Many months ago, I have thought about the business nature of software development. I came to realize it's one a few of the career choices that is both an industry and a service (depending on what is being done and the end goal).

Is software the one business that can be both, or are there others? Thoughts?

-jag
Code it, Script it, Automate it!

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Re: Software Business Type
By: jagossel to All on Thu Dec 21 2017 11:19 am

Many months ago, I have thought about the business nature of software development. I came to realize it's one a few of the career choices that is both an industry and a service (depending on what is being done and the end goal).

Is software the one business that can be both, or are there others? Thoughts?

When you say 'service', are you referring to software-as-a-service, where you pay a regular fee (monthly/annually/etc.) to use the software? If that's the case, I don't really see a distinction between that and the software "industry". It's just another part of the software industry. If you go into software development as a career, you'd still be developing software - How the software is sold (as a one-time payment or as an ongoing service) is just a technical matter of how the revenue comes in.

Nightfox

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Is software the one business that can be both, or are there others? Thoughts?

Good point. Off the top of my head, I sure cannot think of one.

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Re: Software Business Type
By: Nightfox to jagossel on Thu Dec 21 2017 11:26 pm

Many months ago, I have thought about the business nature of software development. I came to realize it's one a few of the career choices tha is both an industry and a service (depending on what is being done and end goal).

Is software the one business that can be both, or are there others? Thoughts?

When you say 'service', are you referring to software-as-a-service, where yo pay a regular fee (monthly/annually/etc.) to use the software? If that's th case, I don't really see a distinction between that and the software "industry". It's just another part of the software industry. If you go int software development as a career, you'd still be developing software - How t software is sold (as a one-time payment or as an ongoing service) is just a technical matter of how the revenue comes in.

What I mean is software development is done as either to produce a product (like in my case, building a licensable product for people to buy and use), or as a service to the client (like consulting).

-jag
Code it, Script it, Automate it!

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Re: Software Business Type
By: jagossel to Nightfox on Fri Dec 22 2017 01:19 pm

What I mean is software development is done as either to produce a product (like in my case, building a licensable product for people to buy and use), or as a service to the client (like consulting).

Yeah, software is an industry that is like that. It's not the only one though.. Home remodeling and cleaning seems to be that way too - People can work for a company that does that or do independent consulting. There are sites online such as thumbtack.com where you can offer your services for people looking to have work done. There are also computer repair services that can be done as a business where people take their computers in or as an independent consultant who does computer repairs for people.

Even if you're consulting for someone, you're often still producing a product in the form of a piece of software they will be using. I think the end result is pretty much the same, or very similar that way. It's either a standardized piece of software or a custom piece of software written for someone.

Nightfox

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Even if you're consulting for someone, you're often still producing a product >in the form of a piece of software they will be using. I think the end result >is pretty much the same, or very similar that way. It's either a standardized >piece of software or a custom piece of software written for someone.

I worked at a computer consulting firm for a while. We did not sell
hardware, software, or do any coding (beyond fixing BAT files). I know
that we were probably an exeception to the rule, but we only sold time.

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