

What to do if developer has stopped all contact? - re_hashed

Hi,<p>I decided to hire a developer from one of the freelancers thread here a while back, and we we made nice progress, but didn&#x27;t fully complete the required task. I have since tried emailing him for weeks now, and have not gotten no response. I have no idea what to do. Is this falling of the face of the Earth a common thing? What do you think I should do?
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gregjor
This happens fairly often. Maybe the developer is in the hospital or dead, but
more likely they lost interest in the project, or felt like they were not
making enough money on it.

Developers chronically underestimate and overcommit, and then when they
realize they've done that they either ask for more time and money, or move on.
For their part clients frequently under-specify and then expect the programmer
to accommodate feature/scope creep, because every little change is no big deal
by itself.

At least half of my clients came to me after their developer stopped
responding, or demanded more money. See [http://typicalprogrammer.com/the-
joys-of-maintenance-program...](http://typicalprogrammer.com/the-joys-of-
maintenance-programming/)

If you have a written contract that specifies deliverables and schedule you
can sue for breach of contract. In my experience these suits rarely go
anywhere unless there's a lot of money involved. If the amount is small enough
for small claims court it may not be worth it, and if it's too much for small
claims court you will probably have to retain an attorney, pay filing costs,
etc. You will need documentation; if you don't have enough the mediator or
judge will give equal weight to both sides.

I always advise clients to make sure they have access to their source code and
data at all times. I recommend setting up hosting and source code control on
accounts you control and give the developer access, but not administrative
access. Likewise always register domain names and buy software licenses
yourself so you own them. I also advise clients that they need to protect
themselves and talk to their developer at the first sign of communications
problems -- don't wait for the developer to stop answering emails and phone
calls.

If you can find another developer who will work with you and finish the code,
great, but good luck finding one. Skilled developers are hard to find, period,
and many developers don't want to take on a partly-working pile of code
someone else walked away from. You may get a few developers who will tell you
what you have paid for is crap and you have to start over. That may be true,
but it's also a common knee-jerk reaction when one programmer looks at another
programmer's code.

~~~
cafard
Good post, by the way.

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bikamonki
If you have a copy of the source code hire someone else to finish the project.
If you do not have it you might have lost time and money. The freelancer will
come back if still alive and if there is some good payment left on the
contract. Lesson: never hire a dev unless he/she comes well recommended. I am
a freelancer with 15yrs of experience, never have I advertized my services b/c
this is a business of reputation through word-of-mouth.

~~~
shubhamjain
Won't that be a chicken and egg problem? I think with what you suggest, it
would be insanely tough for freelancer trying to look for their first clients
(like me).

~~~
bikamonki
Also known as a catch 22 problem. In theory you are right, in practice there
is a path: friends and family. Start your portfolio with low risk small
projects (a website, a simple app) and keep climbing; the big tickets will
come.

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kylelibra
What does the contract you signed with the developer say happens in this case?

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orionblastar
Communication is always a key factor in whom you hire for freelancing work.
Communication is 80% of the job.

If he/she hasn't responded in weeks, then he/she most likely isn't doing
his/her job or he/she ended up sick and in a hospital or something.

Some freelancers don't understand the specs or instructions, as many are ESL
speakers, you may have to communicate in their native language if English is a
bit of a roadblock to them understanding what you want them to do.

You really need to go over the contract this freelancer signed with you, and
see what it says about not fulfilling his/her end of the agreement. Stuff like
no communication in two weeks should invoke a clause that the freelancer has
quit the job and forfeits the pay that the/she would have been paid for those
two weeks, and breaks the contract.

~~~
re_hashed
I don't want to terminate the contract, though. I'd rather just finish what we
started. It just seems like he lost interest, which isn't really fair to me,
right?

~~~
k__
Well, there is much possible.

He could be in hospital, he could be dead.

He could just not like to work with you anymore, because he don't like you or
he got a better job or he stole your idea.

If you have to finish your software, I hope you have a copy of everything you
did till now and get a new, reliable, dev for that matter.

If you can wait longer and want to risk, that he hadn't had a good reason to
not respond anymore, just do it.

