"cottage Industry" In The Computer Business

 

Software produced by programmers operating out of their homes has become a growing resource in the computer industry. The market for the "cottage" programmers consists of small businesses, computer hobbyists, and executives with personal computers.

Cottage programming "can be a full-time breadwinning operation for a family team or a moonlighting operation," says J. Norman Goode, the editor of Micro Moonlighter Newsletter, based in Nashville, Tenn. "You might say we run a software hut," says Martha Cichelli, who, with her husband, Richard, owns and runs Software Consulting Services in Allentown, Pa. "But after five years, the work load markes it feel much more like a real business."

The Cichellis, like most home-based programmers, advertise their services in computer trade journals. Their clients include executives who want personalized programs, such as scheduling and name-and-address filing systems, as well as large companies whose in-house data processing systems are often too busy to handle rush jobs. "Because we are small," Cichelli says, "they find us more responsive to their needs."

The rapid growth of computer outlet stores also benefits the home-based programmers, says computer consultant Portia Isaacson, of Richardson, Tex. "As these stores get busier," she explains, "their ability to provide soft-ware packages along with the hardware will decline -- it's too time-consuming. Moonlighters and home programmers could be the ones to fill the void."