[ZeroCoin]

>The man I paid was in his forties, and he spoke to me in the most patronizing tone, as if I were some silly little girl who did not have the right to question his work, despite the fact that I was paying for it.

I'm not surprised in the slightest because as a young male this has happened to myself numerous times in the past before I got sick of it and decided to learn programming myself.

Generally programmers who you hire for a one-off programming job and don't really have any connection to will berate you if you call their work sub par.

In a way, I almost agree with their attitude. Because what do you honestly know? If you knew the best way to program what you think you wanted, why didn't you code it yourself?

In hindsight, the things I thought the programs I paid for should or could have done better were actually impossible and I appreciate now the bluntness of the programmers I paid to tell it to me straight.

[hawkice]

Some of my instincts are telling me the interaction you are describing has little to do with age, either. I think this has to do with price point. I am young myself, and (if I didn't know how to program) I'd probably end up hiring someone at the low-cost end of the spectrum, because $100/hour for good people is... wowzers.

But that premium typically buys you more than just people who discuss things more professionally. Paying professional wages gets you people who, when they notice there might be a conflict between what you describe and what's possible, propose the best solutions, instead of just sassing you. Sounds weird, but that really is one of the most valuable skills freelance engineers can develop. And the more abstract you can get with your solutions, the better -- if you pitch the idealistically abstract "you will have more money", your life gets very easy. Obviously you'll use more details in your pitch.

[girvo]

I had the same happen to me, I was a 17 year old who was running my own agency (4 employees, the youngest of which was 21 at the time). That's not to take away from her experiences though, but I have experienced a lot of that myself despite being male. Great article though!