Hi All:

I was turned down for a programming job today , no biggy, but I've not run into this problem before and would like your opinion(s) - I'm not a real professional like most of you here on UT.

The job was to write a POS program for a small retail store. I spoke with the owner for about 3 hours. The job was straight forward - I think I had a lot of it already written, in my head, at the end of out meeting.

The owner then threw me a curve. He said he wanted to get a manual first - then we'd work out changes (deletions, and/or additions) to the design and functionality. I told him that I don't think that's possible. He said that all professaional programs starts with manuals then after approval from the hirer the actual programming begins. I again, told him that it wasn't possible. He told me "good day", and I left confused.

Can someone tell me if what this guy said is true or not? If so, how can you write a manual before at least a proto-type is done - in other words, before any coding?

Thank you,

Mal