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Need to hire a Vanilla forums developer

rstoberrstober New
edited August 2012 in Vanilla 2.0 - 2.8

Hi,

I've got a vanilla forum and it works but there are numerous changes I would like to make and just can't seem to finds the time. So I'd like to hire a knowledgeable vanilla developer to do the work for me. It's most just basic stuff:

  1. Add pagination
  2. Reformat site so that Vanilla its not embedded
  3. Add google adds
  4. Improve navigation

There will be other things after that. If you have the skills and are interested in making some quick money please contact me. My site is zohallt.com. I think (I hope) you can contact me through there.

Thank you,

Robert

«13

Comments

  • I have similar needs myself. Contact me as well!

  • We also need some Vanilla Forums Developer. Please contact me directly!

  • peregrineperegrine MVP
    edited December 2012

    @netigate said:
    We also need some Vanilla Forums Developer. Please contact me directly!

    there are numerous people who do custom work.

    to name a few

    kasperisager - for theme design, he's hard to beat
    businessdad - the jsconnect pro among other things
    x00 - when he's available
    Peregrine - will do custom work only if specs are layed out and you designate a price you will pay for each mod.

    FWIW - I did some mods for the original OP. The reason, he stated specifically what he wanted and the price he would pay for it.

    I have responded to a few people who advertised for a developer

    only to find out that in some cases

    a) they really wanted it for free, even though they said they wanted to pay.
    b) they didn't know what they wanted and couldn't describe it
    c) they did it themselves.
    d) they kept on changing the specifications, and could not come to a finalized spec.

    So, I suggest you state exactly what you want with your offering price for each mod and you may get more responders this way.

    I suggest other developers add their name to this thread to help other potential forum owners looking for customized help.

    last but not least.
    http://dev.pathtoenlightenment.net/2012/09/03/first-rule-for-professional-developers/

    I may not provide the completed solution you might desire, but I do try to provide honest suggestions to help you solve your issue.

  • I agree 100% with Peregrine. Many of us are for hire, if the specifications and the budget are appropriate.

  • I'd have to disagree. I found that of the short list of developers listed in this discussion (and it's not many), there was only one that was even willing to give me a quote for my somewhat simple job. I got the job done by paying for two weeks of learning for my regular developers who didn't have Vanilla experience. I'm not criticizing anyone, I'm just disagreeing with the idea that if you have the money, there's plenty of people ready and willing to do the work.

  • peregrineperegrine MVP
    edited December 2012

    @DirtyDog said:
    I'd have to disagree. I found that of the short list of developers listed in this discussion (and it's not many), there was only one that was even willing to give me a quote for my somewhat simple job. I got the job done by paying for two weeks of learning for my regular developers who didn't have Vanilla experience. I'm not criticizing anyone, I'm just disagreeing with the idea that if you have the money, there's plenty of people ready and willing to do the work.

    Since I don't know what you are disagreeing with, I can't really disagree with your disagreement! (maybe you mean numerous). Perhaps if you did place exact specs and what you wanted done and how much you were willing to pay, you might have gotten more respondents.

    if it was that simple you probably would have got the answer for free on the forum.
    But then again I don't know what you were referring to. So, did you offer to pay two weeks of pay to anyone here for the simple job.

    I may not provide the completed solution you might desire, but I do try to provide honest suggestions to help you solve your issue.

  • @peregrine I think you missed the point. Like I already said I wasn't complaining about any individual person. I simply disagree that it is easy to hire people to customize Vanilla.

    I asked for quotes. If it would have taken someone two weeks then a two week quote would have been the proper quote to give. Now that my regular guys have been trained they can now make the additional plugins I need at a regular pace. I felt that I had to make that initial investment because it is difficult to find people to do the work.

  • peregrineperegrine MVP
    edited December 2012

    @DirtyDog

    Are you going to post your sponsored simple add-ons? or did you post them already? I can't seem to find them on the add-on section.

    I may not provide the completed solution you might desire, but I do try to provide honest suggestions to help you solve your issue.

  • @peregrine said:
    DirtyDog

    Are you going to post your sponsored simple add-ons? or did you post them already? I can't seem to find them on the add-on section.

    Is this an attempt to be insulting?

  • DirtyDogDirtyDog ✭✭
    edited December 2012

    @peregrine said: Perhaps if you did place exact specs and what you wanted done > and how much you were willing to pay, you might have gotten more respondents.

    Related to that - another person I sent the specs to said they were quite complete so I don't know what you mean. I manage freelance teams for a living and the process is to send specs out for quotes and to hire based on a combination of the bid and the qualification of the bidders. What would be the point of sending bid requests out to everyone with how much you were willing to pay?

  • peregrineperegrine MVP
    edited December 2012

    a reply to @DirtyDog's last comments.

    no, not insulting. I was inquiring if you were going to share your add-ons with the community, much the same as other people have asked.

    What would be the point of sending bid requests out to everyone with how much you were willing to pay?

    that's your decision. not mine to make. With all due respect, since you have your own developers, what's the point of continuing this conversation (rhetorical question to myself)? Since I don't see it adding more insights or value to what's already been said.

    I may not provide the completed solution you might desire, but I do try to provide honest suggestions to help you solve your issue.

  • @DirtyDog said:
    What would be the point of sending bid requests out to everyone with how much you were willing to pay?

    I agree on this point. I tend to get specifications and give my quote afterwards, and allow prospective clients to compare it to their budget.
    The only drawback is that, often, my quotes are bigger than client's budget, because:

    • Client underestimated the complexity of the project.
    • Client expected a cheap rate. This is mostly due to the boom of cheap Developers from Asia, for whom a good rate is between 5% and 9% of what I charge. I'm not even going to try to compete with them on price, but on quality (I know quite well the long term effects of working with such Developers).

    No need to say that, in both cases, I don't get the project, but I think it's fair. If an agreement cannot be found, it's ok to move on. That's called business.

    • Client underestimated the complexity of the project.

    I would say that is number one, specially if the client has no knowledge of what is involved.

  • @vrijvlinder said:
    I would say that is number one, specially if the client has no knowledge of what is involved.

    If the client had enough knowledge, then he would probably do it himself. What I meant is that, sometimes, clients don't really think things through and many issues arise when a project is analysed in more detail. In my experience, competition from Asia is the main reason why most estimates don't get accepted.

  • Well they don't need to have full creative knowledge or know how, maybe what I meant is knowledgeable as far as the time involved with the details, specially if they ask for unrealistic results.

    About the competition in asia and india, yes like much else it has cut in, so what makes them better , it can't be just cheap. They get exploited but they have to show results. So maybe the key is to offer the service faster than they would. I really don't know what else one could do to compete except work harder... :(

  • the reason why i didnt post the specs here is that it seems to be not allowed to advertise for jobs requests on the forum and secondly, the project is kinda secret. i will send a full and detailed list of the specs to everybody sending me a private message with his full name or sending me a mail to webmaster@netigate.se. the budget is about $2000

    this is a coding project, with a deadline at the 20th of january.

  • @vrijvlinder said:

    About the competition in asia and india, yes like much else it has cut in, so what makes them better , it can't be just cheap.

    It is. They are just cheaper. If you go to Odesk or Elance, you will see that over 90% of jobs are awarded to cheapest bidders. The refund rate is also quite high, but that is "irrelevant" to a certain extent.

    They get exploited but they have to show results. So maybe the key is to offer the service faster than they would. I really don't know what else one could do to compete except work harder... :(

    Asian workers don't always get exploited. For example, a salary of about 10% of my rate is a good salary in the Philippines, where the President of the Country earns 30% less than the minimum wage worker here in Ireland. However, due to this, the really good workers are rarely living in Asia, nor they work at "Asian rates".
    When they have valuable skills, they can apply for a VISA elsewhere, earn much more, save for a couple of years and then go back to their home Country, living like kings.
    Keeping the comparison between Philippines and Ireland, a skilled worker would only have to work five years in Ireland, with Irish salaries, to be able to retire back home. I bet that India would be even cheaper than that. The ones that stay, often don't have a choice, as their skills and/or their English are too poor (tested personally).

    The only way to beat cheap competition is not to be cheap (such term is also quite negative), but to provide excellent value for money. To make a "foodie" metaphor, a royal banquet for 200 dollars is much better value than a stale cheese sandwich for 10 cents. Note that, despite this, many clients prefer the latter, because it's cheaper, and they end up spending 10 cents at a time to cure their indigestion, well past the initial 200 dollars.

    My advice is not to chase clients at all costs. If their budget is too low, simply move on.

  • Asian workers don't always get exploited.

    I'm from Philippines and got exploited many times :P

  • @fr3333333x said:
    I'm from Philippines and got exploited many times :P

    Well, "not always" doesn't mean "never". :)
    Also, they can exploit you only if you allow them to do so (or if they hold you by the neck, which I hope it was not the case). I learned this lesson on my own skin.

  • @businessdad we've been exploited due to alot of outsource sites popping up and blatantly putting sh!t on developers and VA's salary bull-crap http://easyoutsource.com/blog/how-much-do-filipino-workers-earn/ , if i name my price for actual pricing, clients think that i'm ripping them off. Well i cant blame them since it's partly true, our cost of living here is low, i could buy Pepsi 12oz for $ .10 USD :D , but the main issue here is the skills. and countless of hours exploring and learning .

    i've read peregrine's link: http://dev.pathtoenlightenment.net/2012/09/03/first-rule-for-professional-developers/ this one made made it clearer for me about having my own standard prices, :D also i like the two-words :D

    Well, "not always" doesn't mean "never". :) Also, they can exploit you only if you allow them to do so (or if they hold you by the neck, which I hope it was not the case). I learned this lesson on my own skin.

    super true for me :D

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