Ask HN: Code Myself Or Outsource?

[krung]

Hi All,

I am an ABAP developer (SAP platform) and have this excellent concept of a educational website which i believe should do well. But I know nothing of PHP and Apache but I am technically good and CAN built the website once I learn PHP (may be twice or even thrice more time than what a experienced professional will take)

I have the savings to outsource the website development(and it is within my budget ) but I am not sure .

I can investment the time I spend learning PHP in marketing and community development which I think will server larger business interests ... but do I really need to know PHP well in order to "Manage" a development team in future ? I am good at suggesting "features" that is my forte but to have them implemented by some one else do I need to know PHP my self ?I mean I can pick up PHP as time progresses but I am confused ... any suggestions will greatly help.. :)

What do you suggest I do ?

PS: I have currently a 3 sites up and running but they are on wordpress and joomla . No code myself

[noblethrasher]

I doubt it would take you long to learn PHP/HTML/JavaScript since you already have programming experience. I say allocate a certain amount of time to learn/code. Try to get a decent version 0.x in that amount of time. If you then find that you still need to outsource at least you'll be in a better position to manage things.

Markus Frind learned ASP.NET while using it to build the successful dating site PlentyOfFish.com (he too was already an accomplished programmer).