from Hacker News

Ask HN: Where do I find a good developer?

by zeynalov on 12/7/14, 3:53 PM with 15 comments

• by patio11 on 12/7/14, 4:21 PM

  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.

• by haidrali on 12/7/14, 6:53 PM

  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

• by striking on 12/7/14, 4:16 PM

  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.

• by foxpc on 12/8/14, 10:22 AM

  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.

• by lastofus on 12/8/14, 8:13 AM

  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.

• by MalcolmDiggs on 12/8/14, 9:41 AM

  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.

• by sjs382 on 12/8/14, 3:44 PM

  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.

• by Jeremy1026 on 12/8/14, 2:38 PM

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

  Shameless plug

• by mc_hammer on 12/7/14, 4:51 PM

  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