Ask HN: Do you feel guilty about getting paid for bugfixes? | Hacker News Reader

Ask HN: Do you feel guilty about getting paid for bugfixes?

11 pointsmannicken6 comments

Well, I wrote an app for this company; the app passed all the QA tests on functionality it needed to do. However, after deployment in the real world, bug-reports have started to come in.

Of course, it is my job to fix them for hourly pay but I still feel like I haven't done a good enough job in the first place, to allow all these bugs in.

Anyone else feels/felt this way?

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Bugs will always be there; but you can maintain credibility in a few ways. One, by showing that you do have solid tests (sounds like you do). Two, by being frank with customers from the very beginning, about the imperfections of software. And three, by showing haste, within reason, to fix any problems that are discovered, to respect customers' time and investments.

Still, the owner of a software project cannot be naive. He or she must be reasonably aware of the sources of the various bugs, and deal with any patterns that are forming. For instance, maybe one developer is responsible for the vast majority of problems. Not all developers are good; in fact, many are quite bad, and don't belong anywhere near the code they're currently maintaining.

This is just the nature of the software business. When I worked at CMU a good portion of the app I was working on was fixing bugs. The more complex the software, the higher the expectation that there will be bugs to fix (and unexpected behavior caused by fixed bugs, sometimes!).

I have just billed for less hours than I worked in scenarios like this, without telling the client (so that they don't feel entitled in the future).

When I first started programming I was also an auto mechanic. I never felt guilty for maintaining cars or programs.

Yes, but if you had built the car, you would have given a warranty.

Now, I'm not saying he should fix bugs for free, as he promised no warranty. But that's how he's feeling. It's like he shipped a car with a bad transmission that died, so he feels like he should replace it for free.

Why? You and the client jointly agreed on a certain quality standard and you met that quality standard. This should have been indicated by a client sign off. The only way I'd say you owe them in some sense at this point is if you clearly didn't meet the agreed upon spec... but the tests (both code and user) should have hit most of that. After that... well, they need to evaluate the cost/benefits of changing the software.

Also, do not fix bugs for free -- certainly, people have done a (very tiny) bit of work for good clients, but you don't want to train clients to expect free stuff. You'll find that clients also try to slide features in as bugs -- the best way to keep a cap on this is to do a good job, meet your agreements, and then force them to decide on whether any further work is worth your hourly rate.

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