Ask HN: If money no object, how do I find the very best freelancers?

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6772837

by sixQuarks • 13 years ago

16 13 13 years ago

news.ycombinator.com

eksith• 13 years ago

If money was no object, I'll use said money to buy more time. With that time, I'll create an opening on my website/Twitter account or what-have-you and maybe post a video saying "I'm willing to hire a freelancer", add overall and selected specific details about my company and the work environment as well as list off a bunch of requirements.

A college degree would not be one of the requirements.

Depending on who contacts me, I'll ask about my specific needs and avoid any stupid mental tricks and riddles or the like seen in numerous interviews that do nothing to measure the candidate's actual competence within the scope of my needs. That last bit is extremely important.

Then I'll have a face-to-face or Skype meeting to see how the candidate will perform when speaking.

Social interactions are a vital skill; has nothing to do with being introverted, borderline (usually self-diagnosed)Aspie etc... and I need to see whether this person will do the best they can within or beyond my expectations without derailing the project and/or murdering a coworker or worse, me. Then, skills:

Following up on the above brief on my actual needs, I'll create a problem set (which won't involve Twiter, Facebook, Google etc... because "Big Data" doesn't exist below 16Tb) that deals with where I want to go with my project/product/business and where I will see the company going in 2 - 5 years.

Following these recommendations, you will not only find a good freelancer, but one that will actually be worth hiring and, more importantly, you won't fly your project into the side of a mountain.

[Source: 12 years of freelancing]

jmadsen• 13 years ago

Look at forums for your language/software, or sites like Stackoverflow, is one suggestion: search out the type of work/problems you are having, see who seems knowledgeable.

Contact some of them directly if possible, asking a simple question that won't take a lot of their time, and see who responds & who seems easy to work with.

Those are just two suggestions, but really it boils down to: if you need to hire someone for a serious business relationship, don't expect to be able to just pick them out of some job board lineup. You'll need a bit more personal approach.

ibstudios• 13 years ago

Pay the ones you like to do the same task. Judge by the results.

podviaznikov• 13 years ago

I guess you can search for developers on GitHub. Look for professionals in the specific field. But don't spam people that have job. Find few great developers and send them personal email.

Also there are marketplaces that claim to have top developers. E.x. grouptalent.com, toptal.com etc. But I never used them.

Also search for similar question on Quora. It has lots of great answers.

fayyazkl• 13 years ago

Another option is to look at credible free lance sites such as odesk, elance etc. Generally you can search for contractors with 1) top notch past feedback in projects of area you are looking for 2) scores on relevant tests on those websites 3) Interview candidate and possibly assign a paid test job.

tapmap• 13 years ago

Depends on what you're looking for. For design, search on 99designs or Dribbble. You can pay extra for top notch guys. I'm not sure where to look for top hackers. Topcoder?

ilaksh• 13 years ago

Really no object? Find someone on github who has a great open source application or module with code that you really like. Find 2-4 of those people and offer them each $1 million to work on your project. You will probably find one who is able to make time to help you.

favormm• 13 years ago

Need luck. I am iOSer, do you find iOSer?

petervandijck• 13 years ago

1. Hire someone with a great reputation. Ask him to hire a freelance team for you. Pay them well.

2. Hire 5 freelance teams. Have them do the same thing for 1 month. Kick out 4, keep the best. Pay them well.

jbobes• 13 years ago

Django/python guru at your service (current project http://cloud306.com, profile http://linkedin.com/in/jparicka)

hashtree• 13 years ago

Doing this myself (within reason), it is quite a bit of work actually. I have designers/devs on long-term retainer to help me out from time-to-time. I spend weeks traversing the social graph (dribbble for designers and github for devs). I research their projects, twitter (if they have it), and any other tangible deliverables. Once I find a handful, I'll meet with them face-to-face via G+, Skype, etc. If there is chemistry, proceed to the next stage where I will do a couple milestone based gigs. Usually there are two at this point. Usually one will live up to expectations, or neither will.

Repeat. Repeat. Repeat...

brothe2000• 13 years ago

If money isn't an object, I would post the problem you are looking to solve and put a bounty on it.

$1 million dollars for the team that solves X.

Worked for Netflix...

thezerobits• 13 years ago

You can also consider posting your specific needs on Elance or oDesk like web portals, and also Ask HN: Freelancer ?Seeking Freelancers https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6653426

Ask HN: If money no object, how do I find the very best freelancers?

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