Are you a professional programmer?

Straker · Post by **Straker** » Sat Feb 18, 2006 7:58 pm

I got this idea from another thread, but I think the information might be very valuable to Fred and the rest of the team, so please answer.

Coding means either earning money coding for someone else or selling software that you have coded.

Thanks

Intrigued · Post by **Intrigued** » Sat Feb 18, 2006 8:45 pm

I was working at an ISP up until last summer. Now I code on the side as time permits, some for monies and some for funnies.

er...

Straker · Post by **Straker** » Sat Feb 18, 2006 9:25 pm

Can someone please post a link to this poll in the French and German forums? Since they are the majority of the users, it would be helpful if they chimed in.

ricardo · Post by **ricardo** » Sat Feb 18, 2006 11:16 pm

One missign option:

Yes - I earn a full-time living coding in a different language AND PureBasic.

Bonne_den_kule · Post by **Bonne_den_kule** » Sat Feb 18, 2006 11:38 pm

I am a student

dagcrack · Post by **dagcrack** » Sat Feb 18, 2006 11:39 pm

viva peron

Straker · Post by **Straker** » Sun Feb 19, 2006 1:27 am

ricardo wrote:One missign option:

Yes - I earn a full-time living coding in a different language AND PureBasic.

I understand what you mean ricardo. I answered #2, but I still use PureBasic in my professional development, just not as my primary language. So, if you are really doing 50/50 PureBasic and another language, then select #1, since getting paid to code in PureBasic half the time sounds good enough to me.

Please read the questions as:

Yes - I earn a full-time living coding primarily in PureBasic
Yes - I earn a full-time living coding primarily in a different language
Yes - I earn money part-time coding primarily in PureBasic
Yes - I earn money part-time coding primarily in a different language

PB · Post by PB » Sun Feb 19, 2006 2:42 am

I made some money with some Visual Basic apps in the past, which I hope to
replicate with PureBasic one day. Trouble is, I don't have as much spare time
anymore as I did back then.

Intrigued · Post by **Intrigued** » Sun Feb 19, 2006 3:06 am

PB wrote:I made some money with some Visual Basic apps in the past, which I hope to
replicate with PureBasic one day. Trouble is, I don't have as much spare time
anymore as I did back then.

I live in Florida (Ocala area) and I know the feeling. Time is not on my side just now. My wife and I went down to Clearwater tonight for some fun. I talked to her about me taking 90 days (living off some of the savings we have, quitting my job) to see what I can hammer out. I feel the only real solution is to not make one-off programs for a few clients, but to have a residual income by making programs that will get many downloads. I sure don't want to keep trying to hammer out a new program for a new client every couple of weeks or month. But, I will if need be I told her.

For now I have to "hold" because of our recent move and the increase in living expenses. We would take a good hit in the savings in a few short months. I told here, "I'll have to take some risk no matter when I do this action". (she held firm, d'oh).

I'll have to work her over time on this topic, that's for sure.

Post by **Dare2** » Sun Feb 19, 2006 3:49 am

Hi Intrigued,

Risking your ire, but IMO 90 days is too short a time to get traction. Esp if you're going to code, deploy, market and get returns in that time. You could come a gutser, even with a winner.

Also, IMO, you probably need a couple of products.

Intrigued · Post by **Intrigued** » Sun Feb 19, 2006 4:38 am

Dare2 wrote:Hi Intrigued,

Risking your ire, but IMO 90 days is too short a time to get traction. Esp if you're going to code, deploy, market and get returns in that time. You could come a gutser, even with a winner.

Also, IMO, you probably need a couple of products.

Yes, I agree on the timeline. I told my wife no less than six months. I used the timeline even of major games gone gold, one year to two years average.

But with AMS 6 I may not be able to do everything PB can... but I can code certain applications faster with it and get the ball rolling. But, if you want some serious control, PB is definitely the way to go in most cases, from what I have read (Help file, Programming 2D Scrolling Games book, etc.) and from what I have coded.

Now, I just need her here to read what you typed!

I told her that I will be beta testing the application(s) (with others helping) for a good amount of time before releasing the product. I understand the point that the longer you test a product the better it will be, definitely time well spent. It's the Help file that will be a bugger for me. Ack!

Straker · Post by **Straker** » Sun Feb 19, 2006 5:05 am

Most commercial apps require a team of people not just one. There are exceptions, however, I being one. The product I have developed has taken two years and is just now ready for market. Each application is unique, and like everything else in life, takes longer and more effort than originally planned.

Check out DoubleDutch's latest creation. Maybe he could give you some pointers and realistic timeframes regarding his products.

RichardL · Post by **RichardL** » Wed Feb 22, 2006 6:23 pm

@ Intrugued
My first computer was a Commodore PET costing about £850 in the mid 80s and yes, the wife had to approve it. This was a turning point for us and started my programming career. First I taught myself BASIC, moved on to assembler and then started selling simple programs. Instead of spending the cash we earned we banked it until we had saved about one year’s pay (admittedly not a lot). I then quit my full time job which I had stayed with for 21 years and went solo. That was 21 years ago; I have kept busy ever since.

Suggestions:

Take the risk of going solo only if you can afford to fail; otherwise go part time initially.
Do not underestimate the effort required to get your masterpieces into the market.
Be prepared to work hard… very hard.
Do not mortgage the family home to finance that big opportunity, too many sleepless nights until it’s paid off! (Been there, got the ulcers!)
Things will go wrong; learn from your mistakes and try to put them behind you.
If you do not feel up to writing a manual get one of your testers to do it. You could be too immersed in the project to write a clear “how to use it” document. The same goes for other areas where you are less than expert.
Find an accountant who will talk to you, there are many business / financial traps to avoid.
If you have your family’s support you are very, very lucky… repay them at least with a bit of yourself.

Good luck.

Straker · Post by **Straker** » Wed Feb 22, 2006 7:15 pm

Good reply RichardL

You forgot two important things:

- Have a good idea of a product
- Research the market niche for that product (don't reinvent the wheel)

jb · Post by jb » Wed Feb 22, 2006 8:33 pm

I have been making my living doing software development since 1980 and I have always loved working with the Basic languages.

I started out working with mini-computers (Qantel, Basic Four, etc.) writing accounting systems to run on those computers in their different flavors of Basic (QicBasic, Business Basic, etc.).

Then came the CP/M based machines and I did some development in BBx or Thoroughbred Basic if I remember correctly.

When personal computers started appearing in the workplace I did a lot of development in the dBase languages (dBase, FoxPro, etc.).

Currently I do a lot of work integrating accounting systems (Great Plains, Macola, etc.) with the document management systems that our company resells and supports. I also develop a lot of custom workflow applications that work in tandem with these document management systems. Almost 90% of our software is written in classic Visual Basic with the remainder being in JavaScript, FoxPro, VBA, Softbridge Basic, and very very little C# code. Our applications are normally database centric using MDAC and also use a lot of COM interop.

We have a fairly large code base and have not moved our Visual Basic applications to the .NET framework as of yet nor have we had any request to do so.

I personally use PureBasic only for small utility type programs used in-house. Nothing commercial at this time.

With PureBasic continuing to progress as well as it has, I am hopeful that it will get serious consideration by my company for use in future commercial development.

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