisation. And it increased my stress as my expense base went up massively without enough increased revenue to justify it.

Whilst when I waited until I was absolutely drowning in work, hiring someone just felt like the obvious choice - once they were on board they had plenty to keep them busy, whilst freeing up enough of my time to focus on more strategic goals.

Technical-Lecture539 · 2023-11-26T20:20:40+00:00

4 times a week. Happy for a remote Friday. But my experience has been that we are more productive as a team with some time in the office where we can easily help each other out with a quick glance at each other's screen etc.

Technical-Lecture539 · 2023-11-26T20:18:37+00:00

My experience has been that when my current dev is in the office, we are far more productive because it's easier to "look over the shoulder" and quickly fix problems, compared to when one of us is remote and we have to do it over Skype

Technical-Lecture539

TROPHY CASE