A couple of years ago I was working with a number of websites on their forum scripts; essentially putting a main website layout onto a vBulletin forum, then handing out general advice on how to moderate and delegate, as well as how to lay out a forum structure. Whilst this was interesting for a while I decided to take a client that was looking to turn big in the world of game journalism. I decided to help out with their forum reluctantly and ended up spending almost every other day tweaking PHP files to add new modifications or to add new things or take them away. I eventually left a full week to get everything done then I left the project, leaving them to find someone else if extra work was needed. Whilst this was a nice earner for me it left me with no free time and no ability to explore new talents and technologies. After a year of tweaking variables and editing basic code my skills diminished and it definitely hit my college grades, but hey, at least I could afford a car…

In many ways, a project could and should be visualised as a personal engagement between a client and a designer/developer. It’s important to take a project that YOU want to work on, as well as to choose a client that you think you will get on with. At desperate times any work is great work, and I don’t disagree with anyone that looks to the fiscal side of work, but if you’re not working for fun then you’ll just eventually burn yourself out and wind up depressed with nowhere to go, perhaps with a nice car or two.

We all get projects that frustrate us to no end, but there is a difference between good and bad types of frustration. I’ve taken the time recently to catch up on my Math knowledge and at times I have felt frustrated with Matrices, yet the one thing I’ve wanted to do is to carry on and finish my problem sets and books. This is a good type of frustration and will only strive to keep me going until I bleed algorithms. If I were frustrated by having to do the Math then I would end up nowhere and the entire ordeal would be a waste of my precious time.

So why do we end up with projects and work that we really don’t want? Here’s a few ideas I’d like to throw out there.

A lot of programmers and developers tend to underbid for work. As an industry a large group tend to sell themselves short due to geographical location or inexperience. Over the past few years I’d struggle to count how many new web designers and developers I’ve noticed that offer extremely good services for next to nothing, just because they’d like to add a few notches to their online bedposts. It’s a stupid thing to do that no other business would even consider. How often would an architect decide to build a mall for £50,000 ($100,000) because it was his first time working on one? You may think that you’re offering a good service that clients will stick around for, but they’re just going to use you to get a cheap design. If you want to know how to price yourself use the old ‘ask-your-rival’ technique! Find a similar web designer to you and email them asking about their rates, then price accordingly.

Another problem is that a lack of research into the client provides an inadequate project experience. A bit of online snooping rarely amounts to concrete knowledge on a subject, so it’s always a good idea to get information straight from the horses mouth, whether you ask yourself or anonymously to the client. Always do heavy research on a client and perform a Needs Analysis to ensure that they’re the kind of client you want to work with.

Finally, trust your instincts! After sending emails back and forth, perhaps attending an interview with them, you should have a pretty good idea on how legit they are, what their aims and goals are and what they expect from you. Face time with a client is fantastic, but if you’re working solely online a couple of phone calls or emails should work well enough for your needs.

In any line of work you’ll have to work with people that you don’t like. It’s just a fact of life! Either way, the only way to get around this is to knuckle-down and do the work, despite how much you enjoy it. If you’ve accepted a project then you’d better finish it as quickly as possible! You’ve made your bed and now you’ll have to sleep in it, and depending on how long you’ll take it can either become a powernap or a coma.