from Hacker News

Ask HN: Would you pay $25 to get an answer to a programming question?

by TechHawk on 3/1/17, 2:22 PM with 8 comments

Imagine that you are just starting with web development and get stuck somewhere, or you are an experienced developer but want advice or a second set of eyes.

Would you be willing to pay, lets say $25, to get your question answered? How about less or more?

There is Stack Overflow, you might say. But on Stack Overflow, there are rules and guidelines to follow, an account to create, specific questions that are allowed and not allowed, a sometimes unwelcoming environment, etc. (https://hackernoon.com/the-decline-of-stack-overflow-7cb69faa575d#.28828d28e).

What do you think about this?

  • by onion2k on 3/1/17, 2:48 PM

    Maybe, but with one caveat. I would want to have the advice from 2 or more people, and only if they couldn't see each other's responses. It's hard to know when programming advice is wrong if you're not familiar with a language or a framework, so there'd be no way to know if the advice was actually useful. If I could get 2 or 3 people's answers to the question and they were all the same that would increase my confidence that they're actually right, and that my $25 was well spent.

    As a developer I would also be quite happy to sit with a chat app open answering questions for $5 each if I could choose what to answer and there weren't too many problems actually getting paid.

  • by theoneone on 3/1/17, 3:35 PM

    25€? No. Maybe 5-10€ depending on how complex is the question and of course depending on the programming language. Of course the response time is essential, let's say within 1 hour( I could use a break and come back late with a solution). Maybe a subscription model or even credits is fine by me. The answer would be fiddle or written solution( there's your pricing model). Also I would like 2 independent answers like others said( with extra € ) Stack overflow is a good place but sometimes it takes too long( there is bounty of course you can't 'buy' more rep). Choosing who will answer it is also an option( maybe from which country, for various reasons) Nice idea, give it a go!

  • by criptonny on 3/1/17, 2:32 PM

    No, it's easier, faster than free to just google the problem and find the answer on stackoverflow