Hey everyone. I am new to Digitalpoint although I have been around for a while. I am looking for some help here and hoping someone here can afford some time to get me some answers. Basically what I am doing is building a Social Networking site. So it would be like a facebook for a specific market, along with some other things added. Now I am not trying to build this site myself. I am going to be hiring a programmer to do it. There are a few different things that I need to know, as I only have HTML and CSS knowledge and I have little experience with hiring a programmer. #1 What exact skills would a programmer need in order to build a social networking site like facebook? (PHP, ASP, Java, HTML, CSS etc. any other skills?) #2 What should I look for when hiring this programmer or programmers? I am getting ready to put some different ads up locally and do some different things to find the programmer, but I first need to know what requirements should be in place before hiring someone. Thanks a lot in advance for the help!
Here's a social networking demo template: http://demo.phpizabi.net/ You can download it here ("download the latest core package"): http://www.phpizabi.net/index.php?L=downloads.index
I am a free lancer programmer too and coder of www. ubuntustore. com . If you need any programmer , PM me.
Some information to consider. The skills required will depend on the technology stack you choose. But, regardless of the technology I would require that the candidate have the following skills: - Minimum of 5 years of commercial web application development. - Experience with unit testing frameworks (mocking would be a +) - Experience in database and software design (OOD, Design Patterns) - Experience with source control systems (CVS, TFS, Perforce, etc) - Experience in developing enterprise level applications (no hobby projects) - Experience in web services and service-oriented architectures - Many, many, more skills One last note, check professional (employer and/or client) references. If you need someone (or assistance) to interview them, let me know.
wow thats some hefty requirements for a social networking site.. software development and source control systems? .. lol but setting out to create a social networking site..would be pretty intense hours , if starting from scratch. Lots of database data and connecting lists of sites to other members that have exchanged favories or have joined the same groups. Thats probably right up the same alley with developing a whole video site like YouTube..but obviously with much lower bandwidth requirements. You should get a programmer that knows the language of some of those free templates. That would save you money on the basic framework ..and have them code the heck out of it to upgrade it from generic basics to whatever you want it to be. big task though.
Well, the requirements are not for a social networking application. Instead, I am considering requirements to develop an enterprise level system. If the staff does not have experience in software and database design, using source control, or basic principles of object-oriented programming then I would not want them on the team. Unless of course, one does not care about the software design. If this is the case, hire a team of chefs to cook up some spaghetti. Software engineering and building quality software is a discipline, not a hobby.
I don't think people who have much budget for the project will ask around on this forum. They would just ask someone do it for them. I think people who shoot question around here want direction.
Well, you don't need requirements quite as high as some of those mentioned here already. The technologies you'll need are good xhtml, css, and a server-side language such as php or asp. Javascript or flash might also need to be used on the website. You'll want someone with at least a few years experience and who knows what they're doing
Social networking sites coming up and plenty of programs available out there. But what succeeds is a site have some base users already. For example you may have an association of some professionals and start a website, fills it with related content.... then others in that profession visit the site regularly. Without such targeting, it is difficult for a networking site, unless you have a huge promotion budget and employ a few initially.
I tried a couple of freelance sites and results were unsatisfactory. The small projects worked for the most part, but the design was horrible. It is clear that the programmers knew little about software design. I cannot extend the scripts without significant effort on my part. If you want to try a niche then use one of the many clone scripts out there or a free hosted solution. Do NOT pay for custom freelance solutions unless you are aware of the potential issues (i.e. immature code, zero reference sites or customers, unproven support, ongoing costs, etc).