[socal-piggies] Still Looking

Sat Jul 27 11:40:56 PDT 2013

Hi, Dan...

I'm an intermediate Python programmer and music theorist (and former high
school teacher) who may be able to offer you some help...to whatever
measure I can.  I'm deeply fascinated by psychoacoustics...and actually
know a bit about the field.

Daniel Greenfield's and Michael's comments are insightful. Particularly:
it's not entirely clear from your description of the project what libraries
or particular domain of Python expertise is required...

Regarding course materials: there are course materials... Good ones.
 Albeit, most existing course materials take a very generalist approach to
learning the language. Your project has a very specific domain of concern,
certainly, which may or may not need such a broad overview.  In any case,
if you're unfamiliar with Python, as Daniel suggests, you'll have to work
through a basic course in any regard.

Also: as far as GUIs are concerned, Tkinter is one...

http://docs.python.org/2/library/tkinter.html

There's even a nice tutorial for it:

http://www.tkdocs.com/tutorial/index.html

Moreover, you may want to consider if your app is something that'd work
well as a web app(?)   I am admittedly no expert at Tkinter or wxPython or
any other popular GUI libraries. But: I might be able to point you in the
right initial direction, and--at the very least--help you get your Python
environment set-up, help walk you through an existing tutorial, help
explain some of the basics of the language if you encounter some simpler
speedbumps, and perhaps make some relevant comments with regard to
psychoacoustics.

And then, as Daniel also explained, there's the awkward issue of money vs.
time.  And that's an important one.  Figuring out *what*, exactly, is the
true scope of work so that a fair estimate with regard to cost can be made:
that's a time-consumptive process in and of itself for any developer...and
it can only be sussed out via a detailed discussion with you, and an
examination of the existing code base. (And--to be honest--to complicate
matters, I don't know even a lick of Matlab.) Until those parameters are
explored, it's not even clear if 10-20 hours is sufficient to get things
rolling in the right direction...or if I'd even be the right guy to help
you at all.  So...in your initial request--the lack of that info: it makes
it a non-starter for most people who might otherwise be interested...

Michael's suggestion--making it open-source, publishing the existing
project so that the code can be examined and explored and potentially
contributed to by the Python community...that circumvents a lot of
questions.  As an alternative to serving as a tutor, I may be able to help
you set up your project on a public repository, so that you can better
solicit help.

Feel free to call me if you like...  213-925-8598

Sean Bradley

On Sat, Jul 27, 2013 at 11:12 AM, Michael R <socalpig at webhippo.net> wrote:

> What Brice and Danny said was spot on.
>
> Howeverm, if the project is OPEN SOURCE (not that yours has to be) some of
> those difficulties are easier to overcome. In cases like that you are more
> likely to get interested in your project and it is easier to get going on
> it. Getting started on the code and even mentoring is easy if a small
> community exists people can be thought thru code and so on.
>
> Of course the project usually is a meritocracy and belongs to the
> community, though dependending on your license (BSD, GPL) packaged product
> or support could be sold for it.
>
> -- michael
>
>
>
> On 27.07.2013 08:39, Daniel Greenfeld wrote:
>
>> I think Brice has nailed it on the head.
>>
>> A few more things:
>>
>> 1. Teaching under the conditions you propose is hard. Why? No course
>> material. Unless they qualify as an expert in your libraries and
>> issues, the senior developer  has to do not-insignificant research in
>> order to help you.
>>
>> 2. Putting in 10-20 hours to teach a single when you already work full
>> time (what most senior developers are doing) is hard. So then the
>> developer wants to charge a lot because now they are working overtime
>> and NOT DEVELOPING.
>>
>> 3. What's harder is negotiating for pay. Most prospective clients of
>> such a deal are always shocked by the sticker price and negotiate
>> hard, and most senior developers shy away from those kinds of
>> negotiations after a while. Or worse, they take the job after being
>> negotiated down and then flake out after a while (very common several
>> weeks post-negotiation where the developer takes a financial cut).
>>
>>     For consulting most sane developers will charge (yearly salary / 500)
>>     Assuming the average salary for senior developers is 100k/year in
>> LA, expect to pay at least 200/hour, or about 2K-4K a week.
>>
>> 4. I suggest you take a course. Taking a course on this topic puts you
>> back about $3500 for a week of super-intensive training. Most of those
>> instructors are in Chicago or San Francisco unless you can line up at
>> least 7 other students, so you have to travel to get instruction.
>>
>> Danny
>>
>> On Sat, Jul 27, 2013 at 4:31 PM, Brice Leroy <bbrriiccee at gmail.com>
>> wrote:
>>
>>> No offense but since you asked for reason why you didn't receive
>>> replies...
>>> The way you present your project, does not make it sound interesting.
>>> Being
>>> an IT doesn't imply I'm proficient in other sciences, aka psychoacoustic
>>> doesn't mean anything to me.
>>>
>>> Maybe explain a little more about the project, the way it started, the
>>> WHY
>>> of that project, the goal, the implications and applications. Also who
>>> you
>>> are, how you work, the benefit of working with you, the opportunity that
>>> will result from that collaboration etc...
>>>
>>> Put some make up on that babe :-)
>>>
>>> On Jul 27, 2013 10:13 AM, "Dan Begel" <Dan at danbegelmd.com> wrote:
>>>
>>>>
>>>> Hi All,
>>>>
>>>> I am having difficulty finding a Python tutor and wonder if anyone might
>>>> have a suggestion.
>>>>
>>>> I am looking for someone to help me build a gui in Python based on a
>>>> previous gui I created in Matlab. The project involves psychoacoustics
>>>> and
>>>> is quite interesting, at least to me. I am looking for someone to
>>>> provide me
>>>> with programming suggestions and advice, rather than doing the project
>>>> for
>>>> me, and I will pay whatever the going hourly rate is for this help. I
>>>> will
>>>> need 10-20 hours of help initially, and perhaps more as the project
>>>> becomes
>>>> more sophisticated.
>>>>
>>>> If you know of anyone who might be interested, please put me in touch
>>>> with
>>>> that person somehow. Also, if you have any thoughts about why this
>>>> request
>>>> may not be of interest to persons who are skilled in Python programming,
>>>> please pass those thoughts along. For some reason it seems rather
>>>> difficult
>>>> to find a Python tutor.
>>>>
>>>> Thank you.
>>>>
>>>> Dan
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
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