I scoured the internet for what seemed ages, looking for a suitable third party software which would eventually link my application to an online exchange betting site. That in itself was an arduous and laborious 'minefield' to navigate. Quite simply put, ninety-nine point nine percent of third party software available are a total waste of time and money. Most of the third party software providers allowed a free trial period, varying from seven days to a month. After trying out three software vendors, I made my choice and started to learn the parts of the program I considered to be best suited/relevant to the end product I had in mind (I will not name the software or company, for good reason, as will be revealed as the story unfolds)
The software I finally decided on was the best of the rest but only just. It had versatility and was thoughtfully set out. Personally, it had far too many whistles and bells, attempting to cater for all kinds of betting strategies, which for certain punters was another one of it's strengths. As a consequence, it is almost impossible, if not futile, to learn every aspect of the software. One of the things that sold itself to me was it's ability to adjust the refresh rate down to 0.2s. That means the odds updated five times a second (Dependant on internet speed of course) which is just one of the critical factors determining the outcome of a race. Unfortunately, the user manual was difficult to navigate, badly written, with some of the sections leaving one scratching ones head. To counter the user manuals shortcomings, the software vendor in question had a user forum which was (Past tense used as things changed over time) well monitored and many experienced users only too keen to show off their skills. I should point out that initially, while developing the strategy for my own application software, all my bets were manually placed by me. My initial game plan was to manually place a bet in-play (While the race was actually in progress) on a horse as near to the end of the race and which looked most likely to win, using the visual aspects of the software. At the end of my trial period, I paid for a further months subscription and ended up using the software for just over two years.
After about five months of collecting data which I considered to be relevant, it was time to put together a specification which I could put before a programer. Firstly though, I had to find a suitably experienced programer to code my application, which was yet another time consuming task and at times very stressful. Firstly it was stressful because code writers/programmers are a rare breed of characters who I will label from now on as geek's (In the nicest possible way you understand) Secondly, they are never ever able to achieve exactly what is written on the tin. In their defence, if anyone was able to give me a working piece of software which does not contain 'bugs,' I would snatch their hands off. As one of my programmers accurately wrote:
"Programming is like trying to estimate something you haven't done yet."
Having got that far into the project, the next stage of proceedings turned into a complete 'night and day' nightmare, which seemed as though it was never ever going to go away! Putting down on paper 'something you haven't done yet' and getting a geek to make sense of it is worse than knocking on the door of a first dates house and being confronted by her dad! I know, I have been there quite a few times! So, yet another six months down the line (We are now talking 17th June 2015) the excitement of receiving the first version of ones program disappears as soon as one opens the program and presses start! By October of the same year and twenty-eight' corrected' versions on, yet still no nearer to a fully de-bugged working software. Enough was enough and I sacked the cowboy geek. I formulated a plan of action to recruit a new geek and went looking for a replacement.
I had just learnt a big expensive lesson by being in far too much of a hurry to do something I had never done before! I went to great lengths to ask all the right questions of any prospective geek. I also paid for a report from an independent IT consulting agency, which confirmed my suspicions as to why the program kept crashing. By the beginning of December 2015, I was fairly confident I had found the right geek? Once I had all his details, qualifications, an internationally accepted legal and signed NDA (Non Disclosure Agreement) I went about making sure my new geek was who he said he was. Once all the checks were complete and validated, I asked for him to evaluate the last version of the program delivered by the previous geek (To make sure his evaluation was consistent with the consultancy report and it was spot on)
A good place for another stop, me thinks. If anyone who happens to read this blog and has any questions or comments, good or bad, then please feel free to post. I do not use filtering as free speech and say-it-as it-is, is the order of the day.
After about five months of collecting data which I considered to be relevant, it was time to put together a specification which I could put before a programer. Firstly though, I had to find a suitably experienced programer to code my application, which was yet another time consuming task and at times very stressful. Firstly it was stressful because code writers/programmers are a rare breed of characters who I will label from now on as geek's (In the nicest possible way you understand) Secondly, they are never ever able to achieve exactly what is written on the tin. In their defence, if anyone was able to give me a working piece of software which does not contain 'bugs,' I would snatch their hands off. As one of my programmers accurately wrote:
"Programming is like trying to estimate something you haven't done yet."
Having got that far into the project, the next stage of proceedings turned into a complete 'night and day' nightmare, which seemed as though it was never ever going to go away! Putting down on paper 'something you haven't done yet' and getting a geek to make sense of it is worse than knocking on the door of a first dates house and being confronted by her dad! I know, I have been there quite a few times! So, yet another six months down the line (We are now talking 17th June 2015) the excitement of receiving the first version of ones program disappears as soon as one opens the program and presses start! By October of the same year and twenty-eight' corrected' versions on, yet still no nearer to a fully de-bugged working software. Enough was enough and I sacked the cowboy geek. I formulated a plan of action to recruit a new geek and went looking for a replacement.
I had just learnt a big expensive lesson by being in far too much of a hurry to do something I had never done before! I went to great lengths to ask all the right questions of any prospective geek. I also paid for a report from an independent IT consulting agency, which confirmed my suspicions as to why the program kept crashing. By the beginning of December 2015, I was fairly confident I had found the right geek? Once I had all his details, qualifications, an internationally accepted legal and signed NDA (Non Disclosure Agreement) I went about making sure my new geek was who he said he was. Once all the checks were complete and validated, I asked for him to evaluate the last version of the program delivered by the previous geek (To make sure his evaluation was consistent with the consultancy report and it was spot on)
A good place for another stop, me thinks. If anyone who happens to read this blog and has any questions or comments, good or bad, then please feel free to post. I do not use filtering as free speech and say-it-as it-is, is the order of the day.
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