Just for an update. I feel uncomfortable working for him. Actually I haven’t started but I foresee there will be much argument in the future. So I told him I can’t help him.
My thought of doing a freelance doesn’t mean we have to do something for free (as beer in open source definition) or get paid at very low charge. We should know our experience is very precious. We worth certain value. The most important thing for me is free as in “freedom” of time. If the client provides me a full system source code and expect me to understand it so I can fix something within half or 1 hour, honestly I give up. He tried to compare me with his previous developer who can provide the solution in a short time. And then what he can offer is too low for me. A brand new plugin for less than US$100. I have seen a previous plugin which has around 2000 lines of code. Lastly, the way he talks made me feel he doesn’t have respect to me.
@aeric wow, I would run a mile. Like I said in that other thread, some people are just difficult and if its already like that then imagine what it will be like working for/with him. I've had developer friends who have worked for people like this. They are the kind of people/clients/customers who will have endless changes they expect for free, not pay on time or just not pay at all. If he is such a genius then he can probably do it himself - but likley he cant because hes only ever learnt one language/toolset.
As others have said the most important trait of a developer is flexibility. Knowing how to code is more important that the tools. I know VB6, VB.Net, C#, C++, Java, Python, PowerShell, JavaScript and of course B4X. I choose the right tool for the job.
When I first started Android development (10 years ago) using Eclipse it was horrible. The other day my son asked for help compiling a BuildBox project (a cross platform game making IDE) that uses Android Studio to compile for Android. It was a terrible experience. So even though Google throw so much money Android Studio at it doesnt make it any better than 10 years ago. However I know that I can install B4A on a brand new machine and have a compiled APK in a very short amount of time.
Another war story: I once worked on an iOS project for a client. The iOS development was outsourced to an app development company. The development literally costs tens of thousands of dollars. Soon after the project the app development company said they didnt want to work on the project anymore and wanted to focus on games. So we asked for the source code. The code we got back was terrible quality - and this was a professional development company. It was so bad it was binned and replaced with an off the shelf solution. One of the first apps I wrote in B4A was on the Play store for 8 years with no recompiling or updates required. It just worked. It was only recently taken off the store by Google becuase I hadnt updated the permissions required (it was an automation app that read commands from SMS messages - which require new permissions nowadays). So just because someone is using the best tools or a professional app company doesnt guarentee the best outcome.
