We're in terrible need of a talented web developer for this project I posted about earlier in the week. Thus far, we've had a grand total of two local applicants. It would appear the webdev market is in a state of hgh demand and low supply. If you know someone in Seattle that fits these qualifications, please send them our way:
- PHP (strong)
- MySQL (strong)
- Writing scripts to scrape and parse data / Regular Expressions (strong)
- E-commerce site development (strong)
- Javascript (moderate)
- HTML/CSS (moderate)
- Unix/Linux/BSD System Administration (proficient)
- Web design (proficient)
- Usability (proficient)
If not, maybe you can tell us where you go to recruit. I'm pleading for your help - where are all the talented developers hiding - job boards, forums, agencies, anything?
Nadir - That's an excellent point, we're paying ~ $90/hour on this particular contract, which is about 1-1.5X what we saw similiar projects being bid at going for on CL. I believe we're pretty competitive on the salary side.
LovetheCoast - That's a great example, thanks. I'll certainly look into that methodology.
Hi Rand, based on your ad, I am not sure this project will be done by one person or a team (2 and 1/2)? Maybe specifying a little bit more about this person's resposility will help.
If the project is for one person only, I think the estimate of time is too low. Plus, this person needs to know DB, PHP, CSS and e-commerce knowledge... he probably has a full time job and can not commit to this type of turn around time.
I'm a developer myself and have been enjoying reading your blog. Your project is very interesting but since I don't live in Seattle I can't apply this oppotunity.
..."where are all the talented developers hiding"...
In California... LOL :P
Rand, did you ever find a developer for this job? I don't live in seattle but I do believe I have the skills you're looking for..
We've had success with both Guru and eLance. I tend to prefer the quality at Guru better these days, but there are programmers to be found at both.
The last time we hired a new programmer (20 hours a week, ongoing) we placed the project on both and received over 120 resumes. My partner did the initial screening and we got things down to about 15 programmers. I then asked them each to spend 3 minutes writing a routine (so I could judge their programming quality, reaction to challenge, uniqueness in response and how few lines of code they could write the solution in). From that, we knocked things down to three and we immediately hired the first one. He, of course, turned out to have no work ethics and we later found he had copied the code snippet from another website. We then turned to guy #2 and after 8 months or so, he's still with us. We're planning to hire him full time later this year.
And personally, the last person I'd hire is a college student. The work ethic and quality of work from virtually every college student I've ever worked with has been lacking. Pay to get a good developer and you won't regret it.
Rand, no offence here, but maybe the salary is not very appealing for them? Did you check what other employers offer to see if it matches your offer? Maybe people think it's not paid enough and don't bother contacting you...
Although i've never been overly impressed with rent-a-coder. Though it does seem to be very competitive and it is possible to get some cheap quotes...though there is a fine line between cost and quality!
Hi Rand,
So you’re trying to recruit a programmer in Microsoft’s back yard
If your back is up against the wall, and you want someone reliable, creative, and reasonably priced - I suggest looking to your local universities for a dynamo.
- Offer an internship in the IT department - Sponsor a contest - Advertise in school newspapers - Contact professors for prize students (they are typically happy to oblige) - Leverage your Newsweek article to give a talk to a class about your great success story (to recruit)
If you want someone higher level, you'll either need to look overseas, or recruit someone from another job by offering better compensation.
As a freelance developer I can answer the question in reverse. All of my clients find me via word of mouth. I imagine that you've already tapped the old network though.
University is probably a good suggestion, but I definitely didn't have a solid portfolio to show of at that point so it might be a little hard for a student to prove that they match that skillset.
I've had success with rent-a-coder.
The trick is to select the competant coders from the bids you will receive and re-select the coders on future projects that give the best results.
Of course you'll need to write a simple spec for each project and use a non-disclusure agreement.
It's also useful for finding out what other webmasters are building, i.e. look at the SEO category to see project postings for directory submissions, article writing etc.