Would you like a job writing PHP code? Work at home? Paid by the hour? See job offer below the fold.
What does this have to do with progressive politics? Any time that people agree to work together, that's politics. A work relationship can be abusive or egalitarian, enslaving or enabling. The job I'm talking about here involves a lot of freedom (so you need to be self-motivated or nothing will get done) but for somewhat less money (I'm semi-retired and making half as much now as when I was a salaried software engineer). This job is not for everyone, but maybe it's for you?
Comments are solicited on how I can do a better job of getting the word out that this kind of employment is available.
(This is a repost of a job offer I previously made to a private mailing list. I have replaced some insider jokes with [CENSORED], but that shouldn't make much difference in readability.)
Do you need a job? I need some helpers for my software consulting business. The code is mostly in PHP, with occasional forays into C, YACC, etc. Work from home in your spare time! Get paid by the hour!
The customer has a clinical-research website, aimed at people who research new drugs for a living, exhorting them to behave ethically towards their test subjects. Much of the software helps the customer run their conferences, where such folks gather together to get continuing-education credits for trading notes about how to do research while obeying laws and avoiding hurting people.
Here are some indications that this job might be for you:
* Writing PHP that creates customized JavaScript that creates on-the-fly HTML sounds like fun.
* Most of these words mean something to you: LAMP, CSS, ssh, cvs, gcc, bash, qmail.
* You don't want a 9-5 job (because you're caring for a relative, have health issues, retired/student/whatever).
* You already have a laptop running Linux, onto which the customer's website software could be loaded for your offline work.
* Your keyboard is covered with [CENSORED], or you like to [CENSORED] for a week. I don't care!
* You have previous experience in getting paid for writing software.
* You have ever been called a "grammar Nazi". This isn't strictly necessary for the job, but fellow contractors will like your emails better.
* A "good day" is one where you finally have an excuse to read one of those high-numbered chapters in the PHP manual.
* You hate The Blame Game and prefer to get paid by the hour to fix the problem without having to decide whether the problem is "I did it wrong" or "you told me to do the wrong thing".
* You would think it appropriate to jot down some notes about what you did during hours for which you want to get paid, even if the job didn't require that.
Here are some signs that you probably wouldn't like this job:
* You can still count how many 1,000 line programs you've ever written.
* Your usual response to a program that needs modification is "do it over".
* The camaraderie of office politics makes you feel energized.
* Endless rounds of emails without ever actually talking to anyone in person would drive you crazy.
* You have a religious devotion to the "waterfall model" of software development and believe that it is theologically wrong for a customer to expect you to write a program that does something when they themselves don't really have a grip on what that thing is.
* You can remember what your friend's brother's roommate said last week more easily than you can remember the technical details of a program you worked on two months ago.
* When a [CENSORED] convinces you to drop everything and go for a frolic, it would "spoil the mood" to write down when you stopped working.
* You think "a job" means working 100 hours a week and getting paid in stock options.
MONEY: Payment is monthly. There are no deductions, so you need to save up for income taxes, dentistry, etc. Your initial wage-rate depends on experience and credentials, while raises come from making the customer feel like you're worth more. Example: $25/hr seems typical for this kind of contract work if you have a bachelor's degree and some years of experience as a Linux administrator. I've been at this job for 3½ years and am now making twice as much per hour as when I started! I'm actually making a living at this, putting in a few hours on most days (sometimes I get energized and put in a 40-hour week). You can too!
For further info, email me.