Let me tell you something: When a company hires you to do an app (or your management in a large company asks for some new software function of any sort), nine times out of ten they don''t have the foggiest idea what they want you to do. Even if they have a 50-page spec, it'll be more concerned with legalese than actual function. While it can be frustrating and painful to drag out of them the expected function, and negotiate how it will be implemented, the opportunities for innovation are substantial. (In a couple of cases I was given free rein in developing multi-million $ projects.)
Certainly there's a trade-off -- working for yourself you only have to negotiate with yourself. But for many programmers (who often as not have more than a touch of ADHD) having some external source of direction (and schedule pressure) can actually be helpful -- helps keep you from running around in circles forever. And, while the negotiations with a company can be painful, there are, as I'm fond of saying, "toilets to be cleaned" in any occupation. It comes with the job. Don't expect working for yourself to be pain-free and not involve a substantial amount of "dog work". On May 28, 11:59 pm, Bob Kerns <[email protected]> wrote: > I meant something far more narrow. > > If you work create a phone app as a work-for-hire, whether as a contractor, > vendor, or even as an employee, you will be expected to produce what they're > asking for. Often, in this scenario, it will be on a tight budget, and quite > narrowly defined. > > This is in contrast with doing something on your own, where you have a wide > open field, and can pursue whatever idea interests you. > > The question of whether you can innovate in a large company depends a lot on > both you and the company. Some large companies are quite well known for > encouraging innovation. To take one very significant (though somewhat > historical) example: Xerox. > > I've worked in Digital Equipment's Cambridge Research Lab. Plenty of room to > explore and innovate there. But had I been hired, even as an employee, to > create "an Android app", that would be different -- at least for the life of > that product. > > Sometimes that kind of relationship though can be a route into a company, > and lead to more interesting work. > > I'd like to highlight one thing you said: "I was always innovating, in small > and large ways". That's a good attitude, and expectation, to go into any > work, even the most narrowly defined. There's always room for innovation in > small ways, and you will always learn more, be worth more, and have more > fun. > > I only meant to illustrate the that there can be a trade-off between > work-for-hire and your own work, in terms of how freely you can innovate. > > On Saturday, May 28, 2011 9:07:57 PM UTC-7, DanH wrote: > > > I do take issue with the argument that there's no room for innovation > > with big (or small) corporations. I've spent most of my career (about > > 36 years) working for large corporations, and, save for the last 2-3 > > years of that time (when my employer essentially decided they were out > > of the innovation business), I was always innovating, in small and > > large ways. I have my name on something like 20 patents, I won > > several awards from my company, and I had the opportunity to work on a > > number of interesting projects. -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Android Developers" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/android-developers?hl=en
