Hiring UK based Freelancer/contractor

[tomj]

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Hey,

Am seriously about to take the plunge and hire a full time contractor/freelancer to bash out the gazillion project specs I have laying around however I'm having difficulty in which way to turn.

I've been bitten by lame half assed coders who promise the world then pull out half way through the job as they cannot deliver or deliver something totally different from the original spec lol......now wanting to hire someone I can actually see face to face etc

So, I've been looking on freelancers.net and a few other places but would really appreciate any help, guidence or recommendations on what to ask/look for when taking this route....or any other hidden/secret places I should look on..

Or shall I just whack up a job spec, put it on reed and cross my fingers? lol

:tup

Thanks, T

[tomj]

ttt........:cry

[SimonW]

Software is difficult (says the guy who programs computer chess for a hobby), web software especially so.

I think you are nuts, I went to elance, my skills (more system admin than programming admittedly) are worth USD 10 an hour on the global market. I can't afford to work for that, and I don't have extravagant hobbies (unless you count eating and central heating).

First random Russian who signed up for a project on elance is a graduate in CS from a top University and I had to check if mimium wage rules apply because the US dollar is so weak.

If you insist on paying UK wages I can get general web programming done by a Perl guru - indeed I know rather too many Perl gurus. Rates start around 75GBP per hour, cheaper by the day/week of course. But that is around 15 times what you'll pay off shore, I'd say fail a little more often with unpredictable foreigners if the alternative didn't make me richer

[accelerator]

If you search this blog:

Joel on Software

you will find some posts related to hiring programmers. He has some good suggestions re setting interview questions etc, i.e. if you are going to ask someone to code, you should ask them some simple coding questions on basic principles in the interview, and maybe even ask them to code something, it soon sorts the wheat from the chaff.

He also runs a job board, and I think this illustrates where it's best to post for vacant software positions, i.e. on the boards and blogs which serious and decent developers will be reading, i.e. go niche.

Hope this helps a bit.

[moredial]

Am seriously about to take the plunge and hire a full time contractor/freelancer .....
......now wanting to hire someone I can actually see face to face etc

I am sending you a PM