Ask HN: Where do I find a good developer?

10 points by zeynalov 11 years ago | 15 comments

I hired a developer a month ago in freelancer.com and sadly he did in 30 days only small developments, which I could do it myself in 1 day. He's from Pakistan and he thinks that it's normal.

I'm non-technical founder and I need a developer (maybe PHP?) for our new webapp. It's actually very simple and it can be done in a week in full-time work.

Which websites do you use? I prefer freelancers from USA and Europe. Most developers in freelancer.com are from india and pakistan.

patio11 11 years ago |

Have you worked with a freelancer before who produced exceptional work? If so, ask them to do the work or recommend a friend with availability to do the work. Great freelancers are cheap, reliable, and available: pick any two.

If you're wondering why clients like you meeting developers like your previous contractor is virtually an inevitable outcome of freelancing sites, I recommend reading "The Market for Lemons: Quality Uncertainty and the Market Mechanism." It was published in the 70s and basically won the authors a Nobel Prize. The example they use is about used cars, but it maps fairly directly to freelancing sites.

sarciszewski 11 years ago | |

I'd like to chime in with this message for the OP: listen to patio11 (and tptacek if he chimes in); they both know the industry like the back of their hand. :)

Alternatively, OP, send me an email and I'll see if I have the available bandwidth to help complete your project.

unreal37 11 years ago | |

Interesting paper, Patrick. I understand that markets with asymmetric information drive out good sellers and so only bad sellers remain, but I wonder why the markets themselves don't go out of business? We don't see places like fiverr and odesk failing. Any theories as to why?

haidrali 11 years ago |

I am from Pakistan also, can't say anything about that developer but can surely help you finding a top class developer

-> There are monthly post on Hacker News with the names Who is hiring ? (https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8681040) you can post you requirements for a developer with REMOTE option i am sure the quality of developers at HN is much more then those freelancing websites

-> There is also a monthly post with the name Who want to get Hire ? https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8681043 you can also pick your required developer from above link

Hope it might helps you Thanks

logn 11 years ago | |

Also the monthly "Freelancer? Seeking Freelancer?", https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8681039

For quality developers on freelancing sites, I recommend finding people who submit bids of at least $40/hr. And I've found Eastern European developers to be generally pretty good on those sites, probably because a senior dev there happens to charge about the max of what a cheapskate in the US wants to pay.

striking 11 years ago |

It sounds like you should sit down and find the "developer within." That is to say, become technical. Just because a dev is from India/Pakistan/Turkmenistan doesn't mean they're bad developers; that being said, if you don't think they do quality work, either provide a big enough salary that people want to work for you, or learn it yourself.

You say "I could do it myself in one day" but then immediately say you're "non-technical." Sounds a little fishy.

zeynalov 11 years ago | |

Obviously I have some coding skills but I see myself as a non-technical one. I said "I could do it myself in a day" meaning, the work he has done was so easy that even I could do it in some days. I've developed the MVP of our webapp but my coding skills are not so advanced to make it better. So I decided to hire someone who is better than me.

Yes I know, it's better to code it yourself but we have now paying clients and it must be ready as soon as possible. With my own skills and learning curve it will take too much time.

foxpc 11 years ago |

Most of the websites are swamped with Indian developers, sadly. And they're usually the cheapest ones. So while I'm not saying that Indian developers are bad, they're kind of taking the online market with the cheapest and usually, not the best quality options.

Kind of offtopic, but if you're still looking for a developer, I'm sure I could help you with my services. I have commented on a recent "Freelancer?.." and you can find my email there.

lastofus 11 years ago |

How much are you realistically looking to spend on the services of a developer? Without knowing this, it's impossible to recommend the best value for the buck.

rmc 11 years ago | |

An interesting way to rephrase it: "How much are you looking to invest?"

MalcolmDiggs 11 years ago |

For bigger projects: referrals are really the only way to go.

For smaller projects: spread out the risk. Chop your project into digestible chunks, and hire 5-7 devs in parallel to chip away at it (one little chunk given to each dev at a time). Eventually narrow it down (based on their performance) to just one or 2 devs.

sjs382 11 years ago |

You could definitely send me an email to discuss the project. If I cant take on the project, I'm glad to recommend someone who can. My email is in my profile.

Jeremy1026 11 years ago |

I think one of your best bets is to shoot me an email. (Email in profile)

Shameless plug

mc_hammer 11 years ago |

yea just try a few until you get 2 or 3 that always deliver.

you can try some sort of screening process; have them give code examples, answer 10 questions in chat (that arent really on google, it gets tricky when the answers are on google); or screenshare and have them show u some of their code and explain a few lines what it does...

pakistan is not the greatest country to outsource from, you will have better luck with south american countries and asian countries

davyjones 11 years ago | |

Pakistan is an Asian country.