Marketing is one of those skills that is rather... intangible. Subjective at any rate. Or at least elusive.

In years past, I had the annoying habit of finishing projects on time. I was even accused of padding my estimates for work tasks. That one always amused me... I would give a figure, say, two weeks. My boss would then pad the estimate to 3-4 weeks, because he never liked or trusted my figures, so the 3-4 weeks estimate would be passed on to the higher ups. In some cases, all of the code just popped into place and I'd be done a day or two early; worst case scenario would have me done exactly on time, within two weeks. I'd then get yelled at for working too fast, since it was way under the 3-4 weeks. Ah, the joys of confused management.

Anyone ever have problems with marketing yourself? Is there a fix for it?

Some engineers like the notion of under-committing and over-delivering. This gives the impression of Scotty "The Miracle Worker" of Star Trek fame. It always worked on the show. It usually works in software, when you commit to a handful of features but are able to deliver a couple of extra things on the way. But what's too extreme in this style of planning? I mean... promise one feature out of a hundred? True that would be better than committing to a thousand and delivering one, but then what determines the line?

Marketing, of course. You have to sell what you're doing. Convince people that the committed items are possible, likely, but a full load of work. Obviously the best way to do that is be honest yet conservative with your estimates, but that's not always easy, so there is always some wiggle room. For example, take a worker that wants to under-promise and over-deliver because they think it'll work out well. To do this the worker has to simply not over-commit. Know what you're capable of and stick with it; if you over commit a little, work a weekend, right? But what would happen if you promised everything to everyone? Then you're cocky and possibly unreliable. What happens if you demean yourself in meetings? Remind people that you're worthless, compared to others, and that can barely understand what your doing? You shatter the confidence level that people have in you. Outcast. Or lazy. Or both. Either way, yer fucked worse than if you were cocky about it... I've seen it in people before, yet I feel powerless to help them: they just exaggerate in a very negative way and hope that it will help make themselves look good when they deliver stuff on time. It's just been over-marketed and poorly at that.

Just for shits and grins, here's some other examples of how you are not marketing yourself well, via some personal ads:

"This woman is looking for a sugar daddy who is a good man. I am 25 yrs old, 5'7", brown hair, hazel eyes, yes I have kids. I currently have a car I cant drive due to some vandalized it." Whoa, baggage, or at least drama. 25 with kids? Notice she doesn't say how many. And the vandalizing on the car... don't park at her house, right? Vandalizing to the point not being able to drive it? That's pretty bad. Never mind the whole looking for a sugar daddy who is also a good man. What sugar daddy worth anything will sign up for this kind of trouble?

"I enjoy movies, bowling, having a few drinks, tennis, swimming, going for drives, traveling, I am open pretty much to try new things. I am new to asking for a sugar daddy and so not sure how it fully works." Sugar daddy stuff is easy: you behave and the guy buys stuff for you, but it sounds like she's pretty active already, so what's the new guy going to do for her? Does he get to just ride along while she has fun? Swimming and tennis aren't cheap in WA: usually involves a membership of some sort. Movies and bowling are cheap, so maybe there's hope in this case, but not much. Looks bleak.

"My turn offs are a rude men, tight wads, and abusive men. With any relationship I know sex is involved and I will talk privately about that with the man I am comfortable with." Abusive men are bad news, I agree, but why mention it in a personals ad? Does that scream "drama" to anyone else? Tight wads??? WTF? Why not save time for the guy and print up a bulletted list with prices. Like a menu - make sure sex is listed as an a la carte and you'll be fine, although it sounds like it would be pricy. At least the guy can know what he's getting into. Rude as a turn off is OK, but it's not quite selling yourself...

Bad marketing? You bet. All three lines are from the same ad.

My head hurts now. Ugh.