Just a note to people who ask me questions or guidance or advise (on mobility stuff)…
Please note that I am more than happy to help people – that is the reason I write, to share and teach and help others in our space… If you are a student, and even a professional, I'm happy to help…
I would appreciate when sending me questions, to please identify yourself appropriately: as a student, what school, project and so on, and if a company, please identify yourself as such.
Please note there are levels of help… there are questions for direction or suggestions or advise, and there are elaborated, time-consuming, expert/professional-advise. And there are consultation-kind of questions, and there are questions by students or other non-commercial folks. Some game rules:
- For students, me designing and/or writing (parts of) your school project is a no-no; me doing so defeats the whole purpose of the project. I hope you agree. I do have received such requests in subtle ways. Again, I am happy to help with advise, etc. as I have done many times in the past
- Helping with open source projects is fine, as long as proper attribution is maintained
- Helping with commercial projects, beyond simple direction and/or suggestions, requires the fair thing → $, for my time/expertise – hey we all have to make a living :-)
- Helping my buddies, student or professionals, is done for free, wait, maybe ;-)
For example, the question(s) below was made by a company for a commercial product, who wanted answers, but didn't want to show the money:
While trivial, what bugged me about the above request is that is was for a commercial (future) product (vs. from a student), and that I had to follow up with emails to learn the question was for a future commercial product… and that when I learned it was for a product, the person didn't want to do the right thing: show the money; not fair, won't you agree? Same question from a student, enthusiast, or non-commercial is a different matter…It is a matter of principle.
In short:
- commercial requests → professional consultation → $ (or some kind of arrangement)
- non-commercial requests → non-professional consultation → no charge
Please note that all my articles (from Bluetooth to Web Services, to J2ME and Symbian, and many other), and even source code, are all available for download from my web site (http://cenriqueortiz.com or http://www.j2medeveloper.com or http://www.javamedeveloper.com or http://mobilitydeveloper.com – they all point to the same place), and/or through my web site, and/or in other web sites (some requires registration)… Please always check there first, and take a stab at it first, then I'll be more than happy to help with questions, advise, and so on… That is the best way to learn anyways… Lot's of good new content on mobility will be coming out this year from me and published around the Web – stay tuned.
Please don't take me wrong when I write about this topic – let the questions keep coming! Don't be discouraged… But as mobility and its adoption continues to grow, I've found important to establish the “rules of the game”; it is about fairness,
that's all…
Yours truly :-)
ceo
--- C. Enrique Ortiz Website - http://www.cenriqueortiz.com Weblog - http://www.cenriqueortiz.com/weblog Mobile Monday Austin - http://www.mobilemondayaustin.org Austin Wireless Alliance - http://www.austinwirelessalliance.org "The world's my home when I'm mobile... going mobile, keep me moving..." - The Who