Send them this quote:* “And those who were seen dancing were thought to be insane by those who could not hear the music.” -Nietzsche*
Have you ever tried this? You’d end up putting more effort into breaking down the project into such a low granularity that you can have fifty different programmers do one hour a piece, than if you just did it yourself. Plus you can to do this only if you’re knowledgable enough, so again just do it yourself. Plus you have to put in the extra time of testing and debugging code written in multiple different styles. It just makes no sense.
And seriously, programmers routinely give away their time as open source code or freeware, and others use the freeware to make money without ever giving back. If someone takes up two hours of your time to save $150, once, it won’t kill you.
No, I haven’t tried it. I have worked for managers who would label it as “thinking outside the box”.
I agree - it makes no sense. Neither did the project where I was told in February that it was scheduled to be finished in January, and not next January either. Nor the project where I was scheduled to both learn and teach a new software package simultaneously, on the theory “the best way to learn something is to teach it”. I’m not kidding - that’s what my manager said.
Things that make sense to managers don’t always make sense to normal people. And everything looks easy to those who don’t have to do it.
I don’t know that this is what the company is thinking. But after thirty years in the business, I am not naïve enough to think that I have seen it all, yet.
Regards,
Shodan
To clarify; they want to pay me to take the test, not the other way around. If they wanted me to pay them l wouldn’t even consider it.
Shodan, you’re complaining just about PHBs. PHBs don’t have the expertise to break down the project into such a low granularity, so they still have to pay someone to do that. But again, even if they scammed you into giving them two hours of your time for free, so what? If you’re looking for a job, you have to spend many hours of your time for free for applications and interviews, and yes, that includes writing snippets of code that may or may not be used by the employer, whoopee doo.
There are legitimate reasons to be cautious about some prospective employers, “they’re out to steal two hours of my time for free” is not one of them.
If it helps, and clearly is a different field, but I have done some freelance SEO writing work, and before getting the nod on any particular project I get asked to do an abbreviated test piece, some of which I get paid for. I get security that I’m not writing pieces they will use for free, and I suppose they’re happy to pay a couple of pounds to make sure I’m not an illiterate slob, and gives them cred, that they’re a legit business.
Based on me experience with that I wouldn’t necessarily discount the offer you have.
I’ve submitted a quote. We’ll see what happens.
I’m confused, as usual…
Are they asking you how much you’ll pay to take the test or how much you’d want in return for taking the test?
They want to pay him. In essence they are asking his fee for the work he’s going to do