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Programming Technology

Finding Programmers to Build a Website? 150

Posted by Cliff from the ideas-that-need-help-implementing dept.
jameseyjamesey asks: "I have a really good idea for an Ajax/Web2.0 website, but I have no idea how to code or put it together. I know what HTML, Java, PHP are but I have no idea clue how to code or program. Due to my demanding job, I also have no time to learn how to code. I have the layout, design, options, settings and method of making money all mapped out. Who can I talk to, and where can I go to work with someone to get my website developed and off the ground?"
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Finding Programmers to Build a Website? More

Finding Programmers to Build a Website?

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  • Craigslist (Score:1, Informative)

    by poopdeville ( 841677 )
    Craigslist is good.

    But really, wouldn't you rather just hire a slashdotter like me? http://www.reed.edu/~sollaa/ [reed.edu]

    • Dude what makes you think he needs you? We don't even know if he knows how to code.
    • 1. Don't list HTML as a "programming language", ever.
      2. ???
      3. Probably not profit... but still. Don't like HTML as a programming language.
      • Nor is Tex. Its a good skill to list, but not as a programming language.
        • Nor is Tex. Its a good skill to list, but not as a programming language.

          And not mis-typeset when the TeX community makes a bizarrely huge thing about that particular issue. It's like using void main() in C++; in practice, it very rarely does any harm, but it is incorrect, and using it makes an informed critic wonder what else you do wrong...

          • At least TeX -is- a programming language. I've written some pretty hairy programs in TeX. My favorite was several dozen lines to take an ordered list of possible page numbers from a (poorly) generated index and smashing them into a nice, neat set of ranges and singletons by eliminating any single-page index reference that falls within a range, merging multiple ranges that are adjacent or overlapping, etc. It was highly procedural code to iterate through the list.

            If JavaScript is a programming language,

    • You have very nice dream and you don't have enough resources (intellectual or simply time) to make your dream come true without helping hand. I'm having a special scribbling block for this kind of ideas. Now I'm at the great idea #195 (not kidding) and I know that 95% will never come true because I have limited resources so I need to choose only the brightest ideas. I hope that your Idea is one of that 5% sort.

      What you think that people remember from your short article? I'm afraid that 99% of them remember

  • Comment removed (Score:5, Insightful)

    by account_deleted ( 4530225 ) on Friday February 03, 2006 @10:13PM (#14639637)
    Comment removed based on user account deletion

  • I'll do it (Score:4, Funny)

    by heinousjay ( 683506 ) on Friday February 03, 2006 @10:14PM (#14639641) Journal
    but I bet you don't want to pay my rates.

  • Sweet! A Job!!!! (Score:2, Funny)

    by mfh ( 56 )
    It's your lucky day. I'm a programmer analyst who would love to get a paying job. Email me [mailto]! But only if you're ready to spend millions of dollars on this project and give me all the credit.

  • Be ready (Score:5, Funny)

    by blurfus ( 606535 ) on Friday February 03, 2006 @10:14PM (#14639644) Journal
    Be ready to have your inbox slashdotted with resumes :o)

  • India? (Score:5, Funny)

    by That's Unpossible! ( 722232 ) on Friday February 03, 2006 @10:17PM (#14639657)
    Just kidding.

    Indiana.
  • ... is to ask /. people. Oh wait, you already did. Maybe posting some wage information? And e-mailing me about it would be nice too ;).

  • In the Right Place (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Feneric ( 765069 ) on Friday February 03, 2006 @10:23PM (#14639683) Homepage

    I think you came to the right place if you're looking for people who can code sites using AJaX / Web 2.0 / XHTML / CSS / JavaScript / Java / PHP / Python / XML / RDF / RSS / iCalendar / etc.

    I suspect that pretty much everyone else who reads /. (myself included) can do this for you. Honestly you're going to get bombarded with choices, and the toughest thing for you will be to figure out which ones are even worthy of a second look. As someone who sometimes competes in this arena, I can say from my standpoint that you're at a big disadvantage if you don't understand the tech yourself, as it'll be really hard to tell good work from bad work -- something like graphics design anyone can judge -- something like web programming is a different thing entirely. Get familiar with the W3C [w3c.org] validation tools for XHTML / CSS / RDF / etc. and tinker around with multiple browsers. When you're looking at prospective designers' portfolios, run them through the validation tools and check them with multiple browsers.

  • Open a phonebook (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Jerf ( 17166 ) on Friday February 03, 2006 @10:24PM (#14639685) Journal
    A slight modification of the "Google it" answer: Open a phonebook. There are like a million companies that do this sort of thing. Find one locally, because you're going to want to talk to them in person. Unless you live out in the complete boonies, you've got some near you.

    Once you get going, if in fact you ever do, you may find you need to hire people, etc. That's up to you, and basically a constant no matter what. But if you've truly got everything laid out, you can hire one of these companies.

    Your problem is that if you are not technically competent, you can't tell a good developer from one that can talk the talk, but not walk the walk. Hiring developers directly is not practical. This is a handicap no matter how you slice it, but this approach minimizes the risk, if you do due diligence on the company you choose.

    Oh, and I hate to say it, but it's a good 99% bet in my experience that if you don't know how to code or program, you do not have it all figured out. But hey, it's your dime.
    • Two important points, one of which you've already made:

      1. Outsource to another company, don't hire them directly. Doing this will cost you more per hour (my company charges $75/hour and we're considering a rate increase). You can find developers from $20-$50/hour, too. But hiring a company means you get the resources of their whole team, the accountability of their staff to their bosses/contract, and you avoid paying benefits, insurance, taxes, equipment, and office space. Hiring two developers might cost y

    • Oh, and I hate to say it, but it's a good 99% bet in my experience that if you don't know how to code or program, you do not have it all figured out. But hey, it's your dime.

      I have a similar background to the submitter, but not his problem. I know enough about code that I know I hate it. Anything beyond simple scripting gets tedious. Luckily, I have a smidgen of experience (an intro to C++ class, some db design) so it helps me to know what is "easy" and what is "hard" -- that way I can still talk to about p

  • I thought it was just a concept. I didn't know that you could actually *build* an Ajax/Web 2.0 website. Sheesh, PHB buzzword fest... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Web_2.0 [wikipedia.org]
  • Have you thought of how to deal with copyrights and other legal issues?

    I too have projects that I'm too busy to do, but I'm not experienced enough to draft a legal document which can protect my ideas from developers.
    • I too have projects that I'm too busy to do, but I'm not experienced enough to draft a legal document which can protect my ideas from developers.

      Wow, get ready for a truckload of slashdot-powered, super-duper-mixed-premises, philosophically tangled up, utterly nonsensical batch of responses to that. Can't wait to see the smoke coming out of it!

      You make a good point, of course. Which is why you'll get flamed.

    • Re:Ideas (Score:3, Funny)

      by RealityMogul ( 663835 )
      Just hold the programmers collection of original Star Wars action figures as collateral.

      They won't try to mess with your idea, especially when you're holding those little light sabers in front of a running vacuum cleaner.

  • DeVry, Other Schools (Score:4, Informative)

    by MBCook ( 132727 ) <foobarsoft@foobarsoft.com> on Friday February 03, 2006 @10:27PM (#14639699) Homepage
    As a CIS student at DeVry, my senior project will be similar. Students can bring in their own project and get it approved, or choose one from a list of projects that have been requested by companies/organizations/individuals and approved by faculty. While it would take a while and may not be perfect (you always run the risk you get a team of slackers), you would get it for free. Depending on complexity, etc it may be a project that is designed to run multiple semesters (one team does it one semester, one finishes it the next). The next semester starts in the start of March (first week or so) because DeVry runs on trimesters.

    You may be able to get some very smart students to work on it. The idea of getting to do something with AJAX and such sounds interesting to me.

    Even if you don't have a local DeVry (if you are near a big city, you probably do, check their site: DeVry.edu [devry.edu]), there are almost certainly similar things at other universities (public and private). Even if you can't get it done as a senior project/self study type thing (which would have faculty oversight to make sure it is done right/good design decisions), you could find some bright college students who would be willing to do it for very little money (compared to hiring professional programmers).

    Short of that? There are websites that you can have people do your coding for you. You could try something like that, I suppose.

    • As a CIS student at DeVry, my senior project will be similar. Students can bring in their own project and get it approved, or choose one from a list of projects that have been requested by companies/organizations/individuals and approved by faculty. While it would take a while and may not be perfect (you always run the risk you get a team of slackers), you would get it for free. Depending on complexity, etc it may be a project that is designed to run multiple semesters (one team does it one semester, one fi

      • Re:DeVry, Other Schools (Score:3, Interesting)

        by miyako ( 632510 )
        As I go to DeVry (yeah, it's even crappier than most people imagine), I think I may be able to shed some light onto the whole "it would be free" thing. The thing about it is, the student's really don't have much of a say. DeVry technically owns the projects that students do for their Senior Projects. DeVry then works out a deal with the companies in turn saying that they get the work done for free in exchange for filling out a bunch of extra paperwork, and agreeing that there is no warranty, support, etc
      • The other reply is right. You get it free because the student does it as course work. You could pay them (I think) but it is not a requirement. The student MUST do a project to prove they know what they are doing to get a degree.

        And as the other reply also said, the ability to point to something on your resume and say "I made that" is HUGE compared to "I took generic programming classes A, B, and C."

        Now you say you don't want to hire developers without experience. But if you get any say in who works on yo

  • Ajax / Web 2.0? (Score:5, Insightful)

    by TheSHAD0W ( 258774 ) on Friday February 03, 2006 @10:29PM (#14639704) Homepage
    So if you don't know how to code at all, how did you settle on that choice of infrastructure? I suggest you get the coder you hire to tell you what you ought to use to build your site.
    • Shhh - I charge an extra 25 an hour to bandy the term 'AJAX' about, and 'Web 2.0' adds another 10. Don't fuck up my billing with honesty and insight.
    • So if you don't know how to code at all, how did you settle on that choice of infrastructure?
      Don't stop him - many a dot-com got started with this kind of "the new hotness" thinking. Of course they're mostly out of business, but the geeks involved made a grip of cash proving it would suck. PHBs everywhere, don't listen to this guy. You need the hotness to compete!! If it's not new, then it's old and everything old sucks right?

    • He has a problem here. Since he doesn't code, he can't know what is the structure of the site. But he also have a fenomenal business plan (most of them are bu***it, but not all like some people will tell you) and he doesn't want to disclosure it so candidates can know if they can hadle the job.

      The advise I can give is to hire a generalist with a solid formation. That will be more expensive than hiring someone who just grasps the technology that he needs, but cheaper than hiring lots of people who doesn't u

      • Just having a great idea for business plan isn't worth jack if you're not prepared to talk about it up-front with a potential collaborator. Ask any VC: if you go in with a great idea and ask them to sign a NDA before you talk about it, they'll thank you for your time and show you the door.

        • Ask any VC: if you go in with a great idea and ask them to sign a NDA before you talk about it, they'll thank you for your time and show you the door.

          And as soon as they agree to the deal the VC's will demand everybody else working on it sign an NDA. VC's are in demand so they can be jackasses if they want to, and some of them enjoy it. And they're not all lily-white and trustworthy. No doubt some are.

        • Here is a hint: Don't trust any VC that you meet with.

  • Comment removed (Score:4, Interesting)

    by account_deleted ( 4530225 ) on Friday February 03, 2006 @10:31PM (#14639712)
    Comment removed based on user account deletion

  • Contact Your Local Univesity (Score:5, Insightful)

    by queenb**ch ( 446380 ) on Friday February 03, 2006 @10:45PM (#14639764) Homepage Journal
    I'd strongly recommend that you find a local university that has a master's program in Computer Science. Get yourself a couple of students to write the thing for you. You get good cheap help and they get paid more than the on campus jobs plus the resume fodder never hurts.

    2 cents,

    Queen B
    • I'd strongly recommend that you find a local university that has a master's program in Computer Science. Get yourself a couple of students to write the thing for you.

      I strongly recommend against this. Although I'm majoring in ECE (Basically EE+CS), I've met far too many CS grads who have no idea how to follow specifications or actually define and program a system.

      Web programming is as much about design as it is about programming. I work for a small company, the Kombine group, as a PHP developer. While my jo
      • It's sad that you have all these bad experiences. I work in an IT department ON a university. We employ a LOT of student workers in various capacities. We only had one or two bad apples come through. They don't last long and are easily replaced. My suggestion would be to find direct phone numbers from the CS/programming professors. I'd also recommend hiring masters level students if you can get them. The previous posters statement about the party thing applies far more to the undergrads than the grad
    • You get good cheap help and they get paid more than the on campus jobs plus the resume fodder never hurts.

      You get cheap and eager help (unless there's a project due or finals, or a good party). If you get really lucky you get good help. Regardless you almost never get professional help, and you have to spend alot of time managing the college students. It all depends on where cost is on your requirements list, but programming is no different than any other profession when it comes to experience. Over the
    • This is how I got my first contract gig back in '86. A 'citizen' called the CS dept of their local community college and asked if they new of a good, dependable, motivated student who could help with a project. A professor contacted me and I met with the guy. I did work for several months at this guys house in Fortran - he provided the MS Fortran compiler. He was a damn chainsmoker though which drove me crazy. While I didn't know everything he needed, I researched some stuff on my own time. It made my a bet
  • Well I guess you don't wanna pay people... There's an article about recruting people to work for free on an IT related project [freesoftwaremagazine.com]. You would know if you searched on my site :)
  • Post your location so that local Slashdotters can reply. This website is full of people that could do the job if they could only talk to you in person.

  • Money (Score:3, Insightful)

    by killmenow ( 184444 ) on Friday February 03, 2006 @10:51PM (#14639791)
    Who can I talk to, and where can I go to work with someone to get my website developed and off the ground?
    My guess is what you mean to ask is this: Who will do the work for me for "royalties" or a portion of the profits my grand scheme will generate? I can't afford to pay somebody up front.

    Because if you could afford to just pay someone, you could just search google or open a phone book as a number of others have suggested. Personally, I don't do contingency work anymore because the pay is lousy. But if you've got money to spend, I'm sure we could get your website developed and off the ground in a jiffy.
  • And I'm sure you could find lots of other students who would be willing to do it for very minimal money. It may not be the fastest, but, if you pick the right people, you could get some very good results from undergraduates. Although you could always pick up the phonebook like someone else suggested and call a professional, which would cost you a ton of money.

  • We can do it. Great price to get your web site. (Score:5, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward on Friday February 03, 2006 @11:00PM (#14639824)
    Hi,

    My company in India is working to help you develop your web site. We are experienced in all technologies like asp.net and php mysql. We would like you to look at our sites we have done and you will be impressed.
    www.microsoft.com
    www.slashdot.org
    www.amazon.com
    www.ebay.com

    We will make your site for $40 dollars and it will be ready for you soon. Please contact us by replying to this message.

    Sandib Ramakrisnakalisanje

  • RentaCoder (Score:5, Informative)

    by DiSKiLLeR ( 17651 ) on Friday February 03, 2006 @11:03PM (#14639832) Homepage Journal
    RentaCoder [rentacoder.com]. Well, Maybe.

  • But check your local phone book, and look at the local mom & pop ISP section. Chances are that they've got somebody inhouse who does all their web development. I know the folks around here (say www.velocity.net) do pretty good work and have very reasonable rates. Now, most of them have a flat fee AND charge by the hour, so it would be in your best interests to have at least a skeleton of the project completed.

    OR, you could check your local trade school or university, see if they've got a web developm

  • Don't hire a web programmer. (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Stalyn ( 662 ) on Friday February 03, 2006 @11:06PM (#14639841) Homepage Journal
    Because they dont know how to program. If the only language they know is PHP, STAY AWAY!!. Find someone who knows multiple languages which include C/C++, even though they might never use it to program your web app they'll generally be a better programmer.

    And no this is not a troll.
    • I think lots of "real" programmers think that web designers don't know how to code. I'd like to disagree. I really would. I can't, though, because most web designers don't know how to code. It's a simple fact of life. However... most "real" programmers don't know how to code either.

      And no, this isn't a troll either. I'm just citing the fact that 90% of everything is crap, and programmers and web developers both acquiesce to the rule.
    • But you're fucked either way because it's rare you'll find a good programmer who knows two shits about how XHTML/CSS is supposed to be used (and not abused). If you do, you'll probably end up paying out the ass as well... :/

    • Re: (Score:3, Insightful)

      by account_deleted ( 4530225 )
      Comment removed based on user account deletion
      • But if the programmer has excelled in other languages, and then decided PHP was the best approach for most web development work (and many have decided this)

        I still haven't seen a compelling arguement why anybody would make this decision. I recently needed to go find a local professional PHP programmer for a client and they simply didn't exist. All the web programmers had evaluated it and moved on, to perl, Java or Ruby.

        There are a *lot* of well-engineered PHP apps out there.

        But they run on PHP which is a
        • Comment removed based on user account deletion
    • If someone claims to know a dozen languages, stay away. Why? Well it is easy to claim that. I am one of those PHP only coders but could easily claim to have coded in a dozen. Why? Well because I have. I started with C and later C++ in school with a dose of pascal wich later let to some delphi. One company I worked for was a Progress (a 4gl/database enviroment) house so I learned that and worked with it. I used to have a Commodore as a kid so I know some basic and that helped with doing some visual basic. Th
      • I said stay away from people who *only* know PHP. What don't you understand about the word *only*? Apparently everything. Also people who start out with more serious languages like C/C++ tend to pick up better habits. I'm not dissing PHP. I'm just stating if you only learn one language and it happens to be PHP you can seriously hinder your potential. But people do it anyway because they can get away with it.

        Anyway you're right about the best programmers know many different languages and pick the best one fo

      • A good photographer prefers a good camera. Sure, they can still do way better with a plastic snappy than an amateur with a top of the line Hasselblad or Sinar. But there's a reason the pro prefers the good camera. Being a professional photographer requires a combination of the artistic skill and the technical skill. What if you need to photograph the front of building of several floor levels high, from ground level? Is your shot going to end up with the building appearing to lean backwards because you

  • If you can do java you can do ajax. Honest... it's not really that hard. In fact it's boring and stupid, but it's the hype of the moment so you might as well jump on board.

    If you really think this is the coolest idea ever, send it to google. They'll make it for free.
  • If you understand the technology well, you might to search out a local user's group, go hang out, and propose it. i.e.: if you decided Ruby on the Rails, look for a local rails group. If there aren't, maybe a Linux users group.
  • ..an extremely tech-friendly site that follows trends of current technological fads and has a very high penetration of coders that could use work to pay for ramen. Another good idea would go somewhere that would know how to leverage open source solutions for your problems.

    Nowhere exact comes to mind though...
  • Be sure to also do research to make sure your great idea hasn't already been done somewhere else. Or if it has, maybe find a way to make it better.

    Additionally, there are lots of existing software/web solutions which may provide what you're looking for. You should still get in contact with a "tech geek", but let them see if it's easier to combine/use existing products, rather than re-inventing the wheel. Most often, it's the content that really drives the popularity of a web site, not necessarily how it's d
  • It's a shameless plug, but check with my bro. andy at andylong dot org. He's just starting up and only has a few clients, but he's totally customer oriented and will meet any budget to keep a good client.

    Here's a sample of something he's done recently:

    http://www.prescottregulators.com/ [prescottregulators.com]

    Again, it's a shameless plug but he could use a few more clients and you won't find a better price.
  • Your idea is likely not great nor unique. You sound just like everyone who plays a few games, knows NOTHING about programming or game design, and then announces to the world that they have the idea for the PERFECT game, and if only someone would listen to them!
    • I understand your point, but putting together a website is hardly coding a game. Sometimes a good idea and a little help is all you need to make lots of money on the web. Look at that kid with the hokey million dollar site.

  • This is a troll (Score:5, Insightful)

    by aphoenix ( 877085 ) on Friday February 03, 2006 @11:44PM (#14639957)

    I love Ask Slashdots when the answer is really to go to the oracle. [justfuckinggoogleit.com]

    Honestly, there's web developers near you. We have websites. We know what we're doing. I'll do it if you're in my area - send an email to mudformike at yahoo dot ca and I'll get back to you. Give it to any of the other people who replied. We'll even tell you the language you should actually be doing this in for it to be sustainable.

    ps - Web 2.0 is what we in the business call a "buzzword". It doesn't really mean anything and you can't program in it. If a client asked me to "program something up in Web 2.0" my fee would climb by 75%.

  • Some Thoughts (Score:5, Insightful)

    by miyako ( 632510 ) <miyako AT gmail DOT com> on Friday February 03, 2006 @11:44PM (#14639958) Homepage Journal
    I've done a fair bit of web design and programming, both as a side gig and as a full time job. This said, there are a few things that jumped out at me from your post that I thought I would bring up.
    The first thing is that you have to remember that good programmers are not alwyas good designers. Good web design is something that really takes a sort of knack to be good at, and there is not a lot of overlap between good designers and good developers. If you manage to find someone who is both a talented programmer and designer, expect to pay a premium. In most cases you will want to higher a designer (and possible even an artist seperate from the designer) to design the site- and then turn over the design to the programmer who will take the static templates and make them alive. While the designer and the programmer can to a certain extent work in parallel, it's important to remember that the design is the critical path because at some point the programmer has to have a skeleton to put the code into.
    The other thing that jumped out at me is the specification that you want an AJAX/Web2.0 site. The truth is that if you don't know enough to code the site youself then you really do not have the information to decide the best way to code the site. AJAX and Web2.0 are both very vauge terms in themselves, and chances are that the AJAX parts of your site may only constitute a small part of the overall application. It's important to realize this because if you convince yourself that a project should be done with some combination of technologies A, B, and C then you may end up dismissing a better solution using Technology D, or end up with someone who only knows Technology A and will end up doing you more harm than good in the long run.
    • Amen on the first part of your comment. I am an excellent web designer, but my programming skills are weak. And most of the programmers I know at work don't know the first thing about designing a front end that is accessible, usable, and attractive.
  • Hey all, I asked the original question. I hadn't considered asking if anyone from slashdot could help, but if you're near Pasadena, California, Msg me on AIM - jameseyjamesey, or ICQ -6479637. I'd prefer to work with someone who is serious and be a partner on the site. I've learned a lot from the responses. thanks.
  • ...I'm booked solid for the next six months. Check back with me in August or September and I might be able to squeeze you in.
  • If you could narrow the region of the country you're in, it would make finding a canidate much easier.

    BTW: Ohio here, will code for food and money.
    Email me: tekrat[at]30gigs.killthisreallylongpart.com
  • "Due to my demanding job, I also have no time to learn how to code."

    Good thing you don't also have a wife. Or kids. Or family or friends. They take up plenty of time too.

    This whole article should be rated "troll." The author is either an idiot or a puss and probably both; it takes a hell of a lot more than an "idea" to make it out there. I'm sure your "employees" will also be impressed with how much faith you have in your idea as you continue to hang onto your day job too.

    "10% inspiration, 90%...

  • The how to not get screwed checklist. (Score:5, Interesting)

    by c0d3r ( 156687 ) on Saturday February 04, 2006 @01:48AM (#14640338) Homepage Journal
    1. A real engineer's time is worth 100/hr without headhunters.
    2. Ask for rapid prototypes prior to any bids.
    3. Ensure that the developers have extensive experience in the business or trade of the solution's realm.
    4. Take care to never tie in to any proprietary technologies.
    5. Choose the correct tools.
    6. Make sure that the people developing the solution are focused on developing the product, not a framework for the product.
    7. Know that with modern web development technologies, that product life cycles are completed monthly with milestones weekly.
    8. Make sure that the development process is Quality based with regression tests and configuration management.
    9. Be convinced that another team can easily manage whats developed at any time.
    10. Ensure that requirements are documented to ensure whats to be delivered is well specified and keep engineering documentation light and only updated after major revs because it is constantly changing.
    11. Ensure that the project lead is well versed in development AND networking.
    12. Start the project by defining milestones and prototype the deliverables so you can easily track performance.

    Theres much more to the SDLC depending on the requirements.

  • I'm not trying to be harsh here . . . (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Mysteray ( 713473 ) on Saturday February 04, 2006 @02:54AM (#14640494)
    I have a really good idea for an Ajax/Web2.0 website []
    Due to my demanding job, []

    It doesn't sound to me like you've got the cash or experience to quit your day job and manage a to complete a successful software project. Ask yourself honestly what great thing you would contribute to such an enterprise that your "development partners" couldn't do it without you (and "the great idea" and "non-disclosure contracts" don't count).

    I'm not trying to be harsh here, but I think you should probably give whatever money you do have to someone else to invest.

  • Project Management (Score:3, Interesting)

    by cerebralpc ( 705727 ) on Saturday February 04, 2006 @07:30AM (#14641049)
    I'm a IT Project Manager - so for me the path to a successful project seems simple. But its good you asked the question.

    You always start with the Business Case. The Business Case states the objective of the project, the benefits of the project, and importantly how the money is going to work.
    You need to map out the costs of the project. Consider the hosting costs, development costs, advertising costs, and your time!
    You can even have a few different models - consider that the development might cost twice as much as you think!(IT projects always seem to cost twice as much as what was in the Business Case)
    The Business Case also incorporates how you are going to make money. How long will it take to re-coup the project cost.

    You also need to map out the delivery time for each portion of the project. Have at least monthly milestones (or weekly if you can)

    Very very often your great idea doesn't look so hot once its all mapped out like this. At this point you make the decision to bank roll the idea or not. Let your wife look at it, and also maybe someone you admire for their business skills. They will give you feedback about your idea.

    You idea doesn't have to make your rich - sometimes its just great to do something interesting!!

    As for finding developers - again thats a question that I find very simple. All you have to do is hire one ! Good ones will charge at least $100/hour. It seems like a lot to you but when you are free lancing 1/2 your time is chewed up finding work. Most consulting firms charge 3 times what they pay to the worker. Thats just how the $ works out.

    Go for someone local, interview a few people and find someone YOU can work with.
    You have to be upfront about the contract. (Yes - you have to write a contract with this person). It can just be 1 A4 piece of paper with your company logo and details. YOU own the code! For $100/hour YOU own everything that they do - and they have to give you all source code. Give them 20% up front to get them started. On the first protype (at least most of the major functions should work) give them another 40%. The rest on delivery once you have checked everything works.

    Once the site is up and running you are going to want to make changes. The best person to do this is coder you just hired. So keep a good relationship with this person. At this point you are probably going to hire them by the hour. Write down all the changes you want and get them to tell you how much each will cost. That way you can prioritise your upgrades. (This is called benefit analysis).

  • craigslist.com

    I go there all the time for short and long term coding projects. Just write up what you are looking for and they will come find you.

  • Why Ajax? (Score:3, Interesting)

    by wikinerd ( 809585 ) on Saturday February 04, 2006 @09:24AM (#14641280) Journal
    I can design websites (see my professional webpage [karastathis.org]), but I cannot understand this obsession with ajax... ajax here, ajax there...! I am fed up with Ajax and Javascript, and I believe they are bad for usability and compatibility. can you give me ONE good reason why one should use ajax instead of web standards and (if web interactivity is really needed) java?

    • Ajax and web standards are orthogonal. Web standards relate to what amounts to a gentlemen's agreement between parties: one writes their html and css a certain way and a contemporary browser will render it in a consistent and generally understood way. It's all about how the web page presents and is structured.

      Now I've not used Ajax, but I've written a few small jsp/tomcat web applications, and I think I understand what issue it addresses.

      When designing an application with user interaction, user input freq

    • It sounds like you think Ajax is something exclusive of web standards. Really good Ajax is just like good DHTML, it degrades gracefully. So no, they're not incompatible.

      Here's the numero uno reason to use Ajax over whatever else there is in the world (Java...): light-weight asychronous data transfer, used towards tightening user interaction and feedback.

      Read the original article if you still don't get it. http://www.adaptivepath.com/publications/essays/ar chives/000385.php [adaptivepath.com]

      PS - While I make no claims to my p
  • I tried to submit a question like this a couple months back... I have two ideas for sites, both of which are pretty simple (php and mysql should be able to do it) and would be fairly quick to put together. But, I'm a poor starving fine arts grad student and don't have any money to pay a programmer to do it.

    Do any programmers work for future profits anymore? I don't care to make a dime on the sites, I just want them to exist and have a way to cover their expenses (Google ads would more than suffice, I b

  • Comment removed (Score:3)

    by account_deleted ( 4530225 ) on Saturday February 04, 2006 @01:03PM (#14642042)
    Comment removed based on user account deletion
  • Hey, sounds like you've got a great idea. AJAX is the new buzzword and quite frankly, with so many people being drawn to it, best of luck.

    Here's the issues/problems:
    - cost.
    - quality.
    - features.

    First off, do you know what you want? Was this something that was going to be enterprise grade and can handle a good number of visitors or is this something that you just want created for the heck of it? Do you have money to pay the person to develop it? And if you do, do you have enough to include all of the features

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