hello, i'm rob v

It seems so obvious: if you want to develop software that’s useful to people, you’ve got to talk with them. But too many developers take the anti-social approach and consider customer support to be beneath their status. Besides, talking with customers would distract them from important code-slinging. Look, I can understand that viewpoint, especially if you’re working on something that’s very popular. You can’t create anything if you spend all your time doing support. But avoiding support completely is a big mistake. If you’ve never supported your own software, spending just one day doing tech support will be an eye-opening – not to mention humbling - experience. You’ll have to keep your ego in check, because most people who contact tech support do so because they’re having problems with your software, some of whom will use colorful language to describe the annoyances they’re running into. But that’s the stuff you need to hear. You need to hear it because you’re the one who can solve those annoyances. You’re the one who can get rid of all the things that prevent your software from being that kick-ass program that people recommend to their friends and co-workers.