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>> I'm debating whether I should hire an expert programmer for $X/hour, |
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>> or a company of expert programmers for $2X/hour. It makes sense from |
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>> a financial perspective to hire programmers directly, but I wonder if |
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>> there are benefits to hiring a really good company. |
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>> |
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>> I'm sorry this is OT, but I bet you guys have some seriously good |
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>> insight on this. |
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>> |
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>> Thanks, |
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>> Grant |
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>> |
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> |
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> For starters, you could give us a bit more insight into the kind of |
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> project we are talking about. What's the expected development effort, |
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> what are the services you pay for (binaries, source code, testing, |
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> maintenance, ...)? |
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The project is made up of various and ongoing scripting tasks for a |
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relatively complex website. |
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> Regarding programmer vs. company, I'd say it depends on what you expect |
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> and pay for. If you just want it coded, then the lone programmer is |
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> probably as good as the company (since programming itself doesn't really |
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> scale well with the number of devs). |
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That's a really good point. |
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> Extensive testing, on the other hand, is something a team should do. |
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> Sure, the lone programmer can write you some unit tests and conduct a |
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> system test, but testing itself is a profession of its own and should be |
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> done by a second person with the relevant training. |
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> |
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> But in the end, these issues a minor. It really boils down to whom you |
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> trust more. Ask for references, look at their previous work, talk to |
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> them, etc. |
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Can you tell me what sort of positive and negative things to watch out for? |
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> All things being equal, paying 1*x instead of 2*x gives you the chance |
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> to pay another 1*x to a second developer if things don't work out with |
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> the first one. ;-) |
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Once I need more than one developer (which could come sooner rather |
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than later due to the availability of these guys) am I likely to |
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struggle managing them? I've read a bit about "Agile" software |
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development and I plan to read a lot more. Is that the way to go? |
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Would hiring a company make management a non-issue from my perspective? |
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- Grant |
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> Regards, |
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> Florian Philipp |
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