Famous Internet Programmer

I program PHP-MySQL based websites as a side job/hobby. Most of the stuff I’ve done is for family, friends, friends of friends, etc. I have a strong programming background, and many of these websites have been quite extensive.

My question is regarding clients who have as a goal to eventually take the website over themselves. I’m shocked to find that many of these people have pictured in their minds that the site is created in Microsoft Word (or something like that). I can’t help but discourage these people from asking me to turn the site over to them.

I’ve tried to explain to some of them that their website is complex, including a few different programming languages and a large amount of database integration. Few of them take this very well. They just can’t understand why they couldn’t be able to perform "simple maintenance", such as creating a form, or adding a new page to their ordering process. Little of what they describe is really very "simple".

I always tell them that they are welcome to do whatever they like — they own the code if they have paid me for it. But I discourage them from trying to take it over.

One client recently insisted that he be given complete and exclusive ownership his site. It was a website for his business and had taken a couple of years to complete to his satisfaction. I gave him the files, got him setup on his own host, and said "Good luck". He would accept no less. Sadly, the site fell to pieces within weeks of him tinkering with it.

I have another similar client asking me for the same thing now.

So, what do side-job programmers like me do? How can I explain this to clients? What’s the professional thing to do?

The best way is to not create everything yourself.

Create the website with a CMS / shopping cart you like, define user roles, and it gets really easy to perform simple maintenance without killing the code.
If something is still missing, create a plugin.

Don’t take the following the wrong way:
You are still creating websites the web 1.0 way. Nowadays, it’s web 2.0 and people are used to add content, widgets, etc. themselves, like they do it on Ebay, Facebook, Weebly, etc. You can’t tell them that it is not possible to perform simple maintenance because they already do it everyday.

So, invest some time to find a flexible framework you like and then build the websites on it. Believe me, you can even ask for more money that way.

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