Berube Consulting
Hard Problems Solved Fast

Maintenance Programming

I often say that “most freelancers are just full-timers in between jobs.”

It’s true.

Of course, some love the freelance lifestyle, but many freelancers end up taking a fulltime gig after a few months or years.

While they have every right to do so – many people prefer traditional employment – this often leaves clients with orphaned technology – projects that are useful, but have no programmer to add features or fix bugs.

Such projects may have even had a succession of programmers – each leaving after a period of time. Unfortunately, this can lead to progressively worse and worse code – many developers don’t like working on other’s people’s code, and your project ends up being neglected and poorly maintained.

That’s where I come in. I specialize in working on other people’s code – as a result of long experience, I can take apart a complex project and quickly determine what needs to be changed to get you where you need to be.

I can fix your project, even if the code is nasty, complex, old, and confusing. I also have no objection to working on boring bugs – while some devs need to be “passionate” about the project, I am passionate, not about the end use, but about computer programming; I love to fix bugs, even if it’s on a spectacularly boring B2B tool.

Feel free to reach out to my sister business, Durable Programming, for any programming services I offer. 

My Writing

I’ve written several books on computer programming – specifically Practical Ruby Gems, Practical Rails Plugins, and Practical Reporting with Ruby and Rails.

I also write for magazines – like Dr Dobb’s Journal, Linux Pro Magazine, PHP International Magazine, as well as online publications like IBM DeveloperWorks and Red Hat Magazine.