
How Not to hire an iPhone dev consultant / A challenge for a great OpenGL dev - EtienneJohnred
http://taptaptap.com/blog/how-not-to-hire-a-consultant-to-create-your-iphone-app/
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elbrodeur
Interesting story. He said/she said stories like this, though, are often
difficult to parse. Regardless of what is fact, what is fiction and what is in
between, the allegedly sheisty developer Daniel Pasco seems pretty flippant:

<http://twitter.com/#!/dlpasco>

>> My side of this story is actually pretty funny. May tell it sometime.

This type of attitude seems like a poor response when your business is
dependent on clients. I certainly wouldn't want to work with someone who, when
our working relationship gets difficult, treats the issue as a joke.

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drivingmenuts
I don't get the modern trend of airing your dirty laundry in public like this.

Just comes off as shit-stirring to me and makes me want to avoid both parties.

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danilocampos
Matt Drance's Twitter alter-ego, Batdrance, put it pretty well:

"I like to complain publicly and play the victim when my business partners do
anything I don't like. Who wants to work with me?"

<https://twitter.com/batdrance/status/33276755297046528>

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Zev
I have a some good friends who work at Black Pixel and had the fortune of
meeting Daniel Pasco (and others on the Black Pixel team) a few days ago, just
after MacWorld. They're all class acts and damned good at what they do. I
wouldn't hesitate to work with or refer someone to them, period. I don't know
anyone who wouldn't. Aside from Casasanta, apparently.

I don't know the full story. I don't know what Casasanta is hoping to achieve
by posting this. But, I do know other stories from people who do contracting
that have been left hanging by him or have refused to work with him due to
insane deadlines. And thats enough for me to think that this is a load of
bullshit on Casasanta's part to try and make himself look good for whatever
reason.

~~~
tzs
I think quitting a job by tweeting that the company is trying to extort you
into indentured servitude precludes being a "class act".

> I don't know the full story. I don't know what Casasanta is hoping to
> achieve by posting this.

Well, he was publicly accused of trying to extort someone. Doesn't that merit
a public response?

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gte910h
Depends on what the threat is in this alleged extortion. You might want to get
out ahead of something like that.

Not sure twitter is the best medium for that, but hey, it's what happened..

The more I read everything, the more it looks like Casasanta was likely
threatening to write a bad blog entry about this if the developer didn't work
more for him doing something. I don't know the facts here, but it feels like
there was a mismatch of expectations here somewhere. Not sure if it was an
intentional deception or a X didn't think the same thing as Y or what. Perhaps
Casasanta is due more than he got, perhaps not. That's a niggling factual
issue we are unlikely to ever know without more information.

I DO know I wouldn't touch this code with a 10km stick. Who know who really
owns copyright on all this after this sort of blowup. It's a good way to end
up in court if nothing else.

~~~
tzs
> Not sure twitter is the best medium for that, but hey, it's what happened..

I'd say that if you've got 1.3k followers, and the company you are slamming
has 100k followers, Twitter is definitely not the best medium to take your
fight public in.

~~~
gte910h
Depends on what the point is. If the point is to get proof out before the
article that you've been threatened, well, its likely better than nothing.
Press release would probably be better.

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runjake
I don't know either of the men involved, but consider the source:

[http://www.bynkii.com/archives/2008/01/come_on_crybaby_cry.h...](http://www.bynkii.com/archives/2008/01/come_on_crybaby_cry.html)

(For anyone who doesn't remember that MacHeist drama from a couple years ago)

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olivercameron
For what it's worth, I talked to John over a year ago and he mentioned his
frustrations with how slow the project was going. After Daniel posted his
tweet, I could see this coming.

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gte910h
After running the app, it looks nothing like that graphic.

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gte910h
Actual Screenshot of the program: <http://i.imgur.com/DQkVq.png>

(Didn't look at the code, just dropped in a blank icon and hit compile to
inform the discussion).

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gte910h
What developer with a real backlog takes customers without a willingness to
make a deposit? Following this advise is a sure way to get the type of
developer they're alleging Pasco is.

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sosuke
tap tap tap, famous in the iPhone dev world for making tons and tons of money
want to crowd source the development of an app? I wonder if having tap tap tap
as your publisher is worth a 60% cut of the profits.

There is a pretty sweet plasma globe game in the store right now
<http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/plasma-globe/id400905823?mt=8> if you're
looking for ideas or want to see what is out there already

~~~
olivercameron
It is worth it. I am the developer of Voices, which has to date sold 644,000
copies thanks in large part to their publishing power.

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nupark
Whether or not Black Pixel is at fault, John Casasanta has guaranteed that
_no_ iOS contracting company with a reputation to consider will want to work
with him, ever.

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mikealeo
Daniel just posted this via Twitter: <http://cl.ly/1D440f190n2n2g2K2K28>.

~~~
elbrodeur
Sounds like Casasanta gave them fair warning. Public fistfights like this,
though, are pretty obnoxious.

~~~
gte910h
>gave them fair warning.

Fair warning they're going to put out a hit piece? Or a "We will put this out
if you don't do X, Y and Z".

That sort of fair warning runs awfully close to "extortion" in the layman's
use of the word.

I don't KNOW either party or the facts. One or the other could have acted
horribly here. But "fair warning" with a demand for value is pretty good
definition of extortion.

I'm not really excited about a business relationship with either side of this
spat.

~~~
elbrodeur
I absolutely agree. I was merely pointing out that Pasco tweeting a screenshot
that was essentially a threat does nothing to support his side of the story.
All it shows is that he knew it was coming: He had received a fair amount of
warning from Casantas. Not that I think it's fair to publicly air grievances
in a manner that is frankly libelous.

Anyhow, I think this whole thing is tasteless and obnoxious.

~~~
gte910h
I disagree with you about it not supporting his side of the story. Extortion
is gaining something via a threat of coercion. The SMS (if authentic) is
pretty clearly a threat, leaving us just in the dark about the exact action
demanded.

Whether or not a crime or tort occurred here is for those with JD's to
discern.

You are correct about the obnoxious part of it, but I'm uncertain that Pasco
had any opportunity to avoid this public crap beyond giving into the demands
of Casasanta according to Pasco's twitter, he got a threat in the mail
yesterday this was going to happen:
<http://twitter.com/#!/dlpasco/status/33271220623384576>

EDIT: OH, you're talking about the "Oh is this enough work" part that
Casasanta is talking about. I was talking about the "Why did this dispute go
highly public" part.

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shareme
seems both side made mistakes but instead of being men and working it out in
private want to bitch fight in public..

Clients of both parties than loose..sad

