Do programmers need brokers? Three）

Solomon and Blumberg have been friends since elementary school. In 1995, two people opened a company called Brick Wall Management. They have a steady pool of clients, but Solomon has lost faith in the music industry, which is "All about how bad things are, who's been cut, who's bankrupt". Two people inside Solomon is the person who "decide", have the characteristic of entrepreneur. In addition to music management, they also manage VIP ticketing and charities for Bruce Springsteen's performance. "There are a few of us who think that since technology is a major source of music, we go there to make money," Solomon said. "They came up with two app ideas. One is a digital magazine, sold on itunes. In addition to music people's records, there will be additional "text description, photos, video" And so on, users of interest can also record karaoke. Another is the album list application. If you go to Bruce Springsteen's concert, Solomon says, "You might say, ' Oh, he just sang Candy ' s reactiveness. When was the last time you sang? "And then the phone will tell you.

They recruited a group of freelance web developers through friends. The experience was "a bit catastrophic." "Solomon said. The developer completed the work of the bound app 90%, but there was a problem with the Karaoke function, and then the gang ran away. "I haven't answered emails for weeks," Solomon continued, "and we said to ourselves, ' Oh my God, who are we looking for? ' What's wrong? "In addition, Solomon is also hit by developers ' lack of business savvy: when they were recruited, they didn't talk about the price; the first offer was accepted. He and Blumberg realized that they were dealing with "a very familiar person": talented but not commercially skilled. We immediately thought, ' This is not a musician! We used to get in touch with people like that! ' And then a flash of light, ' Solomon said.

Recruiters are middlemen in the technical tradition, and businesses hire these people to supplement the staff gap. But the profession has a reputation for being a technical person: the promise of easy money, coupled with a low entry threshold, means "speculators" everywhere, and one recruiter says that speculators look to truffles for a job search. Recruiters often lack a technical background. It's like an athlete looking for a nerd to go looking for someone. There is a blog called Shit recruiters dour to extract some of the botched recruitment emails. Development Framework Ruby on Rails founder David Hansson has published an email from a Groupon recruiter saying "Looking for people with reliable skills." ”

For some short-term projects, consultants and the so-called development team (dev shops) will hire engineers and then take kickbacks for hourly wages. But freelancers may not always be satisfied with the arrangement. One developer once told me, "I know that at least one reputable consulting firm has a 250 dollar salary, but less than 100 for developers." "Another complains that the system is too impersonal:" We call them ' human flesh shops ' because they're just trying to fill the gap with people who are fooling around. ”
Solomon and Blumberg decided to become allies with programmers rather than companies, and of course salaries were paid by programmers. But to get a client they need a ticket to the tech community. Luckily Altay Guvench has one, the 2003 Harvard graduate is both an engineer and a musician. His band, Unknowns, was touring with Indigo American.

Guvench programming takes a roundabout route. He runs a recording studio at the university and then participates in a start-up that tries to "subvert the live touring market". The company failed, and Guvench realised there was a technical problem: "We have a very talented programmer co-founder, but he is more excited about computer science than business issues." In 2006, Guvench moved back home to live in his parents ' basement. He can't find a new job. So decided to self-study programming, from the front-end HTML, CSS, JavaScript to learn, every day to learn a lot of things. The complexity of programming makes guvench think of music.

Guvench met Solomon and Blumberg at a charity event initiated by Solomon. He had moved to California at that time, working as a freelance programmer and playing part-time for several years. But he wants to start a new life. He is not good at self-promotion, and he doesn't know how to make a bid for a client. "Like many freelancers, I love to do things, and everything else (like business) seems to be a necessary evil," he said. "When Guvench met Solomon and Blumberg, a company that made pharmaceutical software was in contact with him. He called Solomon them to negotiate with each other on his behalf. The negotiation will be over in 20 minutes. The salary rose from 100 to 150 on the hourly rate raised by the other, a full 50% increase. In addition, the broker also handles such things as contracts and invoices. A few months later, Guvench noticed that his lifestyle had changed: "I've got more money, but less complexity." My friend started asking where to find an agent? So he found Solomon and Blumberg said: "I will not be your client, I want to be your business partner." ”

To be Continued ...