That was my thought, too. You can always build a portfolio piece, or construct a case study by having a side project (a good example is Ryan Stewart with LacesOut.com).
Thanks for verbalizing this. There are a slew of talented developers in the Valley, all of whom can do the technical work. The paid audition is a chance for both the hiring company and the candidate to make sure their values are aligned.
The sports analogy is partially correct, but college prospects in all the major sports have to go to the talent recruiters before they are signed. (NBA tryouts, NFL Combine, etc.)
The process of applying for a new job while you still have a current job will take time, no matter what the process looks like. The hiring company will want a series of interviews, and either a whiteboard, pair program, or code audition. A small project would perhaps take a little more time than these other methods, but should not take take that much longer, provided the hiring company has put some thought into what small projects they are giving to you to audition. If they pay you for your time, that is also respectful.
What if the hiring company culled the list down to a set number of candidates and gave them all paid contract work, on something they needed done anyway, as an audition?
This gives both the applicant and the company a chance to see how working together might go. The company gets something on their to-do list done, and the candidate gets paid for their time.
The advice so far is very sound; I will add this as well. In the future, work with a contract, and never work without one again. This first thing to do in future projects is define the scope and make sure that both you and the client are in agreeance on what will be delivered and when for how much.
For this project, the blame is entirely on yourself. That is not meant to be harsh. No contract, you were not clear on what you were doing but took the job and did not set expectations correctly. This is a learning experience - communicate where you are with the project to the client on a regular basis from now on.
Giving vague feedback to disqualified candidates may be necessary to cover lawsuits against the hiring company, but does nothing to make the would-be candidates grow or improve.
> I don't do it because I want money, success, or fame. I do it because I deeply want to make a meaningful impact on the world.
> I don't want to stop working.
Rick, you need to be really careful what you wish for, because you might just get it.
This point cannot be stressed enough. If you hide stuff from your spouse about money, you're going down a real bad road. If your life at home is shaky, there is no way you are going to be able to lift a business successfully. The two cannot be siloed off from one another.
That philosophy is also in The Richest Man in Babylon and every single book written on finances ever. If you can't pay yourself first, you will never save anything.
Finally...a rational statement about what is really going on. I do think Facebook will survive, as infrastructure for the internet, but the history of all social networks says they have a time limit before they are replaced by something cooler. Right now, there is nothing better, so no one is jumping ship en masse.
The anger has nothing to do with "nerdiness". It's economic. Since tech is the one job sector that is not suffering, wouldn't it be nice for some of them to volunteer something to help the community? Seeing as they have some to spare and others have very little?
Rattling off excuses for why "that will never work" and not even attempting will not solve anything either. Funny how design is all about problem solving until it forces people out of their comfort zone and challenges them to meet people who are not like them.
Isn't Network Solutions the company that got caught buying up domains that users would search for, if they didn't buy them immediately? Thereby forcing users to backorder domains at an increased cost? This post does not surprise me. GoDaddy isn't close to this bad.