I'm non-technical founder and I need a developer (maybe PHP?) for our new webapp. It's actually very simple and it can be done in a week in full-time work.
Which websites do you use? I prefer freelancers from USA and Europe. Most developers in freelancer.com are from india and pakistan.
If you're wondering why clients like you meeting developers like your previous contractor is virtually an inevitable outcome of freelancing sites, I recommend reading "The Market for Lemons: Quality Uncertainty and the Market Mechanism." It was published in the 70s and basically won the authors a Nobel Prize. The example they use is about used cars, but it maps fairly directly to freelancing sites.
Alternatively, OP, send me an email and I'll see if I have the available bandwidth to help complete your project.
-> There are monthly post on Hacker News with the names Who is hiring ? (https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8681040) you can post you requirements for a developer with REMOTE option i am sure the quality of developers at HN is much more then those freelancing websites
-> There is also a monthly post with the name Who want to get Hire ? https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8681043 you can also pick your required developer from above link
Hope it might helps you Thanks
For quality developers on freelancing sites, I recommend finding people who submit bids of at least $40/hr. And I've found Eastern European developers to be generally pretty good on those sites, probably because a senior dev there happens to charge about the max of what a cheapskate in the US wants to pay.
You say "I could do it myself in one day" but then immediately say you're "non-technical." Sounds a little fishy.
Yes I know, it's better to code it yourself but we have now paying clients and it must be ready as soon as possible. With my own skills and learning curve it will take too much time.
Kind of offtopic, but if you're still looking for a developer, I'm sure I could help you with my services. I have commented on a recent "Freelancer?.." and you can find my email there.
For smaller projects: spread out the risk. Chop your project into digestible chunks, and hire 5-7 devs in parallel to chip away at it (one little chunk given to each dev at a time). Eventually narrow it down (based on their performance) to just one or 2 devs.
Shameless plug
you can try some sort of screening process; have them give code examples, answer 10 questions in chat (that arent really on google, it gets tricky when the answers are on google); or screenshare and have them show u some of their code and explain a few lines what it does...
pakistan is not the greatest country to outsource from, you will have better luck with south american countries and asian countries
