Are you Seriously Considering Hiring a Web Developer in the Near Future?
Hiring Madness and Freelancing
With technology with now days, outsourcing is common place and anyone with a laptop and a Internet connection can become a web developer. We call them freelance developers. People who work for multiple employers or clients. Many of these freelance developers are amazing, they blow your mind and compel you to tell the world. Then, there are those developers that set high expectations of themselves, make big promises to clients, and after the initial deposit you never hear from them again, or they spoof the project. And then there are those developers that are sincere, they work their asses off … but they can’t communicate with you. Maybe they can’t speak your language, or maybe there’s a lack of communication because of the medium you’re using(e.g. Text only gets across 7% of your communication), OR maybe your coder is just one fo those people who think you’re full of crap and don’t want to listen. Have you ever been in one of these situations? Most people who have had any hiring experience have.
I believe the main pitfall of even experienced programmers is listening to the client from a “coder’s” perspective. Thinking about HOW to get it done instead of truly understanding WHAT the client’s vision is.
You’ve lost Time and Money and … You’re Not Alone!
A gentleman, I previously talked to about a web project, told me about an experience he had with a non-local freelancer. His complaint was that the coder he was dealing with just simply didn’t listen, he didn’t possess empathy and he couldn’t fully understand what needed to get done. He came to me because he wanted someone local and he liked what he saw on my blog(one of the reasons why I blog in the first place).
Don’t just hire anyone! How much money do you have to spend on people who don’t get the work done? How much of your time and hard earned money will you waste if you don’t hire the right programmer right now … instead of later?
Lesson 1: Empathy is always the 1st trait you want to look for in a freelancer, especially a developer. A developer must always shows he or she cares and make attempts to dive deeper into your vision.
Price vs. Quality, is there even a correlation?
It’s a popular thing to do now days. Hiring overseas to cut costs and widen margins. Everything from Virtual Assistants to Writing Articles can be outsourced to people anywhere from India to Texas to the North Pole. Does lower cost automatically mean lower quality? Of course not. The fact that anyone with a computer and a PayPal can become your employee doesn’t mean there aren’t tons upon tons of excellent, experienced people out there ready and waiting to serve you with every ounce of breathe they have. For people in India, or other foreign countries, your work might mean food or no food for them and their family. Most people won’t fowl that up. Then we have to deal with people who don’t have a concept of professionalism. When you work with businesses all around the world your professionalism has to be peak. For example, spelling mistakes or grammar errors on a resume is a professional leak. Or people you don’t hear from for 3 days because they went on vacation and forgot to tell you.
Lesson 2: Professionals almost NEVER undersell themselves. Why would you encourage people who do?
Does Education Matter?
Let me tell you something: YES! Can you imagine hiring someone who’s uneducated? Let’s avoid the topic of formal education or post-secondary. I believe that there are better forms of education than college. Self education, learning at your own pace, is the most valuable and most overlooked education out there. There is no limit to what a person can learn by simply going to a collage library, picking up a bunch of books and then instantly putting what you learn to practice. Educated people are more passionate, they know how to sell themselves(even if they don’t have a degree) and usually more street smart.
Lesson 3: Having a BS in Computer Science or MBA or Marketing degree does not assure you that the person capable of getting the job done. It’s how much they learned in those classes and how much they put to use. Don’t judge by education alone.
Does Experience Matter?
Let me tell you something: HELL YES! I have a saying, “You don’t *know* anything until you *do* it and do it well.” The people who know and the people who do are two very different people. The people who have perfected their skills though practice are the ones you want to hire, not the people who have perfected their knowledge. I have to tell you, in my own career, experience is something I’d pay 10 million dollars for if I could get it the first day. But of course you can’t get sufficient experience in one day, it takes a long time. That’s why it’s important that you pay close attention to how much experience a programmer has before hiring him or her. The less experience a programmer has the longer it takes, and you’re paying for that inexperience.
Lesson 4: A programmer must have lots of experience, and show signs of constant and never ending improvement.
The Pain is Greater than the Paying, Always!
A good programmer or web developer is your best friend. Good people are rare, GREAT people are even rarer. A great programmer has improved VERY FAST! He knows a lot about what he does and has spent hours upon hours experimenting and pulling his hair out. If you run into a bald programmer you’re in luck! 
Can I be your Web Developer Already?
After all this I’d like to thank you for the opportunity to someday serve your web development needs. I know how hard it is sometimes to find a good web developer and that it can be a frustrating process. I know you might be saying, “what sets you apart from everyone else?” This is why I’ve devoted my web development career to helping people like you find true quality service. And isn’t that the kind of service you want? I’d love to hear from you and learn more about your project, your needs and what you look for when hiring a developer. If you want to know more about what it is I do, please head over to my Service Page. Maybe I can even find someone who could do the job better than I can. Do you have any concerns, any questions? I’d love to hear your comments and opinions on this post. Please feel free to network with me on Twitter.
Tags: programmer, web developer
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