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How to get a good programmer ? (alien.top)

submitted 2 years ago by cogmind@alien.top to c/entrepreneur@indiehackers.space

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I had an idea for a software application and hired a programmer from one of the freelance programming websites. Towards the end he bailed. I even gave him extra money because the project ran over the time he said it would take. I ended up with useless software. He had excellent reviews, and was established on the freelance website

I know what I want the software to do but it seems I almost need to know programming to convey it or a wireframe or something. I had written down what I wanted it to do. But even the basic function ended up broken

Along the way as problems presented themselves i had to brainstorm solutions for the problems. As an example there could be two things named the same thing, this caused the software to crash. I would have thought the programmer would have already thought of this being a potential problem based on how I explained it would function. He then fixed it but in my mind this should have been a non issue from the get go.

So in essence my question is how do I explain what I want and should a programmer be asking me any questions ? Or do I have to have everything spelled out even if I am not a programmer because its seemed like I need to know programming to explain how I want the software to function. And where / how do I find a good one ?

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[–] _WhatchaDoin_@alien.top 1 points 2 years ago

Engineers will under estimate to have the lowest quote and get the contract. Once the entrepreneur is sucked in, it becomes a sunken cost fallacy.

Entrepreneurs often don’t know about the tech, and underestimate significantly the scope of the project. They ask a bunch of features that are supposedly critical, and they can’t prioritize ruthlessly nor extract the key components needed. They often pick an eng that will low ball their quote, which often means the less professional engs.

In these cases, you are better of having a tech project manager, even part time, a few hours here and there to cut the bullshit, pick the right engs, and have a clear list of deliverables. Paid by the hour.

And sometimes it means that the PM tells the entrepreneur that their project will cost 2x to 5x what they expect (they want a Twitter competitor for $5k). Once you convinced them that their money would get nowhere close to what they want, good luck getting paid for the several hours that you helped them (crickets usually), even if you saved them $10k by avoiding a costly mistake. Entrepreneurs are more unprofessional than Eng. at least Eng can make a living.

Now as a project manager I am getting paid upfront. 😅 I don’t need to work with cheap amateurs. 😂