Outsourcing

Question

I've got too much to do in too little time. Can you recommend a freelancing / outsourcing service ? Also how do you manage the source code, are there any services like Google code but for closed-source projects ?

Answer 1

I have used http://www.guru.com in the past for getting people to work with and for getting work.

Answer 2

Rentacoder.com

Answer 3

There are plenty of hosted subversion sites out there like: http://beanstalkapp.com/pricing

Answer 4

A larger panel of subversion hosting can be found on the subversion website (it's always better to compare) : http://subversion.tigris.org/links.html

Answer 5

My best recommendation is to host stuff yourself and let people in selectively (including your domain names and all files), I'm not really one to talk about svn (i'm a bit of a newbie in that sense and have never used it) but I would suppose a well setup system would let you track changes anyways. Besides; since you're outsourcing you'll see how its (obviously) easiest to bill by goals rather than hours, in which case everyone will be eager to tell you what they've done.

On that note, I've done tons of eLance.com work both hiring and providing and you should be warned that the work standards will vary per provider. The good thing is? if you go by the system, you're semi-covered for payments and accomplishments (however you'll soon notice how its easier just to get ahold of star programmers by email and contract independently). There's obviously a fair share of hire-a-coder sites out there.

BTW, albeit I haven't read this, a lot of friends say they found some usefulness to this blog on the matter.

Edit: elance.com has it's own project management board for changes, billings and whatnot, and I personally use cashboard, its an amazingly simple (and cheap) web-based project management tool.

Cheers,

/mp

Answer 6

I do quite a bit of freelance work, I've looked at rentacoder.com as a source of work but it seems extremely low paid. Is it aimed at coders in Countries that have a much lower cost of living than the UK, USA, Australia, etc?

A current example:

here is the brief description: I have a html/css website and want to have a dropdown list installed that lists businesses in NJ, USA. I will add the businesses 1 by 1 thru a back end control panel that YOU will make.

when a visitor clicks on one, a page must generate that lists the info of the business.

then users must be able to comment underneath the listing.

The project type on this is categorised as "Under $100"

Now, obviously there's nothing remotely tricky about what is requested, however, there's no way a half decent programmer is going to do it for $100. There'll be at least an hours communication with the client, there'll be time spent to set up a dev environment. There'll be some user testing, no doubt there'll be changes going backwards and forwards with the specification. That's without any actual coding. Call it half-a-days work if everything goes to plan. Who are these sites aimed at?

Is there an alternative for proper programmers to find proper projects with proper budgets?

Andrew

Answer 7

It honestly sounds like you're only going to be working with one or two people, setting up your own CVS/SVN might be a better option especially if money is tight.

Answer 8

@Andrew Taylor unfortunately, there's no way to measure this (some hiring parties might also reside in countries where $100 is already hiring at a premium), but in my experience; if you take the $100 job, there will be a $500 job afterwards, then a $1000 and so on as the client warms up to you.

Of course, this depends heavily on the quality (and speed, speed is a must for these tasks) of your work, but then again; you might as well not know at all if there's a follow up after. It's unfortunately a bit of an art (client management, that is; here's a site that delves a bit more on this).

One thing though, elance keeps tabs on location, and there are a bunch of people looking for "US coders only" and whatnot who will stick to american budgets, sometimes its just about communication ("call me in 5, please" or "can you come to my office?"), but nonetheless it forces that virtual salary barrier up.

/mp

Answer 9

@mauriciopastrana

I've thought about dedicating a week to rentacoder et al and trying to mop up all the quick jobs, even if I don't make any money. I thought the experience might be worthwhile. You saying that the big jobs follow on from the little ones gives me a bit of renewed hope.

I'll also have a look at eLance, at the bigger jobs.

Thanks

Answer 10

I'm quite happy with getafreelancer. Some recommendations when using low cost freelancing services:

1. Write detailed specs
2. Always asks the bidders specific project related questions to make sure they actually read the specs.
3. Set up a detailed schedule
4. When you're ready to go, get a phone number. An email address is not enough!

Answer 11

Odesk is another solution for outsourcing.

Answer 12

Cashboard is also a great tool for managing the billing / time tracking aspects of your project.

It has standard support for working with sub-contractors. You can set their rate, bill out at a higher rate, and even track the difference.

I might be a bit biased, as I did create it :)

Answer 13

Best to try a few resources with small code chunks. Then develop long term relationships with the ones you like. This can go a long way. For code choose something like Trac or go for a hosted solution.

Answer 14

DO NOT use rentacoder.com. I had bad experiences with them. Note the site's fault but the coders who hang out there are of poor quality.

A coder bailed out on me in the middle of a project and wasted a month of my time. Another coder canceled within 24 hours after getting the full source code of my application which needed conversion.

Plus coders which deliver code which didn't meet the clear requirements I gave them. I am a developer myself and I gave them clear instructions.

What frustrated me is that I picked coders with high ratings. I only had one good experience so your mileage may vary, but all in all the quality of work done by coders is pretty bad. I think these coders are beginners, inexperienced and cheap ones who bid on anything and try to do do anything.

I would try more professional sites like eLance.

Answer 15

Your best bet is to find someone local to help you out, who you can have face to face discussions with. This work well in the long term.