I much like other members on DP, have or are looking for experianced programmers and am getting tired of getting the run around. What exactly should we look for when looking for someone to hire for a job? Does anyone have anyone they can refer? Are there companies that can be hired? Or do you have any other advice for this topic? All help is appreciated. Thanks in advance.
Look for examples of their past work, and get contact info from people / companies that they have done work for in the past. Generally, it's fairly certain that you get what you pay for, so to get a top notch, professional programmer, you have to pay for it. Where are you trying to hire from? (DP, Freelance marketplaces, etc...)
iTrader, number of posts, look at their past posts to see what they are like, ask for references. I'm available to be hired btw
I will tell you one way. Ask for their portfolio. Choose one of their sites and post it on this forum for testing. Pretend as if the site was yours. The guyz there will tell you if there is any basic vulnerability on the code. If they tell you that the website is vulnerable to either SQL injection attack or cross site scripting(XSS) attack, it means that the programmer is a kiddie. Kick him right away and find a good programmer. I have myself found that some "professional web programmers" don't care about SQL injection.
This is a real issue nowadays, more than it ever used to. The advice above is perfect, but you have to take all programmers with a pinch of salt (if that makes sense!). Look at their previous work: Generally, it should be perfect. E.g. if you spot a major flaw yourself, then clearly you should steer away from them. Be blunt: I, and many other programmers, won't mind if you ask questions like "why is this not working" or "why did you remove the item from your portfolio (archive.org or Google's Cache)". They'll answer your questions there and then and you should feel they are trustworthy. If you don't, probe some more. English: Unfortunately, as it goes, find someone with excellent English, not that I'm saying if you don't, you aren't a good programmer. Generally speaking, it's been shown that as programming is generally in English, and communication between Client and Programmer is critical, make sure your point is getting across. Ask them to make a small (plain) document of everything you want done. Payment: Very few programmers require a deposit up front. If they want one, get them to produce something for it. Personally, if I can verify who you are, I'll happy do the project before asking for any payment, but that's just me. Timezones: Even the best of programmers find it difficult to meet needs when communication is minimal. Waiting a day for a single answer that stops you from working is frustrating, so sort this out before hand. From experience, I've declined further projects solely because we could only communicate for 2-3 hours today. Now, this is nobody's fault, but these kinds of problems exist. Availability: If they're not available, it may be worth while waiting (I'm not dropping and hints here). Personally, I'm not (available, that is). The truth is, if they're turning you down for other projects, you know they'll do the same for you when your time comes. Some interesting questions you could ask: - What kind of SQL Injection protection do you use? (mysql_real_escape_string etc.) - Do you sanitize input before processing/outputting it? (htmlspecialchars, strip_tags, etc.) You might want to come up with some trick ones, just for the fun of it: - Can you use register_globals? (No, bad) - Be imaginative I hope this helps you in some way! Jay
programming is all about skill not public relation. look for someone who made an actual program and make them show you the program. If you're looking for a windows programmer, ask him to show you the program, if you're looking for a website, ask him to show you his website. If you're looking for trainee, set the exam papers.
first of all, offer real rates...why is it that a number of people want free programming? Anyways, try asking for a cv, if you were to hire me and wanted to see mine, I would have it off to you pretty quickly. You should get a sense from their experience whether they are for real or not.
you need to be a skilled programmer urself to find a good one. I left my programming job because my employers know nothing about programming pay me the same salary as other staff and expect my source code for free. If u're a skilled programmer, you know this is an empty expectation. this is why microsoft is still the central programming corporation cuz it's run by someone who is skilled in programming.
You can find/hire freelance programmers in these sites... http://www.getafreelancer.com/ http://www.elance.com/ http://www.scriptlance.com/ http://www.rentacoder.com/ http://www.getacoder.com/ and there are plenty of freelance websites to look into.... all u need is to have a great employer skills to question, value and find the skilled programmer for your project. Hope u will find a skilled programmer soon. All the best m8!
Hi, It is really tough to find a real good programmer. But if you have analytical ability and a bit knowledge in programming then have some conversation with the coder and you will definitely understand their skills. Sabbir