FollowMe22

joined 10 months ago
[–] FollowMe22@alien.top 1 points 9 months ago

It doesn't make sense for me to hire a full-time dev because we don't have dev work every day.

[–] FollowMe22@alien.top 1 points 9 months ago

Yeah that's a good idea. Most of the jobs are one-off but I'm looking for a consistent contractor to work with as we have ongoing dev work, it's just sporadic.

The best dev I ever worked with was in the UK and we worked together for around a year on a freelance/contract basis but then he got hired to a top firm for a full-time gig.

[–] FollowMe22@alien.top 1 points 9 months ago

That's a great idea honestly. I haven't really just searched for talented devs who are self-branding with websites and will consider doing so this week.

Thanks!

[–] FollowMe22@alien.top 1 points 9 months ago (1 children)

This is an insightful response and I appreciate it.

It’s interesting that you say you don’t do fixed price contracts because that probably accounts for a lot of the issue.

I only hire for fixed price contracts because it’s the only way to protect against developers failing and still charging me.

That is to say, the quality (of even the “top” freelancers on Upwork) is so poor that most of them fail simple jobs and take many hours to complete simple jobs.

If I hire someone to create one static page from a Figma file, and it takes them 18 hours because they’re incompetent, it doesn’t make sense to monetarily reward them for their slow work.

However, I understand how it could work in a different direction from your perspective. A client could keep requesting more things (even beyond the scope) and never mark the job completed.

I have no problem paying a developer I actually trust and who’s moderately competent per hour. I can’t pay the idiots I keep encountering on Upwork per hour. Therein lies the issue I think lol.

 

I used to be able to source high-quality developers for small front-end projects from Upwork.

Simple things like build a custom page in Shopify that we already have designs for in a Figma file. I would pay above market rates to get the best talent.

The last 5-10 projects I've tried hiring freelance developers for have been total failures. I'm talking about "Top Rated Plus" developers unable to build a simple page with no interactive elements within a week, and quitting because they can't figure out how to finish the project.

Does anyone here have any suggestions for good developer marketplaces? I've learned after this current project that I'm done with Upwork, because even filtering for devs who have billed 1,000+ hours, are top rated and based in the US and they're still totally incompetent. It's truly strange.

[–] FollowMe22@alien.top 1 points 10 months ago

Good ideas, thank you!

[–] FollowMe22@alien.top 1 points 10 months ago

This is not for our products

[–] FollowMe22@alien.top 1 points 10 months ago

This is a good idea.

I have tried on Reddit but the issue is that much of it gets auto-flagged as promotional (which it really isn't as the post isn't to promote our website, the post is to find people with a really cool offer -- our current product testers love getting a bunch of free stuff for minimal work).

If you have any subreddits in mind, let me know!

[–] FollowMe22@alien.top 1 points 10 months ago

That's a good idea. Will consider that approach. Thanks!

[–] FollowMe22@alien.top 1 points 10 months ago

You need to pay on Upwork though. These jobs do not include cash payment. It's free products for ~15 mins of work.

Basically the same model as Influenster but we can't onboard there because we're not looking for testers of our products, but of third party brands.

 

This isn't in reference to people to test your own line of products. I know there are a million apps/services for that.

I'm curious if anyone here has good ideas about how I can find product testers for our blog.

Basically, our company is eCommerce and media publishing, and on our blog we review a large number of consumer health products.

I want to find real people to test those products and share their honest opinion, and we will pay to send the products to them.

It's asking ~15 minutes of work (filling out a questionnaire) for free products ranging from ~$30 to ~$500.

It seems like a great deal and something that many people would take to, but currently I've only found a few product testers by reaching out to our followers on social, and haven't had luck on any other channels.

I'm wondering if any other entrepreneurs in this sub have been in a similar situation, and how you recommend finding these people.