Consultant / contract programmers how are you found?
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With all of the rejected suggestions, it really sounds like your customers want work done for 'little to nothing'. That is the absolute worst kind of job possible. I think that with the type of work you have and the money you want to spend, you are not going to find the 'quality' resource you want. You need to start trolling the local high school cafeteria honestly. That's my only suggestion. Perhaps if you could get your customers to pony up real dollars, you could go to CEWeekly, where the REAL contractors play. Outside of that, you need to go fish. I am sick of people who really believe that this stuff is easy and should be dirt cheap. Then they stand on a soap box and bitch about how bad coders are and careless with error handling and blah, blah, blah. You get what you pay for. Its really simple. Pay is crap, you get crap.
Hmm, don't think so. . ..he seems to want someplace to refer his customer to that they can find someone to do small projects (so of course for a few hundred $), not necessarily that his customer wants to pay only a few hundred for a moderate to large application.
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Where's the best place to direct people looking for .net developers interested in making small utility apps? Besides rent a coder of course, I've heard too many horror stories to be confident in making any suggestions.
"It's so simple to be wise. Just think of something stupid to say and then don't say it." -Sam Levenson
This may seem a little obvious but try googling, i.e. ".Net consultant Seattle". You'll get established consulting companies and a few independants (like me :) ). Whether independant or mega-global there are always the good and the bad - try to get a recommendation or referral.
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Where's the best place to direct people looking for .net developers interested in making small utility apps? Besides rent a coder of course, I've heard too many horror stories to be confident in making any suggestions.
"It's so simple to be wise. Just think of something stupid to say and then don't say it." -Sam Levenson
I'll throw my hat in the ring as well... 15 years full-time experience as an independent consultant, first in ASP and now in .NET. I have several "odd job" projects going at any given time. PM me if you'd like my contact info... :)
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Where's the best place to direct people looking for .net developers interested in making small utility apps? Besides rent a coder of course, I've heard too many horror stories to be confident in making any suggestions.
"It's so simple to be wise. Just think of something stupid to say and then don't say it." -Sam Levenson
Have you tried elance.com?
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:) I understand what you're saying believe me, I did contracting many years ago. This is not that kind of situation, the reason I've rejected a lot of the suggestions is these are very tiny jobs, things that would take me a couple of hours with my greater experience with the api. Little utilities like importers and exporters etc. It's not like they are asking for an entire application to be made. Money is not the issue it's just that these are business people and asking them to pay hundreds or thousands of dollars to simply find someone to do a few hours work is not reasonable at all.
"It's so simple to be wise. Just think of something stupid to say and then don't say it." -Sam Levenson
Try this then, http://www.ifreelance.com/[^]. The problem with these kind of sites is that you never know what the quality of the results are going to be. I understand what you are trying to do, but I still think its only going to generate problems. Here is my viewpoint; I write a little program to take care of, lets say, a file formatting issue for $50. I finish and they use it and like it, but two days later realize that if it did the task a little different, they would have 200% more benefit from it, so they go back and pay again to have the code updated. The next person (differnt coder again)breaks function A that has little noticable impact, but accomplishes task B. Now the user has the extra functionality, but the code hicups every other time they use it. Now they are frustrated and bad mouthing the first coder, when it was the second who caused the problem (and really their lack of planning and foresight). Long story short, by the time they are really done with the code that they only wanted to spend $50 on, cost them $5500 (including manhours spent trying to correct issues and find coders and , and , and) after they jerked around with it for a year. If they had understood what they really wanted up front and discussed it with a good coder and laid out the foundation and set the specifications and ground work (yea it takes time and money), it would have cost them $1400 instead, and been delivered in 4 weeks instead of 52. Now you have a pissed customer because they got jerked around for a year and ended up with half the functionality they wanted at twice the cost. That happens nine out of ten times. I don't do it anymore and neither do any of the other coders that I know, who know their way around code. You, as the person who suggests the lesser cost method of solution providing are doing two things, you are going to eventually lose that customer when they realize you could have saved them many dollars in the long run and cutting the noses off the faces of the people who can actually provide the right services the first time by making it appear as though they 'charge too much' or are 'too slow'. Yea, it costs more than they think it should up front, but the savings in the long run are many times the larger up front cost.
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It's not for me, it's for any one of our customers who are located globally.
"It's so simple to be wise. Just think of something stupid to say and then don't say it." -Sam Levenson
Me too. It depends on how remote your customer would mind your developer - I'm in New Zealand. Check out my website for details: http://www.cyberfuel.co.nz Andrew
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Try this then, http://www.ifreelance.com/[^]. The problem with these kind of sites is that you never know what the quality of the results are going to be. I understand what you are trying to do, but I still think its only going to generate problems. Here is my viewpoint; I write a little program to take care of, lets say, a file formatting issue for $50. I finish and they use it and like it, but two days later realize that if it did the task a little different, they would have 200% more benefit from it, so they go back and pay again to have the code updated. The next person (differnt coder again)breaks function A that has little noticable impact, but accomplishes task B. Now the user has the extra functionality, but the code hicups every other time they use it. Now they are frustrated and bad mouthing the first coder, when it was the second who caused the problem (and really their lack of planning and foresight). Long story short, by the time they are really done with the code that they only wanted to spend $50 on, cost them $5500 (including manhours spent trying to correct issues and find coders and , and , and) after they jerked around with it for a year. If they had understood what they really wanted up front and discussed it with a good coder and laid out the foundation and set the specifications and ground work (yea it takes time and money), it would have cost them $1400 instead, and been delivered in 4 weeks instead of 52. Now you have a pissed customer because they got jerked around for a year and ended up with half the functionality they wanted at twice the cost. That happens nine out of ten times. I don't do it anymore and neither do any of the other coders that I know, who know their way around code. You, as the person who suggests the lesser cost method of solution providing are doing two things, you are going to eventually lose that customer when they realize you could have saved them many dollars in the long run and cutting the noses off the faces of the people who can actually provide the right services the first time by making it appear as though they 'charge too much' or are 'too slow'. Yea, it costs more than they think it should up front, but the savings in the long run are many times the larger up front cost.
Good points, however we have no fear of losing any customers, we make commercial software and it's doing *very* well and has for a decade now and always does even better the tougher the economic times. One of our promotion partners recently noted that our software and people making similar software are the only ones actually doing better the last few months than all their other software types they promote. They even had a journalist who wanted to interview us but that's not our kind of thing. :) I think what we'll do is institute some kind of free developer program with a free license for our software for their own use as it's something that quite a few consultants and anyone who charges for their time already use. Cheers!
"It's so simple to be wise. Just think of something stupid to say and then don't say it." -Sam Levenson
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Hmm, don't think so. . ..he seems to want someplace to refer his customer to that they can find someone to do small projects (so of course for a few hundred $), not necessarily that his customer wants to pay only a few hundred for a moderate to large application.
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Where's the best place to direct people looking for .net developers interested in making small utility apps? Besides rent a coder of course, I've heard too many horror stories to be confident in making any suggestions.
"It's so simple to be wise. Just think of something stupid to say and then don't say it." -Sam Levenson
oDesk.com is getting a lot of hours of work done. (I'm signed up there as a supplier of software development services, but inactive at present) And their commercial model is (I think) 10% of the value of work done, so small jobs have small fees. Work can be hourly rate, or fixed price. Everyone has a reputation score, and the site provides online Tests that developers can take to show that they have skills in particular areas. And the customer gets to vet the workers, before the job starts. Gzep.
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Where's the best place to direct people looking for .net developers interested in making small utility apps? Besides rent a coder of course, I've heard too many horror stories to be confident in making any suggestions.
"It's so simple to be wise. Just think of something stupid to say and then don't say it." -Sam Levenson
I think your best option is to find a local consultant or two who would be willing to take on these types of projects. Try the chamber of commerce, or other networking organization (local we have a Association of Consulting Expertise). If you can find one good programmer and explain to them that it's going to be ~$500 for each customer, 6-8 customers a year (or something), then he might (should) be willing to write an import/export that integrates with your API that is flexible enough to be heavily re-used. So if he charges $50/hr and he spends 15hrs on the first one, and 5 on each one after that... Then you have a guy you can trust, who is familiar with your API, who is getting paid well for his time (starting with the second customer). I was shocked at how low the average hourly rate was on some of the projects on ODesk. $15/hr? That doesn't sound like quality to me.
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Where's the best place to direct people looking for .net developers interested in making small utility apps? Besides rent a coder of course, I've heard too many horror stories to be confident in making any suggestions.
"It's so simple to be wise. Just think of something stupid to say and then don't say it." -Sam Levenson
Hi again John C. I'll toss my couple cents in on this one as well. Seems you have the questions that I just have to say my piece about. I've known a number of good programmers who lurk on odesk.com and elance.com. However, they are greatly overshadowed by the folks who simply shouldn't be offering a professional service. Barring that, I think one of the best ways to find global talent is message boards related to the chosen technology. Identifying a knowledgeable or respected individual is fairly trivial if you look over the right sources. People who are passionate about a subject are generally found in places where you talk about that subject. IE. If you need a small windows mobile phone application, I'd absolutely check xda or ppcgeeks (depending on gsm vs cdma). Need some Silverlight work done? Silverlight.net identifies right on the homepage users who have reached higher level of status through good posting. You get the idea. Minimal leg work into researching a user's posts can identify the right candidates, with no cost to the client other than time. If you want to point a client in the right direction and wash your hands of it, aim them at a location where hobbiests and professionals alike gather, and step back. Should you really want to help the client out, you can always go a step further and ask around in a board's chat room (if they offer one). I know thats how I've been snagged for a few word of mouth projects myself. Personally, I'm of the opinion that good consultants are very receptive to being approached in the right way, when they are found discussing the things that are of interest to them. In fact, some consultants make it a point to be active in a niche community with the sole purpose of hoping to increase interest in their offerings. Blogs are often used for this as well. On a side note, I think I missed a part of the conversation. What API / offering were you referring to when you talked about providing developer licensing? Oh, and I guess I should put my name in the hat as well. Best of luck, - BK
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Hi again John C. I'll toss my couple cents in on this one as well. Seems you have the questions that I just have to say my piece about. I've known a number of good programmers who lurk on odesk.com and elance.com. However, they are greatly overshadowed by the folks who simply shouldn't be offering a professional service. Barring that, I think one of the best ways to find global talent is message boards related to the chosen technology. Identifying a knowledgeable or respected individual is fairly trivial if you look over the right sources. People who are passionate about a subject are generally found in places where you talk about that subject. IE. If you need a small windows mobile phone application, I'd absolutely check xda or ppcgeeks (depending on gsm vs cdma). Need some Silverlight work done? Silverlight.net identifies right on the homepage users who have reached higher level of status through good posting. You get the idea. Minimal leg work into researching a user's posts can identify the right candidates, with no cost to the client other than time. If you want to point a client in the right direction and wash your hands of it, aim them at a location where hobbiests and professionals alike gather, and step back. Should you really want to help the client out, you can always go a step further and ask around in a board's chat room (if they offer one). I know thats how I've been snagged for a few word of mouth projects myself. Personally, I'm of the opinion that good consultants are very receptive to being approached in the right way, when they are found discussing the things that are of interest to them. In fact, some consultants make it a point to be active in a niche community with the sole purpose of hoping to increase interest in their offerings. Blogs are often used for this as well. On a side note, I think I missed a part of the conversation. What API / offering were you referring to when you talked about providing developer licensing? Oh, and I guess I should put my name in the hat as well. Best of luck, - BK
Hi Bryan, good points. Unfortunately I can't talk about it here because I asked Chris a long time ago if I could just mention here that we have a free developers API and people are making money writing add-on applications and utilities for our very popular software that is sold globally and that it might be a good source of income for people here out of work or with spare time. We make no money on it, provide support for it and even provide a place for developers to advertise their services. He said it was advertising and we would need to pay for it like any one else which I felt is grossly unfair since it's a win/win for everyone involved and we make no money on it but it's his board so his rules. I'm just looking for somewhere else that cares about out of work developers. :)
"It's so simple to be wise. Just think of something stupid to say and then don't say it." -Sam Levenson
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Where's the best place to direct people looking for .net developers interested in making small utility apps? Besides rent a coder of course, I've heard too many horror stories to be confident in making any suggestions.
"It's so simple to be wise. Just think of something stupid to say and then don't say it." -Sam Levenson
These: odesk.com[^] elance.com[^] getacoder.com[^] In that order, oDesk is one of the better ones out there IMHO. Good luck.