Posted by Michael Vilain on 07/09/05 02:39

In article <1120865004.854126.87960@g44g2000cwa.googlegroups.com>,
"user105" <usenetaccount@mailsent.net> wrote:

> Hi,
>
> A friend of mine has recently offered me some work web programming. I'm
> self-taught (python, c++, php, mysql, html, scheme) and have never
> worked professionally; up till now I've been programming for fun.
>
> Problem: I don't know how long it should take me to complete projects.
>
>
> For example,
>
> My friend has a page that gives him all the details of his purchase
> orders - a .php page full of myspl data.
>
> He wants me to create a similar page that will allow him to edit much
> of this data dynamically.
>
> Could anybody give me a rough time estimate (and rate estimate?) on
> something like this?
>
> Thanks,
>
> James

I think the rate you complete projects depends on how experienced a
programmer you are. One of the things an experienced programmer can do
is gauge the "level of effort" of a project. One mistake I did at the
start of my programming career was failing to break a project down into
pieces and seeing it as a monolithic thing to complete. If you chop it
up into day-long segments or even week-log. You may not be able to
gauge accurately how fast you can do the work, but at least you'll have
an idea of the scope.

To answer your specific question, "how long will it take" depends on how
much work there is to do. So do the analysis and design _first_ before
you start coding. Then you'll have an idea of how long.

--
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