How to find the 'right' freelance developers

PHP
41

I’m on the opposite side of this problem. I consider myself to be a reliable and competent web developer. I don’t bother signing up a sites like geta freelancer, elance, guru, etc because there are thousands of coders there, and trying to stick out and have someone take a chance on you is like begging for money downtown (your city). I have been a corporate web developer for various companies for about 15 years. The company I currently contract for is happy with me working remotely, I live in New Zealand (use to live in the US). They don’t usually allow this kind of arrangement, but due to my skills and performance, they have made an exception.

I will freely admit though that I am not a true object oriented type of programmer, never needed to in my workings. I program in ASP, Cold Fusion, but mostly PHP these days. I do everything from setting up a server, creating a design, cutting it up, designing the flow and usability, programming, database, security, maintenance, testing, SEO, and e commerce. I code very fast and have always met all deadlines and never flake out. I consider myself driven and reliable. Other clients and people I have worked with have said the same. I don’t usually toot my own horn, but this thread opens that up. I can provide references if you’d like.

42

Outsourcing is a business that trust is the first requirement. Business won’t grow if you haven’t trusted the company that you’re working with. This business has it pros and cons, you just need to find the right company, ask for samples and client references so you can decide. There are lots of outsourcing providers who pretend to be the best, that’s why you need to be careful and look for the reputable ones.

I suggest to hire a Staff leasing company instead of a freelancer. because leased staff are permanent workers of a company and are easy to reach in case you need them. Freelancers do not have employers so they do as they please and sometimes cannot be contacted for various reasons.

Good luck mate. Post your job needs to sitepoint marketplace and im sure you’ll get more response.

43

Very interesting topic here.

I am a designer and have outsourced some Wordpress website development jobs when I’m too busy to get them done.

My experience of outsourcing is in general good, and I have found a ‘good’ developer who does a good job in a very timely manner. However the thing that bugs me (maybe its because I’m a designer) is that almost every developer I’ve worked with (including in my time working at agencies) don’t seem to care if things aren’t pixel perfect. I realise these guys aren’t designers, but if I send a developer a PSD with things aligned perfectly, I expect the final piece to be the same or very very close to it. After all that’s what I strive for each time I develop a website. Things like that are in my mind what make the difference between a good and a great website.

Anyone else had that problem?

44

Well thats the biggest problems nowadays when u hire some develop so should investigate its profile or links the freelancer provide you and check it through google so you can findout it that really the work of that developer.

45

Actually, I’d be hesitant to say that “there must be loads out there.” In my experience, it’s very hard to find a developer like that. Most of the developers I’ve met are lazy corner-cutters who claim to know/do more than they do/can.

That said, the type of developers you are looking for do exist. Using a forum like this is a good way to find those developers. (as noted by AnthonySterling) The posts in which they make can help to easily identify their true skill set. For example, look through the posts made by deathshadow60 — it’s obvious that he is a passionate, knowledgeable, honest and very skilled developer. (I’ve used him for an example since he’s retired and wouldn’t accept the work most likely anyhow) I would post similar examples of the opposing type of developers, but it wouldn’t be very nice to call names for that.

Finding a solid, reliable, skilled and honest developer is not an easy task.

Another tip - ask around. Leverage whatever contact base you have to let people know that you are looking for a good developer.

It might also be worthwhile to compile is list of the developers you’re considering and have them reviewed by an actual developer. (depends if you know any trustworthy developers willing to do this, which this forum can help with)

When you do find a good developer, treat him well and retain him!

46

well thats true because now a days their are so many developer who dosent even no how to work in advance programs they just start working as free lancer .T

47

Two issues I identify:

First, why would good developers want to work freelance for any extended period of time? I can understand taking that road for a while, and many good developers do it, but at the end of the day there’s a lot to be said for a steady paycheck, insurance, stability, etc. It’s like asking “Why can I never find really hot girls who are only interested in one night stands?”. The answer is, because they have options, and their choice isn’t usually going to be the one which offers less stability.

Secondly, if you’re always getting poor results, then you’re probably making mistakes, too. Developers take the parameters you give and provide code for that. Some are simply poor coders, but often times the parameters are incomplete or ambiguous. Whenever you see something that doesn’t meet your expectations, you need to look at the entire chain of communication that led to that point, and not just the programmer involved.

Third (I’m bad at math, that’s why I use a computer) go read Joel on Software to understand how to attract top tier programming talent. Joel Spoelsky lays it out very cleanly, but I’m going to give you a hint: attracting top talent isn’t cheap. You’re interfacing with someone who is very skilled at something in very high demand. If you want to attract good developers, you’re going to need to be willing to commit to quite a bit on your end too.

48

+1

Anyone can hide their incompetencies in a job interview involving a few emails to and fro. But it becomes very apparent when someone is answering very complex questions on a forum that they clearly know their stuff. It also shows a willingness to help, explain and solve complex probllems, which is something I look for in anyone I hire.

49

Hi…

As you are London based, why not visit PHPLondon?

yours, Marcus

50

Personally, I find, forums just like this are an excellent way to find ‘honest’ talent.

You can quite easily look at how a certain person tackles the problems posted, their thinking behind the solution and even the way they handle the OP(Client).

Take an interview for example, the candidate is almost certainly being on their best behaviour, showing you their best code and most polished projects - all over a rather slim time-frame. Here, it’s quite easy to find the best and worst traits for very little investment in time.

As for showing a client an untested, buggy beta with unexpected problems - I’m afraid, that lies at your door. :wink:

51

<snip>Removed quote which has been edited.</snip>

This is a forum, not tweeter. Can you use full URL which won’t die at the same time bit.ly does ?

52

I turn down the majority of work offered, usually one of two reasons –

  1. Initial instinct says the client does not know very much about their niche, and they’ll need to be carried a long ways.
  2. The pay is too little for too much work.

I guess my problem is my clients are mostly from Craigslist, and well… Many of them expect a lot for nothing, but there are sometimes an exception.

53

hey friends hello…i have been working in this freelance industry from 3 years and believe me i have enjoyed alot.
you can here learn different and innovative ideas and techniques…finding right freelance developers is not a difficult task. all you have to do is to search for the potential people in order to generate best outputs…

54

I did suggest people like that, they have so much work available to them they can cherry pick what they do. Also they did never really need to advertise themselves anywhere which makes find them even harder…

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55

I guess finding a quite good freelancer can be a problem, and we should rely on recomendations, then?

56

You’er looking for two things really. A good personality/communicator. And a good coder. It’s rare indeed to find both.

A good communicator is easy to spot. Go have a few lunches.

Great programmers however, don’t look for work, work looks for them. So i would troll various forums. And find the superstars; the posters who answers all the hard questions. Start there. :wink:

57

Agreed.

Freelancers typically can’t afford to screw you over, because they wouldn’t be paid. Companies usually have more money in pocket, so have more freedom to take risks because one small client may mean little to them.

With companies, and this is the major point I have to make, with companies a programmer usually gets paid by the hour. If he does a crappy job, he may get a word from senior staff but he still gets paid. He could take 5 hours doing a 1 hour job because it makes no difference to him.

Personally, I work on a per-job basis. If a client offers, say, £500 for a small application, that will be my payment. If I drag it out longer, thats just delaying me from getting more work - the sooner I deliver (with quality, of course), the faster I can move on to the next job ( and the sooner I can get my rover into the garage and back on the road! :frowning: ).

Freelancers do run a risk, though. They have to be very trusting; a company potentially has lawyers and accountants on their side. I’ve been screwed over a fair few times, but there’s not much a young programmer can do about it. Sure, I’ve learned my lesson - and now I’ve made a process which makes it easier to not be screwed over.

First I lay out a plan of what’s to be built - and set out a list of key stages. Put a price tag on each stage and, at the end of each stage, send off the current codebase and wait for payment before continuing. That way I’m not working solely on the client’s terms, and they’re not working on mine - it’s simply a case of work/payment ‘handshaking’ which means I will only lose the payment of one key stage if the client decides to terminate the project or (and this is probably the most agrovating excuse I’ve heard) falls out with a client further down the chain, meaning their own contract is terminated leaving mine moot.

There are freelancers from hell, but there are also clients from hell.

58

This is kind of an over generalization in my opinion. What you mention can be true both for a company and a freelancer.

The fact is the task/project you want completed it might be easier to deal with a company compared to freelancers.

For example if you need a ecommerce website, and all you got is the “requirements” for the project. Then would it be easier to go with a company or to work with several freelancers?

After all, if you go with a “jack of all traders” freelancer you will end up with a mediocre product in the end. So you do actually need at least one designer and one programmer.

Sure, some freelancers will for example outsource the design or programming part, that way they can take on the project and deliver an acceptable product. However how does that differentiate the freelancer from a company?

If you have an in-house employee that does the work or if you outsource it to someone else does not matter. If a “freelancer” is outsourcing part of the work, then they are taking on the role of a project manager. With other words, there is no difference between the this and how a normal company operate (in my opinion).

Edit:
On a side note, you mentioned that you have lost the payment for projects due to the client has jumped the ship. I am certain that in most cases when that happen its due to a “freelancer” is outsourcing part of the project and have not made certain they are protected by a contract. Even in the cases our client “jump the ship” we still pay out to anyone we outsourced parts of the project to. Then after we follow up with collection from the client according to the contract.

59

Which is the opposite of most everything I’ve ever seen - truly talented developers getting hired by companies and then having their hands tied behind their back by incompetence above them; Forced into using Dreamweaver, forced into using outdated techniques like tables for layout, being told to slap classes on everything for no good reason – or worse, having proper coding and design methodologies like those in the WCAG overridden by some art major who knows jack about accessibility.

Worse, they often go and use off the shelf solutions without even TRYING to fix any of the above issues.

“Company” work usually involving some twenty separate files in just CSS and Javascript for some trash ‘framework’ that defeats the POINT of using CSS in the first place, unneccessary IE conditionals, invalid heading orders, endless unneccessary DIV - hell, even stupid nonsense like inlined static styles, putting the same class on EVERY LI except one or two inside a UL that has a perfectly good class on it or title attributes that are IDENTICAL to the text inside the anchor it’s applied to (DOOOEEEY!)

I’ve not seen work from any ‘company’ in the field that could hold a candle to what freelancers are capable of. Most of them are fly-by-night outfits slapping out cookie cutter crap on decade old templates using techniques that read like a laundry list of “How not to design a website”

60

Once you have a candidate, how do you know if he or she is the right person?

Request work samples and/or a resume. Look for experience in the field. It doesn’t necessarily have to be in custom framing; however, depending on the talent needed, retail, home accessory, art or small business experience could be beneficial. Ask detailed questions about work samples or resume accomplishments. The goal is to understand how this person thinks and what his or her role was in previous successes.

For example, if you’re looking at a direct-mail sample, figure out how the person was involved. Did he or she create the strategy, write the copy, design the look, coordinate printing or oversee mailing?

Ask to see a client list. You want to be similar in size to his or her other customers. If you’re the smallest on the block, you won’t get the attention you deserve. If you’re the largest, the freelancer will most likely not have the experience needed for your business.

Conduct an interview. Look for evidence that your professional styles are a good fit. Ask for concrete examples of past performance.

A recent article titled, “Tips on Hiring Contractors” from the International Association of Business Communication’s Web site, suggests asking the following questions:

  • What makes you ideal for this project?

  • Is the time allotted for this project reasonable?

  • When have you worked on a similar schedule or deadline?

  • Have you ever been in a situation where a client’s needs have changed before the project was completed? How did you adapt to meet the new goals?

  • What’s the most difficult thing about this project? Why?

  • What is the least interesting thing about this project? Why will you do it?

  • Have you ever had someone question the viability of your solution to a project problem? What was the issue? How was it resolved?

  • Give an example of a mistake you made while working on a previous project. What happened? How was the error resolved?

Overall, the best candidates will exhibit strong problem-solving abilities, good communication skills, integrity and a strong motivation to learn.

Talk about money. Find out how the candidate structures fee arrangements. Some freelancers work on retainer and others work on an hourly basis or quoted project fee. Put rates and compensation requirements in writing–it makes everything easier down the road, even on simple projects.

Ask for references and check them. Talking with former or current clients will give you a feel for the scope of the candidate’s past projects and how he or she handled them.

Utilize the Talent