| A few people have objected this line: > [The lesson is] not about making friends with the right people As making friends with the restaurant owners and the delivery guys was absolutely the key to my friend's success. To which I 100% agree. So I made it clearer: > [The lesson is] not about making friends with a developer The point I am trying to make is entirely different: our friendship didn't force me to write the code the way it was written. The limitations we had did. And it's possible to do it with non-friend developers as well: just limit the budget. If a client comes to me with detailed scope of work and unlimited budget, I will make sure to build something truly amazing and earn a new house in the process. That's just how human brain works. But if they approach with a limited budget telling me to do the best I can, I might build something good enough to launch. Now that comes with a different problem: most clients will want more after you have done your best for the budget. That doesn't necessarily mean they're bad people. Friends will do the same. Don't remember for a fact but probably my friend also asked for some more stuff, to which I would have said no. Ability to say no is absolutely crucial, be it with clients or friends. Better people than I have written on the matter so I won't bother you further with my thoughts on this. |