Share an obscure task a client asked you to do you would have never learnt to do in your spare time...

Question

Hey guys,

so I've been in my first job for around 6 months now and if the one thing I found the hardest was having to do anything the client asked.

You have literally no idea what they could potentially ask for.

So when you're comfortable at home creating websites you only really do the stuff you know.

Here are a few slightly rare tasks I've had to do which I wouldn't have learnt at home:

Turn radio buttons in to a button that looks like a properly designed button.

I had no idea you could style radio buttons, but it turns out you can hide the radio button and style the label you add with it to create a button out of it.

Create a modal that appears infront of a dark overlay which makes all the other elements less visible. LIke a lightbox effect.
Fixing bugs on lower versions of browsers like Safari.

I can't remember specific things now but I remember some weird stuff happening on Safari so always test on different browsers.

Ebay listings/Ebay shops

Ebay listings aren't so bad but creating an Ebay shop design wasn't a pleasant experience.

Adding google maps

This is quite easy but again it something I wasn't prepared for. Try adding it if you haven't before.

I'll add some more later but it would be nice to hear other peoples as it can help people try out new things which may help them prepare for a future date.

Thanks!

Answer 1 · 2016-01-03T22:45:59Z

January 3, 2016 10:45pm

Hi Joe!

Before I worked as a programmer on web projects I never realised how much clients ask for things to be changed. One time I was asked to make a completely new page and then when I had made it they asked it to be reverted to how it was before. Things like that can get super annoying.

Something that I never really knew how to do but they asked me to do was to add a shortcode to be used in WordPress. Seeing as, at the time, I didn't have much WordPress experience I had to go and figure out how to do that.

-Luke

Answer 2 · 2016-01-04T21:53:13Z

January 4, 2016 9:53pm

All of what I am about to say works only for freelancers. I have never done this as a day job for a corporation.

"the one thing I found the hardest was having to do anything the client asked"

N.O. You have to do what is the in the contract that they originally signed because that is what they are paying you for. If you wish to do more out of the goodness of your heart so be it but do not feel like you need to do every little thing they ask. If they want something outside of the agreement let them know you will need to renegotiate on price.

"Turn radio buttons in to a button that looks like a properly designed button"

If you agree to be their designer then all of this is simply something you have to deal with and it comes down to what the client wants, not what you like, or even what looks good sometimes..

"Fixing bugs on lower versions of browsers like Safari."

More contract stuff. At the start find out exactly what browsers you need to build for. If they don't care about mobile don't spend the time to optimize it for android smartphones.

Our job is hard, don't make it harder by reciving flips and changes to the plan as you go. Spend a while negotiating and planning before you sign up and have a solid contract in hand with exactly what you need to do. Just my advice.

--Ricky

Answer 3 · 2016-01-04T21:57:59Z

January 4, 2016 9:57pm

Hi Ricky,

thanks for the advice, however I'm not a freelancer so I don't get much say in the contractual side.

I was more focusing towards what weird things people have had to learn to give new ideas to people to learn things they may miss.

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Joe Consterdine

Joe Consterdine

Share an obscure task a client asked you to do you would have never learnt to do in your spare time...

3 Answers

Luke Glazebrook

Luke Glazebrook

Ricky Catron

Ricky Catron

Joe Consterdine

Joe Consterdine