Aug
18First thoughts about hiring a coder to do website work
Tags : RAC Posted in: Business Software
A few days ago I said I wanted to code a backend/ customer management interface for my site. I’ve decided I need to do this fairly quickly as I’m getting more and more customer requests for lock codes, custom templates etc. I also need to quickly find out who’s purchased when I get a query. I get lots of similar questions that could potentially be answered by a semi-automated reply. Also, some questions would be better answered by a website than a more personal email.
The key to this is keeping a database of purchasers on the site. I did do this in the early days but it mysteriously broke after a few weeks and I simply by-passed it since someone wanted to purchase ASAP. I need to resurrect the database and redo the sales page and Paypal IPN to register attempts at purchasing as well as successful purchases. I’ll also want a protected admin area and also a user area where they can log in and ask for new codes etc.
I’ve decided I simply don’t have the time to code this myself so I’m going to put together a spec. and place a project on RAC as you’ve suggested in the past.
by ML
… tell me the result when you did it. I’m really interessted in knowing if you’r pleased with it or not.
Will do Gerhard. BTW my personal email gets bounced by your email provider so I can’t send private messages to you.
Well look at my other posting about RentACoder for further tips, I may be repeating myself here, but heres my advice off the top of my head.
When you post your request you can provide attachments, I would try and make the request quite short and precise, a summary.
The provide a attachment, a word document or PDF, which is the specification for the project. Number ever point, this will make it a lot easier to discuss at a later stage if their are issues. Also, you can say where is X in your work.
In your request say you want a report every 24 hours even if they say they haven’t done anything. I suppose the odd thing about RAC is that coders can do several jobs at once and may juggle several different projects. But theres also coders just doing it after their day job.
Don’t put too much money, maybe we need to discuss this.
When evaluating bidders, I would have a standard reply ready for the coders who just sent you their basic profile email, saying how wonderful they are.
Make sure the coder can speak good English and that you feel happy that you can communicate well with them.
Try to go for a top coder if you can, as they are keen to keep their status and a less likely to do a bad job.
However you may find you get very few bid, zero rated coders can be good , so you’ll need to ask them some questions to make sure that they know what their taking about.
Make sure you submit to all the language categories you can.
Finally, don’t get upset when you get lots of crap coders bidding, you may have to wade past these and find someone suitable. You will almost certainly get people who just think they can do a few lines of code and have you accept it.
Thanks for your thoughts … I’m not sure, if I want a coder for writing something for me, but I’m thinking about hiring someone for testing my application or a person who translates my software to other languages, like french or something.
btw: I updated my email address in the blog user profile.
Gerhard, heres some other posts on RentACoder.
http://blog.softtester.com/index.php/2008/07/how-to-decide-which-rentacoder-coder-to-accept/
This one is for at testing requests.
http://blog.softtester.com/index.php/2008/06/a-rentacoder-rac-testing-request/
I can also recommend a couple of testers and I might be able to recommend other coders for other things.
Gerhard, I’m not sure if I want someone coding something for me either. The more I think about it, the more I just want someone to give me a series of web pages pretty close to what I need and then I will finish them.
And, the more and more I think about it, the more I think - why not take a couple of days and write the stuff myself.
The problem is that as a long term strategy I need to subcontract work or at least collaborate other people - if I don’t, I’ll never develop major new software. I’m still not sure that RAC is a good way to go though. Jules has all the experience in this regard.
I guess at the end of the day if time or experience is a certain area is a problem, then rentacoder will be helpful.
A friend of mine called Aaron had someone write a whole package for him for this reason and it cost him $200 and it has been worthwhile.
I guess if its something you want to add to a tweak you’ll have to think carefully.