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Testing how good an elance hired dev is...
Posted: Tue Mar 09, 2010 3:56 pm
by ed209
I say elance, but could be any online hire place. I'm looking to employ a developer permanently, and I've got a couple of good candidates through elance. Normally, I don't go there but actually they seem quite good.
My plan is to do a couple of mini projects with 2 or 3 of them (that actually need doing anyway) but I'm wondering if there is a good way to test how good they are. Do I set them all the same assignment and throw two lots of cash away, or do I set them different assignments and see what they come back with?
Any advice on any little projects you like to set would also be handy. In the absence of a set test for all, I figured I'd just give them actual projects to work on...
Re: Testing how good an elance hired dev is...
Posted: Tue Mar 09, 2010 5:08 pm
by alex.barylski
IMO and I'm being biased, I admit, find a developer who has dedicated countless hours on a site like here, or SitePoint, etc.
A good developer, is a very subjective word. If code works, thats great (better than buggy code) but the code can still be garbage and difficult to maintain for the next developer (which you will undoubtly require eventually).
Guys on forums like here and others, who are regulars, usually have a keene, genuine interest in software development, not just writing code, but studying best practices, techniques, etc. Staying ahead of the game by a long shot.
If i had to hire someone, the first thing I would do is contact the top 10 posters on this site, and ask if they were interested in assisting me in a project.
Picking a developer based on who finishes first, is IMO, asking for trouble.
They probably spent more time on it, maybe even more than they were paid. if this is the case, your going to expect to much in the future and they will eventually grow tired of you and quit without notice, probably right when you've developed enough trust to assign them a big important project at which point your stuck in **** creek without a paddle.
Just basing this on my own experiences, so obviously, I'm biased.
Cheers,
Alex
Re: Testing how good an elance hired dev is...
Posted: Tue Mar 09, 2010 5:44 pm
by Eran
If you have no technical experience, judging the quality of a developer's work would probably be impossible for you aside from testing that they filled the requirements. As Alex mentioned in a roundabout way, one of the most aspects of a programming project is maintainability. Unfortunately (and unavoidably) everyone has different opinions on what are considered good practices for creating maintainable software. The biggest warning sign though would be if a developer has no concrete idea what would make his code maintainable. So if I were a non-technical person, the main question I would focus on is "how do you ensure your code is maintainable / could be maintained by others?"
Obviously, you wouldn't be able to tell from their answer if in practice it will result in higher quality code. I would expect though, for an experienced developer to have a complete and detailed answer to this question. If someone sounds like he's making stuff up on the fly, is unsure of how exactly to achieve it or dismisses it entirely, that would be someone you would do well to avoid working with.
Guys on forums like here and others, who are regulars, usually have a keene, genuine interest in software development, not just writing code, but studying best practices, techniques, etc. Staying ahead of the game by a long shot.
If i had to hire someone, the first thing I would do is contact the top 10 posters on this site, and ask if they were interested in assisting me in a project.
I wouldn't rate anyone's abilities by his willingness to participate in forums such as this. Surely you don't suggest that all the proficient developers in the world post regularly here or in SitePoint or some other major development forum. There are also a couple of very active users here who became active mostly by
asking questions instead of providing answers. There is one particular, which I haven't seen lately, that I wouldn't trust to guard my cat let alone develop any software.
Re: Testing how good an elance hired dev is...
Posted: Wed Mar 10, 2010 2:10 am
by matthijs
If it's possible check out the work someone did already and the references he/she has.
Second, having a successful outcome of your project(s) depends on much more then only the code. Communication and management skills are just as important. I started out focusing on code myself (being a designer/developer) but have learned (sometimes the hard way) that often it's more important to be able to really understand each other, be able to plan well, respond fast to questions, having trust in each other, etc.
But of course these are things that are not easy to check when you contact a couple of developers for the first time. However, from talking to someone and seeing how people respond to questions, you might get a first idea.
Re: Testing how good an elance hired dev is...
Posted: Fri Mar 12, 2010 4:05 am
by ed209
Thanks for the replies. I've been doing PHP since 2003, I do most of the projects myself, but I was never trained in computer science so there is a whole other level of developer above me. I'm a designer by trade, with an interest in coding. So I'm looking for someone better than me for a start!
Actually, I've found a couple of good devs on elance. I'm actually hoping to hire in-house here in the UK,
viewtopic.php?f=17&t=113638 but working with a good developer remotely would also be acceptable.
My main requirement is someone who loves to code, not just someone going through the motions. I have generally found that devs from ukraine, russia, eastern block are usually interested in coding beyond the project requirements and are really great to work with.
Testing-wise I've gone straight in with a couple of projects to see how we get along and take it from there.