Hi, I would like to get some advice from fellow DP members who have used a freelancer before. Eg. sites like: http://www.getafreelancer.com/, http://www.guru.com/ or http://www.elance.com/. If you get someone else to build and develop your idea, how do protect yourself from not being ripped off make sure they don't sell the code / finished product, that you paid for, to someone else / market the idea themselves? Thanks!
I've used the services of RentACoder.com both as a buyer and a coder; the transactions went very smoothly. No money is transferred to the coder until the buyer acknowledges the work has been completed. The RentACoder.com staff are very supportive and help alleviate any problems during the project (eg. coder is not meeting deadlines, work is unsatisfactory, buyer is being too picky, etc.) To answer your other question... Coders have to accept a confidentiality agreement when starting a project, but beyond that there's nothing you could do to stop a devious coder from stealing your ideas. It operates much the same as eBay....on the ol' honor system. Although the sign up process is very in-depth for RentACoder.com. You have to verify your name, address and telephone number through various means....it helps cut down on those who are looking to scam buyers (or coders). If you need a programmer for a high-risk project, you might want to stick to someone who you know is trustworthy. PS. I also came across that you might want to look at, www.odesk.com
about protection - all depends to whom you are asking for project. Person must have some portfolio and site, at the end everybody want to have a plus from project -you - working system, freelancer - be payed 2. you need to sign nda, but you can only protect your idea, but not a code - code is copyrighted by it's creator. In any case, if you pay $100, nobody will promise, that code will not be used whenever else, no, then could promise, but... BTW, what project do you have?
You're right. I should make sure they have a large portfolio and have enough goodwill they that would want to protect. If you pay the freelancer to code your project, I would expect that you would retain ALL intellectual property rights to the code. Eg. If I write MS Office for Microsoft, I don't own the code. Do you write your own NDA or do these freelance sites have ready made ones? hehe..
About intellectual right - all defined in signed document. Professional developers have own libraries, frameworks, classes, which they use in projects, and signing document, where you give up all rights mean you violate agreements with previous customers. In any case, if you have some interesting idea, and you want to involve other develop(s), this require signing of agreement or NDA. NDA writted by you and developer - if you will find somewhere ready NDA with listed you idea, you can use it also But again, it all good for large project, not simple scripts etc. ~Alex
You might also consider http://www.seojobs.biz if it's SEO related, though all transactions have to be carried out externally. The upside is no fees etc.
Rentacoder builds all the terms you want into their contracts. When somebody writes code for you, you own it. I'm not sure how you would enforce any problems? But if you found an outsourcing firm with a good reputation, then you would have a bit more confidence: They acted well in the past. Secondly, the have something valuable to lose if they misuse your terms. Its always a risk whether you use local or outsourced contractors.
There are two types of intellectual properties - one thing you code somebodies algorithms and ideas, and other - you got the idea and implement it which realized some feature - then it's yours.