PCJ Launches $350,000 Website Development

[Keron Burrell]

PCJ Launches $350,000 Website Development
http://go-jamaica.com/pressrelease/item.php?id=2200

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Regards
K. Burrell
Web Developer/ Programmer

https://twitter.com/keronob
http://www.linkedin.com/in/keronburrell
"Your Attitude makes a difference in your approach to life "

[David Bain]

uhm...

I don't think this is a good idea. It might be a bit better if they have a UX designer guiding the participants, but even then. 

A better formula might be a reality show with there 3 to 4 teams over a 2 week period under the guidance of an UX designer. All teams would get a stipend and the winning team would win a grand prize. Of course this would require a higher budget than the $350,000 they will be spending on this. 

If they threw the entire $350,000 at a single team they'd have a better chance of getting a modest site.

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David Bain

Owner at Alteroo

david...@alteroo.com

www.alteroo.com

(876) 475-5824

[Keron Burrell]

 I would like to see the final designs just to see how up to parr they are with current UX standards ,  but trust me David its a cool way to get a brand site design from probably less than what most of us professionals would charge
one thing though they didn't mention will the development of the site  include a back end , or is it just front end development only ...

[Rohan Smith]

I started typing a response but deleted it, because I thought I would have been too harsh and get flack for hating on students (although I qualify for this competition). I REALY hope this is focused at "The PCJ has always been a strong advocate of education and youth development" than actually trying to get a great website, and that they are prepared to deal with all extremes. Although it doesnt seem like they are really use their website much anyways so anything new might suffice 

 

Last Modified: 13-10-08

Plus its running on dotnetnuke, thats all I will say about that ...

list of technologies here: http://cl.ly/image/2K3W1i410T1j

Regards,

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R.A.Smith

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On Wed, Jun 12, 2013 at 1:25 PM, David Bain <david...@alteroo.com> wrote:

[Keron Burrell]

it goes back to what  David was saying the format could have been different, if there true motive is the promotion of education rather than just getting a brand new site , a team format would be a great fit for this , with mentors being assigned to each team  which would guide them through the development  process ....

Just downloaded the competition  guidelines from there website it does include a CMS ... take a look

[Marc Gayle]

I....can't....even......

Marc Gayle
www.marcgayle.com
www.twitter.com/marcgayle

[Matthew McNaughton]

As with the international development field, lots of money gets ineffectively used by persons with good intentions and "bad" ideas.

-MMM

Matthew McNaughton
@mamcnaughton

[David Bain]

lol @Marc's response :)

[Rory Walker]

What can we do to fix?

[Rory Walker]

And Marc you should..

[David Bain]

Whenever a company or organization needs a new logo, website or creative work it seems their first thought is to run a contest. I consider these contests, generally, a bad idea. But if we can guide them on the protocol for running one properly perhaps we can get some change to happen.

Here's my suggestion. Create a working group for 1 month ONLY. The goal of the group would be to put out a statement about best practices for running competitions, when to do so, how to do so and when not to do so.

The output would be an easy to ready document published on github maybe presented as a github page with it's own URL and circulated to ministries and other key organizations. The output need not be a static document, we could figure out interesting ways of presenting the information. We could also create a "kit" that could be used by practitioners to 'guide' marketers and managers on the etiquette of contests.

The working group would be dissolved at the end of the task.

[Rory Walker]

That sounds like a step in the right direction, I'm up for that.

[David Bain]

If you want to get involved, sign up here: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1KxhAUc34y3oV5HWwotkGjOm_KyDSUpLqwGGPfiXEUQQ/viewform

[Marc Gayle]

LOL David.

You seem to like Google Forms :)

Marc Gayle
www.marcgayle.com
www.twitter.com/marcgayle

[David Bain]

@Marc,

If you have something faster and cheaper that integrates with my google based documents and I'll gladly switch to it.

[Marc Gayle]

I don't.....was just poking fun :)

Marc Gayle
www.marcgayle.com
www.twitter.com/marcgayle

[Wayne Jones Jnr]

Disclaimer: I love and appreciate contests.

David can't be serious about that TV show to get a website for an organisation that only uses their site to distribute information occasionally. 

I don't think this is a bad idea. It's a good way to engage the students productively for 2 months of their summer. At the end of the two months, they can potentially walk away with $100,000 or $250,000 and if they're smart, $350,000 since teams are allowed. 

Without an opportunity like this, a Freelancer wouldn't have the opportunity to undertake this job. The first requirement for undertaking a job for the government is to be approved by the Contractor General's Dept. You can see the current list of eligible contractors for Web Development here. (Goods and Service Contractors » Information Technology Services)

That lists pretty much rules out the target audience for this competition. Though I believe, one can circumvent this NCC requirement if the job is below $300k (Need to confirm).

There's much to be had from the entrant to this competition, even if they aren't placed in the top two:

1. Exposure to the Contest Holder & associated stakeholders and peers.
   
2. More hours put into crafting their skill
   
3. A learning experience of how the corporate world works
   
4. An opportunity to see how good their skill matches up against their peers
   

If one needs more reasons than that, they're probably comfortable with their earning potential.

Assumption: this contest is for the design of the site only. Even if its not, my point still stands.

[Damien Harris]

@Wayne
Each government entity has a diffrent limit for requiring a NCC.

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[David Bain]

@Wayne,

I agree with point 1 and maybe point 4. With regards to the TV show (it could be a webisode type show btw), they'd definitely require a higher budget. 

Basically this appears to be a competition with zero mentorship (I may be wrong). If this is the case, inexperienced competitors will not gain as much as we might hope they could.

Here are some of the problems I've witnessed in these competitions:

1. The big issue I have is that this contest makes now guarantees. You could spend the summer and win nothing, I will admit that the odds are much better than Lotto but still not guaranteed. 

2. Additionally the skill-set of the entrants may not be up to scratch, if this happens (and I've seen it happen) then the contest holder has to choose among subpar submissions. 

3. Finally, if the contest holder does not have the expertise to judge whether this is of acceptable standard (this also happens) then the contestants are not even critiqued properly and they don't even gain any professional benefit via feedback that might improve their craft.

(you know what... I should blog about this).

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[Leotis Buchanan]

I think it is a good idea. I agree with David points. But I think it would be great to have a tech competition similar in scale to rising stars. Generally we need to have more competitions that requires participants to come up with innovative solutions in sectors like energy,security, agriculture etc.

[Marc Gayle]

Good points Wayne.

David...not so sure about the TV show.

I can see what Wayne is saying, and I guess from the perspective of 'getting around the NCC' requirements. Then maybe this isn't a bad idea.

I bristled when I saw this competition because 'suits' have a tendency to see developers as 'code monkeys'.

i.e. throw them some caffeine, a contest and a few prizes and they will code for 48 hrs str8!

This reminded me of that......but those points were good ones.

Marc Gayle
www.marcgayle.com
www.twitter.com/marcgayle

[Wayne Jones Jnr]

@Marc,

What else do you need to code for 48hrs straight? lol

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Wayne Jones Jnr

[Wayne Jones Jnr]

We do have these competitions but I realise it's the same pool of people that enter and win most of them. Case in point, myself. Some are:

1. *Digital Jam 2.0 in 2012
   
2. *SlashRoots Developers Code Sprint
3. *CaribbeanBeta PitchFest
4. Kingstoon (Animation) - June 20-21, 2013
5. IDEAS: Energy Innovation Contest - August 2013
6. *First Heritage Entrepreneur Awards ($300,000)

* I've at least placed 2nd in these competitions.

Tech isn't perceived as such a big problem here to warrant the stage that Rising Stars does.

I've realised that we get consumed and influenced by the American (Silicon Valley) news too much. We must realise it's probably easier to sell a computer in Jamaica than it is to sell software and understandably so. Business is based on needs.

[Roger Davis]

JM$250,000 for visual design, information architecture, interaction design, front-end coding, cms integration plus the fact that the product belongs solely to PCJ upon submission? I don't think this contest is worth the hassle. 

Best,

Roger

[Wayne Jones Jnr]

@David,

No offense, but I'm not taking you up on this TV show idea lol. Sorry.

You learn something new everyday. Even by doing nothing you're learning something. Through my experiences last year entering various competitions, I learned that these competitions are about marketing for the companies involved than it is for anything else. They hardly care about the competitors and they hardly believe in the solutions. But that hasn't stopped me. These competitions have also given my team the opportunity to work with new tools & new constraints and that has helped us too.

I could go the route of learning by reading blogs or forums like these but I don't think that's the best way to learn. The best way is by doing, even if its not this competition. Speaking in general here.

For some poor ass people with limited opportunities, I think we complain and find too many excuses not to DO. 

[Marc Gayle]

I agree with much of what Wayne said.

Marc Gayle
www.marcgayle.com
www.twitter.com/marcgayle

[Wayne Jones Jnr]

Roger,

I must say that I got the understanding that this was just for the design of the site and the information architecture. This is Jamaica, who does interaction design for a information site like this anyway?

CMS Integration and Front-End Coding might be a stretch however.

The award for the scope of work is debatable but regardless of the reason behind doing this, I'm happy they're opening up the avenue for these students to do business with them directly. Otherwise, they'd have to do it as a sub-contractor or as an employee of a company. In a situation like that, the learning is pretty much stripped down to the craft or whatever else there is to be learned from their Employer.

[Wayne Jones Jnr]

There's this contest too:

Win J$2M Advertisement Budget - The Jamaica Gleaner SME CHALLENGE 

http://digjamaica.com/small_business

Deadline for Submissions: 15 June 2013

Get money, stop complaining. 

[Roger Davis]

Wayne,

Nope, the contest stipulated a complete web solution... design, code, everything. Based on the site requirements, it's much more than an information site. This is why I don't think the prize is worth it. I do however, agree with you that some contests may provide good learning experiences and exposure, however, one always has to way the opportunity/prize versus the spec work risk, and for this one, I don't think the amount of labour required is worth it. But as you rightly said, there may be folks out there with no other opportunities for work, so they may jump at this opportunity. I just don't think it's ethical to belittle the creative and tech industries by having such contests which provide little or no reward for its participants and at the end of the day claiming exclusive ownership of the submitted end product. If the reward was greater, perhaps, but US$2500 for this amount of work seems exploitative. Why don't they have competitions for the best accountant, lawyer, medical doctor, barber, bus driver, taxi, nurse, high school teacher? 

Best,

RD

[Roger Davis]

Wayne,

That Gleaner competition is totally different. It does not require spec work. They're just asking folks to submit info on their currently existing businesses. No creation of products that don't already exist.

Best,

RD

[keronp...@gmail.com]

I also took a looked @ the competition guidelines , its a complete website that must be done , it also must meet government standards , so its really a big stretch for a developers @ that price tag .. Plus I know nooo professional development company would charge that sum of money , so I was saying what are the other take aways from being in the competition , will there be expert mentors to help persons with problems ..

Will they be offered a part time job etc ..

Also the for the Gleaner SME challenge its for registered business , and the winner gets an advertisement package ..
They just submit there information ..

Sent from my BlackBerry® device from Digicel

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From: Roger Davis <roger...@gmail.com>

Sender: slash...@googlegroups.com

Date: Fri, 14 Jun 2013 11:29:20 -0500

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Subject: Re: [SlashRoots] Re: PCJ Launches $350,000 Website Development

[Matthew McNaughton]

So, I've been asked three times in the last week to write something like this for SlashRoots and a couple more times over the last two months.

We have a some materials that could form the base of such a document. I'd be open to collaborating on this depending on what the time line was.

-MMM

Matthew McNaughton
@mamcnaughton