

Ask HN: As a developer, how do I work with freelance designers? - drygh

I am working on a small start up, and I am nearing the point where I need to hire a freelance designer to add some finishing touches to the web application. This is my first production application, so I am quite nervous about just about everything.<p>How do I work with a freelancer though - when so much of my code contains sensitive information or information a designer doesn&#x27;t need to see. On the other hand, I happen to be using Django to power the backend, and I don&#x27;t believe there is a way to have him work locally without setting up a development server.<p>What do you guys do? Should I just make sure the contract clearly lays out he cannot use&#x2F;share backend code in any ways? Do I need to change all my backend API keys and sensitive information after working with him? Or should I cross my fingers and hope my payment API account doesn&#x27;t get hacked 6 months from now...
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gee_totes
You're payment API doesn't have a sandbox mode? Maybe that will work? Short of
that, maybe you could create a fork of your application for the designer that
just returns payments_processed=true and doesn't talk to the payment API at
all.

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drygh
Most of the APIs I'm using do have a test/sandbox mode of some sorts, or I
could disable them in a way the designer could still work on the application.
If this is the norm in working with freelancers I am fine with it. It just
seems as the application grows, it would be substantially more difficult to
make sure everything is 'freelancer proofed'.

That's why I brought up the contract as well. Not sure if this is a good
cautionary step to take, or if I should do it in addition to putting APIs into
'test/sandbox mode'.

