Need to find a good web developer/webmaster - struggling

[staffjam]

I run a popular news site and we are looking for a webmaster/programmer to work with us on managing the site.
Things really aren't working out with the current company we are using and so we are looking for someone fairly quickly.
The problem is I'm not a technical person and understand little about the development side of things. I won't rush into hiring someone but have read so many horror stories of people who have hired the wrong people.
I usually go off personal recommendations and was wondering if people here know of any good programmers who can help manage a very complex site?
If you can't refer anyone in particular do you know of any good companies or a good way to go about finding someone.


Our current developers have said the person will need:

• PHP (several years experience)
• HTML / HTML5
• CSS / CSS3 (inc. excellent knowledge of past browser support)
• MySQL
• Knowledge of CodeIgniter or other MVC frameworks would be very beneficial
• Experience of working with APIs, such as MailChimp and PayPal Payments Pro
• JavaScript and working with AJAX
o Ideally jQuery
• Strong understanding of SEO principles
• Should be comfortable working with Photoshop PSDs
• Experience with CDNs and caching techniques would be ideal
One of the most important things I can't put into a bullet point is that they've got to be able to use their initiative and plan ahead, keeping the code as organised as possible as they go.

Thanks for any advice you can offer.

 

[Nuno]

• Find market rate for that skillset
• Offer 50% more

Sorted

 

[Homer J Simpson]

• Find market rate for that skillset
• Offer 50% more

Sorted

Excellent advice on how to WASTE money, pay 50% more than needed!

 

[Nuno]

Excellent advice on how to WASTE money, pay 50% more than needed!

Why do you think it is more than needed? He needs a talent, he can't find one, so he needs to offer more. It's not hard.

Ever heard of poaching staff with higher salaries and more benefits? Golden hellos? Jeez.

 

[Homer J Simpson]

Why do I think it's more than needed? Are you serious?

Because paying 50% over MARKET RATE is too much. The right amount is market rate, or a slight premium, not 50%.

 

[CardswitcherUK]

Staffjam
We built our website from scratch last year and used a company called DMC Web Design based in Edinburgh. Like you we are not technical but we know what we wanted! We did a beauty parade of about 10 providers and opted for DMC because they clearly knew what they were doing, were practical, had a common sense/grounded approach and were reasonably priced. They were not the cheapest on the market but we felt most comfortable with them and are glad of the decision.

I couldn't tell you if they tick all your requirements, some of them they certainly do and I would imagine they do on the rest. Now, DMC is the only web company we have worked with so bear that in mind re our view. The chap that runs it is called Doug Mclellan.

Good luck
Stephen

 

[Nuno]

Why do I think it's more than needed? Are you serious?

Because paying 50% over MARKET RATE is too much. The right amount is market rate, or a slight premium, not 50%.

Oh I see. Now you are haggling about how much the premium should be.
Good argument. Keep the daytime job.

 

[Homer J Simpson]

So we should all go around offering 50% premium on things, what a great idea. Would you like to buy this car sir? RRP of £20k, but for you £30k, in fact I'll do you a deal and you can have it for £28k!

 

[Nuno]

So we should all go around offering 50% premium on things, what a great idea. Would you like to buy this car sir? RRP of £20k, but for you £30k, in fact I'll do you a deal and you can have it for £28k!

No. Only offer a premium on the things you really want, can't get at the standard price, and can afford.
I'm not going to derail this thread any longer as your arguments are facile.

 

[Homer J Simpson]

Good, im sure the OP would prefer some proper advice.

 

[Websitehandyman]

I aways like the idea of find a similar site to your own or want that uses the same tech and then try to find out who maintains those till you find one that fits.

 

[Homer J Simpson]

Have you tried any of the freelance sites? People per hour etc ?

I'm sure there are plenty of chancers on there, but if you give a nice clear description of what is needed, you may find someone capable of doing all you need.

 

[billybob99]

50% premium. Lol.

Everyone wants to hire the perfect people asap, but you just need to be patient, you can in fact find someone and pay them the industry standard. There are thousands of people with that above skill set even though it does seem a bit much for one person to be a master in them all to be honest.

Can't you split it up, leave the SEO to the SEO experts, the development side to the developers etc.. have 2-3 people instead of one who is a jack of all trades.

 

[Ryan McFadyen]

I agree with billybob99, split SEO out of that list and you're just looking for an experienced general web developer who's willing to turn their hand to a bit of photoshop.

SEO is its own industry. Developers will have an understanding of what makes a well built, validating website but there is so much more to SEO than the stuff you can control in your own code.

 

[jonrod]

Have you tried any of the freelance sites? People per hour etc ?

I'm sure there are plenty of chancers on there, but if you give a nice clear description of what is needed, you may find someone capable of doing all you need.

I agree. You should try any of those popular freelance sites like Odesk, Staff.com etc. Other than you can post the job for free you can also hire an all-in-one staff who can do all programming works and a few non-techs stuff too.

 

[staffjam]

Thanks for all of the suggestions. I'm a little wary of the sites like Odesk as i've heard a lot of nightmare stories. Stephen i'll send a mail to DMC Web Design (nice looking site you have.)

As for the 50% more issue - utterly ridiculous - Thank you Homer for taking up the cause of common sense over money burning.

 

[staffjam]

Thanks Billybob & Ryan - i think you're right - we will split off the SEO and just get a developer - to be honest it doesn't make it much easier though. I've spoken to some agencies - but finding freelancers who can actually do what they say they can really is a challenge.

 

[Donstu71]

Hahahaha, love it

So we should all go around offering 50% premium on things, what a great idea. Would you like to buy this car sir? RRP of £20k, but for you £30k, in fact I'll do you a deal and you can have it for £28k!

 

[Donstu71]

Peopleperhour.com

 

[ndvyas]

Hi There,

I understand your concern here and would like to give you the right advice before to hire anyone from market.

The IT outsourcing market is highly competitive and company like us offer their valuable services to the customers. Its not about boasting about us or doing marketing. But if you understand the actual scenario you are in shell and thinking too much about struggling finding good developers, from past experience or somebody else's experience.

I would rather suggest that you should find someone who is prompt in their reply, keep transparency, and have proper process in place to keep you updated with your job is getting done in right way.

Actually, I am one of them who is providing IT services at very affordable rate, and have very good team who can give you the better services.

If you need any other information about us or need to talk about me. You can find us on Skype

SKYPE : biz.zestard

Feel free to write us back or get back to us.

Thanks & Regards
Nirmit Vyas

 

[quid]

staffjam

Hello,

As advised above, you may want to try freelance sites (such as oDesk).

Just make sure to not hire anyone from India or some third world locations you may not even know where's that. Seriously, don't. At least because of the massive language barrier and lack of responsibility.

Europe only. There are success stories from companies/people I know that took that approach. Hope this helps.

Regards

 

[billybob99]

staffjam

Hello,

As advised above, you may want to try freelance sites (such as oDesk).

Just make sure to not hire anyone from India or some third world locations you may not even know where's that. Seriously, don't. At least because of the massive language barrier and lack of responsibility.

Europe only. There are success stories from companies/people I know that took that approach. Hope this helps.

Regards

Ignorant advice there.

 

[quid]

Ignorant advice there.

Thank you for your reply. Care to explain why do you think so?

 

[billybob99]

Thank you for your reply. Care to explain why do you think so?

Lol. It's pretty obvious:

Just make sure to not hire anyone from India or some third world locations you may not even know where's that. Seriously, don't. At least because of the massive language barrier and lack of responsibility.

That's like saying all don't go to the USA all Americans are fat. It's funny as I know someone who started his company several years ago and even now all software development is project managed and developed in India and turnover is in the millions and even got a quick mention on The Sunday Times Fast Track Top 100, so that would maybe put your massive language barrier and lack of responsibility claims into question.

 

[quid]

That's like saying all don't go to the USA all Americans are fat. It's funny as I know someone who started his company several years ago and even now all software development is project managed and developed in India and turnover is in the millions and even got a quick mention on The Sunday Times Fast Track Top 100, so that would maybe put your massive language barrier and lack of responsibility claims into question.

Fine you're right. I shouldn't have sounded like there are no professionals in India. Instead, I should have suggested that it would take some time (and probably even luck) to find one.

 

[billybob99]

There's load of developers everywhere, depends how hard you try. I had a developer in Romania who ran off after a while and another one in Romania who I use on a regular basis, same situation for China as well.

All boils down to if the OP is concerned about price or just wants quality and UK based.

 

[quid]

There's load of developers everywhere, depends how hard you try. I had a developer in Romania who ran off after a while and another one in Romania who I use on a regular basis, same situation for China as well.

All boils down to if the OP is concerned about price or just wants quality and UK based.

I just meant that there's a higher risk of getting that kind of attitude in the less developed countries.

At some point this is why I suggested (Eastern) Europe - as opposed to US, UK, Australia etc. - as this is sort of balance between lower prices and higher quality. I does sound like I'm generalising a lot, sorry about that, but this is how it looks from my perspective.

 

[FIZIX Agency]

Lol. It's pretty obvious:

Just make sure to not hire anyone from India or some third world locations you may not even know where's that. Seriously, don't. At least because of the massive language barrier and lack of responsibility.

That's like saying all don't go to the USA all Americans are fat. It's funny as I know someone who started his company several years ago and even now all software development is project managed and developed in India and turnover is in the millions and even got a quick mention on The Sunday Times Fast Track Top 100, so that would maybe put your massive language barrier and lack of responsibility claims into question.

Thats not what it's like at all and I think you're being a bit unfair because they aren't misguided in what they have said. If anything it's actually decent advice.

The issue with odesk, elance etc. is that there are a lot (and I mean a LOT) of bad providers offering the earth for next to nothing and then the client either ends up with nothing, something that barely works or something that's been ripped off.

That's location independent btw. Those sites attract people looking for the cheapest possible solution and providers offering the cheapest possible solution. The cheapest possible solution is usually the one that will bring on the biggest headache and that can come from anywhere. Those from developing economies tend to be the most dominant on those sites though.


That said outsources from 3rd world/developing economies have a bad reputation that is entirely self inflicted, it's due to the volume of problems that originate from there. Most take down notices issued from myself and other providers that I know are against Indian firms who have ripped our designs off. The majority of fix jobs (where a client has a product that barely works) involve fixing something made by an outsource in a developing economy.

The vast majority of email scams, rip you off SEO deals and forum spam comes from that same location. We see them here daily. You also have the fact that it's a lot more difficult to issue legal proceedings or enforce contracts should things go wrong and there can be pretty profound language barriers.

Therefore I don't think it's particularly fair to call someone ignorant for pointing out that they would be wary to the extent of not using an offshore and not to chose one from those sources.


Also you're success story is a bit of a strawman argument because it's not likely that your friend found their great Indian provider through eLance or oDesk. I know some great Indian providers (CG artists and the likes to be precise), I know them from elsewhere, not eLance/oDesk and they all hate those sites as it gives them a bad reputation by association and makes their lives more difficult.

Go figure


Anyway, @OP:

I would advise checking out a bunch of providers, put a request up here and elsewhere (i.e. development and design communities) and have a chat with a few different options, get some referrals etc. That way you have different options and enough of them to make comparisons.

Select the provider based on their portfolio and how you gel. A good provider will get you, be able to offer insight and ideas, advise and guide you. You should be able to feel that they are the right provider. Bad providers will tend to just want to give you a price and not communicate all that well, good providers tend to show an interest and offer their expertise to you. Basically exactly how you'd hire an employee, or an even better analogy, finding a date.

Getting someone who fits a bunch of technical checkboxes isn't going to be that helpful to you because fitting technical checkboxes doesn't make them right for you. Of course they have to be there but they shouldn't be your barometer. Also certain things can be picked up quickly by an experienced developer.

 

[FlatRockTechnology]

If you are still looking for an experienced PHP developer, we can offer you one. As we are a company and not just hiring freelancers for the job, we can offer you a specialist on flexible terms - full time, part time or hourly and on competitive rates. You can also check our portfolio where you can see testimonials of companies who work with us: flatrocktech .com / portfolio

In case you have any questions, or if you are interested, just drop me a line.

 

[7stuioz]

I run a popular news site and we are looking for a webmaster/programmer to work with us on managing the site.
Things really aren't working out with the current company we are using and so we are looking for someone fairly quickly.
The problem is I'm not a technical person and understand little about the development side of things. I won't rush into hiring someone but have read so many horror stories of people who have hired the wrong people.
I usually go off personal recommendations and was wondering if people here know of any good programmers who can help manage a very complex site?
If you can't refer anyone in particular do you know of any good companies or a good way to go about finding someone.


Our current developers have said the person will need:

• PHP (several years experience)
• HTML / HTML5
• CSS / CSS3 (inc. excellent knowledge of past browser support)
• MySQL
• Knowledge of CodeIgniter or other MVC frameworks would be very beneficial
• Experience of working with APIs, such as MailChimp and PayPal Payments Pro
• JavaScript and working with AJAX
o Ideally jQuery
• Strong understanding of SEO principles
• Should be comfortable working with Photoshop PSDs
• Experience with CDNs and caching techniques would be ideal
One of the most important things I can't put into a bullet point is that they've got to be able to use their initiative and plan ahead, keeping the code as organised as possible as they go.

Thanks for any advice you can offer.

Hello ,
If you are looking for an individual with all the skills mentioned,i am sorry to say that it would be far fetched.There are a lot of people who claim to know everything just to make some extra pocket money.But when it comes to doing the work,they fail miserably.
Do let me know if your requirements are yet to be met.
Regards.