You know what gets on my nerves? When someone says they want a custom database that does everything from tracking phone numbers to solving world hunger and then they tell you they want it in 48 hours or they don't want you to spend too much time on it.

To me, that's like telling da Vince to go paint the Mona Lisa, but to only give it a few hours to see what he comes up with. Of course, my databases aren't going to be hanging in a museum anytime soon. But the principle still applies. If you want something complex that does the job you need it to do, it takes a little bit of time and planning...especially if it's going to be a launching pad for a much larger project that is going to be used by a bunch of people.

Granted, I realize someone can "tweak" a database for years and that's not helpful either. But if you're trying to outsource it and the developers tell you they need 6 months and $15,000 to give you a finished product, I don't see how someone can then turn around and think they're going to get it in 48 hours by having it done internally.

Is it just me, or do people really have no idea how much work can go into these things to make them work seamlessly? It's not like you can sprinkle pixie dust on your Mac and have it spit out a finished database.

Hm... it seems like this question comes up every election year:

http://fmforums.com/forum/topic/57970-does-anyone-takes-us-seriously/

Ray-El i know what you mean...

I try when the opportunity arises to use the analogy that the database when mission critical to the business operation should at the very least be equal to in terms of investment cost to that of the highest paid salary of an employee, after all it has to work 24/7 be accurate, and reliable.

Yes you can leverage existing code from prior experience but in the end no two businesses are identical.

For a business owner to take an unskilled worker away from what they were hired to do to build a database the soft costs of that is impossible to track.

Now if that worker was a knowledge base worker - knew the business in side and out - they would be ideal to work with a seasoned developer to build the foundation - once the structure is built this person may possess the aptitude or desire to make minor changes or be competent enough to do small amounts of development. - only time can tell.

'Cuz it doesn't cost the designer any money. Only his time.