[LRUG] Looking to meet...

[James Adam]

On 14 Sep 2011, at 18:07, Paul Robinson wrote:
> Sorry, but asking a professional to work below market rate with no equity just for giggles, is frankly unprofessional, nice guy or not, period.

Clearly this isn't the kind of opportunity you're looking for Paul, but I must confess that I'm really not sure what you're basing your objections on.

I'm not sure how to evaluate whether or not I am the sort of "professional" you seem to be suggesting ought to be offended by this, but I can say for certain that I definitely evaluate proposals based on a far richer and subtler set of criteria than just day rate and equity. If a project is intellectually stimulating, or if I'm going to work with people that I know I'm going to learn from, then I would definitely consider taking a lighter bag of gold home at the end of the engagement.

Ben's reputation (disclaimer: I have worked in teams he's worked with and know him quite well) should at the very least be enough to reassure you that he isn't going to be pulling the dick move suggested in Michael's original reply:

On 14 Sep 2011, at 13:01, Michael Pavling wrote:
> "Is this *really* a pitch for "make me money for nothing in return"? :-/

Michael, I don't know where you got this idea; it's not how I read Ben's email at all. Sure, the salary might not be as much as you can make building CMS-powered mini sites for soulless brand agencies - or whatever you're basing "market rate" on - but some people may have different priorities which are equally valid. Everyone can agree on that, I hope.

Anyway. I'm sure everyone agrees that effort should be fairly rewarded, but what's a "fair reward" clearly subjective. For some of us, it's cash and equity. For others, perhaps it is not. Ben is just making it clear that his offer is not for those who want to earn big bucks. 

I trust Ben is doing the best he can to remunerate (in whatever form) the people he's hoping to employ. Now you can choose to trust me, or you can get to know Ben yourself, or neither.

But, rather than continuing to work up a froth about the "injustice of being asked to work for pennies" (which as far as I can tell seems to baseless here), perhaps those sufficiently interested or enraged individuals can get in touch with Ben directly for some concrete remuneration information, and perhaps that will be a better way of addressing concerns than tilting at windmills here.

Cheers,

James