“My code doesn't interest anyone” or why good web studios should challenge this

Hello dear inhabitants of Habr. Write it led me to an article Programmers do not understand . This will be the cry of the soul of a lonely beginner web perfectionist in the ears of most existing web studios and web developers.

I am a web programmer, and alas, I understand everything. This is just the majority of customers and customers that does not understand something. Recently, there is a trend in the web in the style of "an online store for 3 hours with preference and ladies basket and personal cabinet ", but no one wondered what such advertising "jokes" in medium and small web studios lead to.

For clarity, I will ask you to imagine a situation where company A is operating in the market. It offers quality websites and online stores at really affordable prices. For example, from 80t.r. Dates from 1 month. And here Vasya Pupkin, 15-20 years old, enters the same market, “creates” company B, or by offering freelancer services promises everyone “an online store for 20 hours with all the bells and whistles and for only 20t.r.”. Dumping in any area is very hard. But it is especially cruel on the web, when the threshold for entering a business is so low that even yesterday’s schoolchildren, who barely read an htmlbook and a couple of related services, can try to earn freehand, can get in here.
The benefits to the client are obvious. Any Uncle Peter, who will begin to study the market in search of partners to create a website, will most likely pay attention to Vasi Pupkin’s company than A. Company. For the proposal, at first glance, is more profitable. Here and the site will get faster, and the budget will save. But a rare client understands that the output of these two companies will be completely different product ...

In the first case, the client after a couple of months of waiting will receive a quality tested online store with a working basket, order statuses, automatic catalog updates, etc. etc. And most likely in the future, all he needs will be accompanying support, updating and improving the existing functionality for new requirements, new content, and after a while, perhaps a redesign. As a result, the studio developer will sign a long-term contract for the simple support of quality service with which it is convenient and pleasant to work.
')
What happens if the site is made by Vasi Pupkin’s company? And that's what! The client receives a well-functioning website that somehow processes orders and reacts very painfully to any alterations and changes. Usually in the first days of use, the client begins to find holes and shoals in such a site, which, logically, he will ask to fix. What does Vasya's company do in this case? Here, in principle, there are three options. First - It clogs the bolt, and ignores the customer, leaving him 1 on 1 with g ... sorry, with the product he made. The second - Vasya, wanting to remain on the market and not lose his or her not so prominent person, begins to make edits for free (by contract or by verbal agreement. It doesn’t matter). What is spending additional and no longer paid time. And the third option (fantastic) - Vasya is a talented marketer à la Steve Jobs, and convinces the customer that you need to pay extra for correcting their jambs, turning 20 hours and 20 thousand, for example, 40 hours and 40 thousand.

All this of course is sad, and badly hits the pocket of honest web studios, who are trying to make a normal product, but can not compete with such Pupkin. In particularly difficult cases, it remains only to equate services to the same level and turn into the same bylolock as a competitor.

And you know what grieves the most? I have absolutely no complaints about companies that are recruiting schoolchildren of yesterday and students, who come in absolutely green and absolutely nothing. It is foolish to find fault with the code of people who learn everything right in the process of development. I myself, in principle, not a major developer. Sad when experienced, knowledgeable people deliberately write the same bydlokod. I have repeatedly come across sites on which even an elementary banner cannot be replaced or corrected in a standard and understandable way. And an elementary operation, which should take no more than 5 minutes, turns into a painstaking study of the code, until you get to the bottom of the depths and somewhere there you find a couple of lines that once added Lead or Senior of this project, because you knew the CMS core perfectly , and this method was for him the fastest. And on the further support of other programmers working on this project, such people just do not care .

Do not all these people understand that making a web studio is not just “selling watches”. The more effectively these watches are sold, the greater the profit! In other words, when you make an online store for 20 hours, and then spend another 20 free hours on editing bugs, this is selling 40 hours for the price of 20. This is not a benefit - it is a loss. And when then such a site comes to you for support, working with it is also not profitable. Instead of quick edits and changes, developers have to understand the incomprehensible code and add their crutches to be in time. Over the years of such support, crutches will accumulate so much that would be enough for all cripples of the country. And including 3 spare pairs.

It is quite another thing when a good, well-made site comes to support. Working with them is a pleasure. Minor edits do not take more than 5 minutes. Imagine how many such edits can make 1 employee for 8 hour working day. With this approach, it is possible even with a small staff of programmers to take on the support of dozens of major projects without fear of debris. But alas, this happens only in fairy tales, and even projects made by renowned studios are crammed with all sorts of crutches to the eyeballs, because the developer did not have time for the deadlines. He himself was convinced of this more than once.

I do not insist on explaining to customers what the code affects and why it should be good. It is necessary to focus on the other. It is necessary to explain how the project of your good studio will differ from the cheaper offer of Vasya. And even if the customer still insists on a cheap option - you should try to make the code as high as possible to make life easier for yourself and your colleagues, who may have to support your product.

I have already written so much, and probably not everyone will be able to reach the end. Therefore, I would like to say thanks to those who mastered it all the same. As I wrote in the beginning - I understand everything. I understand that my code is not needed by anyone. And I understand that this text will not fix anything from the problems described, and that nobody needs it either. And everyone will still be on the web. But hope does not leave me that maybe even one of the readers will be imbued with this idea, and perhaps in the future, I will get one more good project. Made by a programmer who loved his work, and did everything according to the rules, recommendations, and standards.
But in any case, thank you all for your attention, and see you soon!