Ask HN: Presell Rails development to pay for Rails devolopment course? | Hacker News Reader

Ask HN: Presell Rails development to pay for Rails devolopment course?

Hi all,

I've been accepted into a Dev Bootcamp type-of training course and begin in August. During the course all students are to build their own fully functional web app. The course is rather expensive and I will be having a tough time paying for it and rent and food while in the class, so I am curious if you guys think that preselling the development of an MVP would be a good idea? I would have the help of multiple instructors and could guarantee the successful completion of said project.

Just throwing this idea out there for feedback- Very well may not do it.

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Do you have a lot of experience with contract development and just not with Rails or are you still a bit green? Because there's a big difference between "I'll build a fully functional web app" and "I can guarantee a paying client that I'll build their fully functional web app to their satisfaction." It is easy to be overconfident and get in over your head when you haven't yet learned what you can and can't do in what timeframe. I've seen a lot of inexperienced developers get into that — heck, I've seen it from some developers who should know better. And I do think it's good to test your boundaries — but when there's money involved like that, it's not fun.

Also, if you're not experienced, it's hard to see how you could offer a sufficiently credible guarantee that would justify rates significantly above minimum wage. I mean, random dudes on oDesk are already considered pretty risky and are not paid well — and you can actually look at their history and see that they have successfully completed contracts before. If you can't credibly promise a lot of value, you might be better off just taking another job.

I have lots of experience delivering website and iOS apps, just new to Rails.

Yes. Definitely pre-sell. Not only does this fund your development efforts, it is the ultimate validation that you have actually come up with a product that people want to buy. There's a big difference between people saying they would buy something--and actually pulling out a credit card.

Offer your "charter members" 10% or 20% off for life in exchange for a 3 or 6 month prepay. Reverse the risk by guaranteeing their money back if they don't love it.

If you can't get clients to pre-pay, then your offer is not compelling enough.

I think he means dev services, not necessarily a product. It's still a good idea, but you must be one hell of a salesman or have some folks who truly believe in you.

Oh, yeah, I misunderstood. I thought he was taking a course on how to build web apps in Rails so he could create his own product, not work for other people.

Pre-selling a contract software development service when you haven't yet learned how to do it is going to be a lot more of a challenge.

Much easier (and much more lucrative) to pre-sell a product and then pay someone else to build it.

I doubt your instructors would be happy to know they are helping you build something that you will get paid for. Sounds like a conflict of interest.

I am paying them over 10k so I feel like I should be able to build whatever I please.

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