My name is Eric, I’m a programmer from Sweden. I built this thing pretty much out of frustration of not finding the right people to work with, in a time when we can collaborate across borders and time zones. I don’t mean finding a job, or fixing someones email template. I mean as in being part of an actual project.
My issue with these platforms is it is very easy to find people who are excited about starting a company or working on a large project but it is very difficult to find someone who actually has the discipline to stick to it for two or three years.
I run a discord channel that has several hundred coders and I get 5+ requests weekly to work on a project with someone and those projects are almost always abandonware in a few weeks even after recruiting help from my channel :/
I'm a pretty good 3d artist, so it's very easy to find people who want to work with me on game projects. Sadly, I've yet to meet one who actually kept the enthusiasm the whole way through - even when I've literally made all the art!
It's literally maddening to see so many games made with programmer art - and I just can't find anybody reliable to work with on any project. And, before you ask, I've tried contacting the makers of programmer art games - and it's almost always the case that they've moved on or got a job.
I just want to work on a project where I can see stuff through to the end without relocating to get a job at a studio. But if I post an ad, I just get a ton of replies from people who will drop the project after I've invested hours of work into it - no matter what I do.
I've considered this too. I think the problem is when you aren't paying people, you can't really demand they do stuff. I mean, perhaps you can - but I don't feel comfortable with it. So you end up being some kind of cheerleader - which I'm not great at.
Agreed. It is easy to get high on the idea of a "new"project. 9/10 don't have the follow through. Over the past 14 months I have learned many valuable lessons.
At times I think putting money up should be a requirement. It is easy for people to write off "time invested" if they have the stability of a full time job. Even if you simply pay back the initial investment/money they put in after 6-12 months. A modified vesting schedule in some way.
I think many are just feeling a bit hollow due to the day job vamping their inspiration (sense of fulfillment) and then as soon as the shiny new project starts to seem like real work their motivation fades.
I think a searchable "dead project" codebase or repository would be more beneficial than another one of these "find help here" type of platforms. Along with a wiki style (open source/collaborative) handbook of all the potential issues you may encounter along the way. Everything from marketing/sales to engineering issues.
It happens very often. I call these people “tourists” and there are many reasons why it works this way. Many people have great jobs and aren’t really interested in side projects. Some people get bored very quickly and are looking for perfect project whole life. Some people try to learn new technologies and abandon the project when first problems arise. It’s great luck to find somebody with passsion and discipline to continue when enthusiasm dissapears and the bumpy ride starts.
I experienced this with so many potential "partners/co-founders". It almost always starts with an exciting discussions about the possibilities and how we're all going make s--tloads of money, but as soon as I expect them to commit to the repo they just can't deliver. Most of the times it's lack of skills, missing motivation, or just the fact that they can't work without being micro-managed by me.
RemoteHacker is great! We came across it on Product Hunt yesterday and posted one project. We have been very impressed by everyone who has reached out so far.
It seems like there's a gap between small one-off jobs that are posted on Upwork, and projects that require multiple full-time engineers. RemoteHacker seems to sit perfectly in between those two options.
Please take Upwork as the model of what not to do.
Competing on price with bottom-of-the-barrel programmers, crazy hoops (skill tests) to jump through to prove your worth... I get why these things arose out of their model, but I will never participate in their marketplace because of them.
Just let people sign real contracts, for realistic prices, and let people's skills speak for themselves based on their own portfolio.
Seems like you did a great job of narrowing down the scope for an MVP. You could have added all kinds of filtering, searching, etc. but for starting out you nailed the core feature set.
I'll keep this in mind next time I'm looking for some help. Hopefully, as you scale up you can defend against spam and the type of low quality stuff that pollutes craigslist and the like.
Great idea - though unfortunately the site is blocked by corporate firewalls. Will check the site when I get home. The site is handy as I am looking for someone to work with on a Saas CRM.
I would love to use it, as I'm desperately looking for a partner for my site Unfollow.IO and another project since 2016, but I have no credit card. Would you accept PayPal?
Include the project info in the initial answer from the poster. I have contacted three project owners and now have trouble figuring out which one replied.
My name is Eric, I’m a programmer from Sweden. I built this thing pretty much out of frustration of not finding the right people to work with, in a time when we can collaborate across borders and time zones. I don’t mean finding a job, or fixing someones email template. I mean as in being part of an actual project.
Hope you like it :)