Dudes:

I really don't want to spend too much time discussing this topic on
the list, but the following may be helpful to anyone contemplating
going into my line of work.

There's a guy here on the list (he just lurks, though... I think
he's posted exactly ONE message) who taught me what I think are the
three most important things you need to know about running an
engineering-consultation business.

Aside from his sure-fire way of knowing exactly WHEN and BY HOW MUCH
to adjust your rates for inflation, which I won't describe until I
get his permission (and maybe not even then, since it's sorta
embarrassing to admit that I set my rates that way), he told me:

    1.  When an engineer who's only done garage-type development
        tells you how long it'll take him to perform some task,
        multiply it by two and bump the unit of time to the
        next-larger convenient measure.

        Example:

            I ask an eager but inexperienced engineer how long it'll
            take him to change a resistor value on his schematic.  He
            says thirty seconds.

            I multiply thirty by two and get sixty, then bump the
            units from seconds to minutes... I come up with sixty
            minutes, which is about what it'll REALLY take him by
            the time he's made the change to his schematic, printed
            it, checked it, noticed that he forgot to update the
            revision level, bumped the rev, printed it again,
            checked it again, looked up the new part number and made
            the change to the BOM, and informed the PCB designer and
            anyone else who needs to know.

        This works on big projects, too... Witness the recent
        back-and-forth list discussions regarding the time that it
        takes to do an "average" PIC project.  One guy says 2 weeks;
        the next says 4 months.

    2.  Take only:

        a) interesting jobs, from
        b) nice people who
        c) have money.

        Once you're established and have a reputation, you'll be
        offered more work than you can handle... There's no reason,
        at that point, to settle for anyone who doesn't meet all
        three of the above-mentioned criteria.

        When you're first starting out, of course, you may have to
        take some uninteresting jobs... But don't waste your time
        working for anyone who fails the "nice people" or "has
        money" tests.

-Andy

=== Andrew Warren - fastfwd@ix.netcom.com                 ===
=== Fast Forward Engineering - Vista, California          ===
===                                                       ===
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