When Your Tech Guy is in 5th Grade

NY Times:

It’s really not surprising that some businesses are getting a technology assist from, well, children. They are way ahead of the rest of us on much of this stuff, having cut their teeth on it at home and at school. And they’re thrilled to work for wages that a pro would sneer at at – music to the ear of the cash-flow-conscious business owner.

Should you trust a teenager to develop a Web site? Sure, if you can afford to write the whole thing off if the kid messes it up or simply loses interest, a common hazard when employing the young. If you’re under time pressure, if the site is mission-critical, if you want customers to conduct complex transactions via the site, if you’re in a sophisticated business that calls for a slick, dynamic Web presence, if you have serious data security needs, forget about it. Bite the bullet and spend the $5,000 or $20,000 or more that it takes to get a higher-shelf site.

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