
Ask HN: How to outsource? - kluikens
A co-worker had been working off 'n on, on a project that virtually has same foundations as WePay. I showed him their site last night and he wasn't too happy, understandably. It served as a real reminder that some of my ideas might never be realized, just for the fact that I can't work on them full-time.<p>So, as a full-time student who's working flex hours -- are there good, responsible ways to outsource some of my projects in order to get them to a functional status? The ability to program isn't the issue, time is.<p>I'm not necessarily looking for people to write code for cents on the dollar (my assumption is that I'll still have to look over all the code looking for mistakes), but are there good alternatives?<p>Additionally, I would love to hear any members' experiences.
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rubinelli
Parcel out those parts of your project that you know someone with experience
can bang out in less than 4 hours, but would take you a few days reading docs
and advancing by trial and error. Payment integration and similar APIs come to
mind. Prepackaged components can have an even better bang/buck ratio.

Another obvious area is web design. Between 99designs and PSD slicers, you can
have a great homepage for $500 (or a decent one for a bit less.)

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kluikens
I've never touched payment integration before, so that'll reaffirm your
assertion. I guess I'll have to review that code carefully. I'm a bit
apprehensive about contracting out that part, but if I find someone who does a
good job -- it's very possible that they'll have the necessary experience to
avoid financial mistakes that I'd run into. Great idea.

And, I was going to consider contracting out the design but was a bit
apprehensive about what I'd get back, but 99designs looks great! Thanks!

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dejv
Derek Sivers wrote good article on this topic few days ago:
<http://sivers.org/how2hire>

~~~
duck
And check these out too: <http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1445500>
<http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1455670>

~~~
CyberFonic
The key is that you will still need to write specifications if you want
anything good. And that takes time and effort too. People in general are lousy
at reading your mind.

In my experience, writing a 'good' specification is as much, if not more, work
as writing the code. If you write it at too high a level of abstraction, the
programmers will probably not implement what you really wanted.

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billclerico
hey - this is Bill from wepay. If your friend would be interested in joining
us give me a shout. bill at wepay dot com

~~~
kluikens
Sure thing, I'll let him know.

