

Ask HN: Where do you find freelance developers - strooltz

I've been running a small rails development shop for the past 6 or so years and the past year we have seen an explosion in new business.  I've been building our network of freelance designers and front end guys but been having a really hard time finding freelance rails developers with enough free cycles to commit to a fixed amount of hours/week or entire projects.  I know there are a lot of other individuals in my position out there so where do you go when you need freelance developers?
======
tudorw
I've used Odesk.com with good results too, I was very selective.

I looked for individuals as opposed to groups or agencies, I avoided 5 out 5
star (100%) ratings and headed for better than 2 and not better than 4, I
chose people who had experience in the technologies I needed, almost
invariably they overestimated their ability, but I do that too, that's just
human.

I chose people who had been with Odesk at least 6 months and not more than a
year or so.

I checked that they were able to speak enough English to understand job
requirements, don't expect impeccable grammar, this is after all the twenty
first century!

I made very clear the commitment required and we discussed at length the time
they would have available and what factors would affect that, every one I
worked with had a 'day job', so my arrangement was that they would be required
for a maximum of 10 hours in any week and we would agree in advance realistic
schedules.

With those caveats in mind go for it, it is an enlightening experience to work
with people from around the world, all so far have been honest and hard
working, I pay everyone the same wage which is 10% or so above the minimum
wage for my country, a rate that I have had to work for numerous times in my
life. Invariably their living expenses are lower than mine and all have
appreciated the income, I have a freelancer who has emigrated to avoid
persecution and another that had 11ft of water through their home but was back
online within 5hrs as they had taken the computers to the attic space, instead
of a gift of charity I made an advance so they could rebuild their home and
the advance was paid of with labour at a slow rate so they could maintain
their current commitments.

We live in a global community, and it is truly awesome :)

~~~
ericb
What was your reasoning behind avoiding 5 star people and people who had been
on Odesk more than a year? Those seem counterintuitive, so I'd like to hear
more.

~~~
jpablo
I would guess he didn't want to pay the high price of quality workers.

~~~
stcredzero
I rather guess that he wanted high quality at bargain rates. The ones without
5 stars are harder to find, but clearly exist, and are willing to give a
discount so they can establish a rep.

~~~
tudorw
Regarding why I went for anything but 5 stars, yes, it is true my expectation
was that a novice would not expect to command the wage paid to someone with
experience. I also believe that some reflection on errors and examining how to
avoid those errors in the future is an important part of my job. I would not
rate myself 5 stars, would you?

5 stars might reflect a desire to only try safe things that can be
accomplished with excellent results. On the internet development is fast,
there are no experts in a technology that was only available yesterday so I
was interested in people willing to try something new, risk to fail.

Regarding the rates, a job is a job, as I stated, this is a wage that I have
worked for in the past, and probably will in the future, for me work is not
entirely about the money, I seek satisfaction, for me that has a high value. I
pay around $12 per hour, or about £8.20 which is a fair bit more than minimum
wage is here in the UK (£5.80 per hour for workers aged 22 years and older a
development rate of £4.83 per hour for workers aged 18-21 inclusive).

------
patio11
Unsolicited advice: this is the market telling you "Charge more."

(I also suspect that, if you offered more money, your freelance contacts would
discover an almost magical ability to find free cycles for you.)

~~~
megamark16
This. I did some freelance Django for a guy from Canada who was paying me
about half what I make at my day job. It was nice having a little extra cash
but in the end I just wasn't motivated, so it was difficult to make time for
the low paying work.

------
Zak
Looking at the responses, I'd say here isn't a bad place, though it would be
problematic if there were too many posts like this. Somebody created
<http://hnhackers.com/> to solve your problem.

I could probably commit some time. zak.wilson@gmail.com

------
gte910h
There is the hacker news spreadsheet:
[http://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc?key=0AlD_6iEb8Ed9dGs3clVJ...](http://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc?key=0AlD_6iEb8Ed9dGs3clVJYi0yYVBka181Z0ZKRW9kQ0E&hl=en)

oDesk has a reasonable number of qualified people

Guru/Rentacoder seem saturated with low bidding "fail 3 times before you get a
success" types.

Additionally, the Basecamp people have a site with samples (but the name
escapes me).

~~~
mahipal
I think the Basecamp site you're talking about is Sortfolio
(<http://sortfolio.com/>).

I'm pretty cheap when it comes to hiring (since I'm bootstrapped), but I found
a pretty good selection of designers even in the lowest price bracket.

~~~
gte910h
That's it!

------
kitcar
I've used Odesk.com with good success. Much more individual-developer focused
than elance.com or similar (which is full of overseas firms)

------
jaredhansen
I'm using and loving www.solvate.com -- think odesk or elance, but curated by
people who know what they're doing, so you get matched with someone already
well qualified for the project, and you don't have to waste so much time
combing through results trying to figure out who is any good.

Solvate connects you with the contractors, then handles contracting, NDAs,
billing, etc. so that it's a really easy process. For this, they take a cut of
what the freelancer gets paid.

I've worked with Solvate "talent", as they call their freelancers, on several
projects now and I have yet to be disappointed. I don't work for them or
anything, just a happy customer.

~~~
stcredzero
_I'm using and loving www.solvate.com -- think odesk or elance, but curated by
people who know what they're doing_

Another curated experience! I think this is a key idea. Raw web experiences
either suck or will degenerate to that point over time. A lot of websites that
succeed do so by utilizing knowledgeable crowd sourced curation.

A key reason why the iTunes App Store sucks, is because their curation is
clueless!

------
patrickryan
<http://pick.im>

~~~
Ixiaus
Thank you for posting this, I'm a contractor _looking_ for work; this looks to
be a bit more niche than ELance et al (you have to request an invite to be
listed!).

~~~
andrewhyde
Mention this interaction and I will get you in.
<http://pick.im/request/invite>

------
hajrice
I'm currently free, I'm a rails/php developer and badass designer. Here are
some things I did last week(though this was design =/)

<http://imgur.com/KRbNx.jpg>

<http://imgur.com/w8S4A.jpg>

<http://imgur.com/DlHDb.jpg>

<http://imgur.com/qfhbv.jpg>

<http://imgur.com/KedPg.jpg>

lets get in touch, hajrice@gmail.com

------
andrewhyde
Self promotion here, we built <http://pick.im> for just this purpose... Check
it out and let me know how you like it?

~~~
GFischer
It happens to be down at the time

------
vamsee
I'll soon be finishing up a project myself, and will be looking for work in a
couple of weeks. I'm a Rails coder (freelancer), with sysadmin chops and close
to 6 yrs web dev exp (major part of it Rails related). Please mail vamsee AT
viamentis D0T com if you're interested.

------
phsr
If I was further along in my Rails learning, I would be interested, as I am
looking for some work. Still feel free to drop me a line at freelance@phsr.org
if you wouldn't be opposed to a bit of learning on the job.

------
lleger
I'm currently available for freelancing, especially to commit to a fixed
amount of hours. I'm a kickass front-end and back-end guy. Send me an email to
get in touch, logan@loganleger.com.

------
jraines
I might fit the bill for some of your projects. Send me an email at
jraines@gmail.com

------
sebastian
what is the name of your shop?

------
johnarcews
Post it @ WebGeek Philippines Job Board <http://webgeekph.com/jobs/>

