I was reading an article on the Inquirer the other day that was talking about how the graphics chip maker Nvidia was responding to a spate of problems they’ve been having with some of their laptop chipsets.

The thrust of the article was that Nvidia is blaming everyone from the chip foundry to the companies that make products based on their chipsets and even end users for a problem with their chips that appears to be their fault.  The basic problem is that a number of their notebook chips are running very hot which leads to a greatly increased failure rate.  Some of their desktop parts may also have the same problem.

Now hot-running chips are nothing new in the computer industry.  One look at the aftermarket cooler industry shows that they’re very common.   The more transistors they pack in a single chip and the faster it runs the more heat it has to dissipate.  That’s why computers come with heatsinks and fans and all sorts of other cooling gear built-in.

The problem is that according to this article Nvidia does not appear to be accepting any of the responsibility for the issue itself.

That’s a big problem and it directly reflects on both you and I as freelancers.

As a freelancer every time I look in the mirror I see an invisible sign burned into my forehead:  “The buck stops here.”

I am an independent contractor who works entirely for myself.  I don’t work for anyone else.  I do jobs for my clients but I am not an employee.  That means I’m responsible for everything I do or don’t do as regards my work.  I have to take responsibility or I will lose all credibility with my clients, and losing my credibility is just a short step from losing my clients.

That means I have to be able to say “I messed up.”  I have to take the good with the bad.  I also have to accept that sometimes I can get bad results from something I have done in good faith.

The good news is that I get all the credit whenever anything goes right, no matter how big or how small.  That’s the up side of personal responsibility.  You get to keep the credit.

It offsets having to take responsibility when others blame you for something that went wrong.

Most of us got into this kind of work because we wanted to, we wanted to control our jobs and let everything rest on our own shoulders.

So let’s step up and do it, and not blame everyone around us.

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