[consulting] Freelancing, Finances and Finding Work

[Gwennie Cakes]

Hey George,

If you're not technical and not experienced with whatever software you want
somone technical to help you out with, it's not always easy to find someone
worth the money vs. one of the bozos. Some of what you look for is what
you'd do when looking for anyone to help you out with something you don't
know about (like remodeling your house, a trade I know nothing about but of
which have heard lots of horror stories): ask around, see what your
friends/colleagues recommend, see if there's anything out on the web, do
they have examples of their work, do they have former clients who speak well
of them, that sort of thing. I also like looking for someone who's willing
to admit weaknesses. For example. when I used to interview for employees at
a former job, I'd always ask at least one question for which they couldn't
know the answer to test their upfrontness/honesty. Not necessarily a killer
if they admit they don't know, but flags would be raised and I might try it
again. But this is all general advice you probably already know.

In terms of drupal specifically, I will add a few more things. Drupal.org is
a great resource. You can see what sort of things a person has contributed
and how involved someone is in the community. When I'm evaluating a 3rd
party module, I look for a few things so I don't end up with some code some
random person contributed as a lark that I then have to maintain myself and
some of that criteria applies when looking for a consultant. For example,
what modules (if any) has the person contributed? Are any high profile? Are
other people using and liking it? Are the projects well maintained if
they're maintainer? (speaking personally as a not so fantastic maintainer)
Are there lots of bugs in the modules? Is the person fairly active? Does the
person seem to have a good rep? It's not necessarily a killer if the person
doesn't meet all or even any of these things, but it'd definitely make me a
little wary.

Also, if you just want to cut to the chase and can afford their rates,
consider Acquia or Lullabot. These people are  working on core, so if
anyone's going to know how to do your project and do it well, it's going to
be them. More than most, these folks are going to have a better idea of
where things are and where they're headed so it's probably very likely that
you're going to get a good product fairly quickly that should be relatively
easy to maintain. But I suspect you'll probably have to pay a premium--I
have no idea what either charges so don't quote me on that. From your
situation, sounds like that might be more cost effective than trying out
more bozos. And getting a quote's free, so why not, right?

Anyhow, I hope this helps!

gwen

On Sun, Mar 15, 2009 at 1:14 AM, George Por <
George at community-intelligence.com> wrote:

>  hi Sammy,
>
> > they wonder why on earth should they give me such a rate when some other
> bozo is only asking for $30 an hour and he also claims to know how to
> program.
>
> I empatize with your issue, *and *on the receiving end of Drupal services,
> I have a similar one. I’ve been paying up to €50/hour to folks who claimed
> to be Drupal experts, who couldn’t do the job and when I hired them I had no
> idea what they really are capable to do. A couple of months and lot of
> wasted money later, I learned form the next programmer that the previous guy
> had no clue of what he was doing. That cycle has repeated 4 times, the next
> one always blaming the previous one of the messy state of our sites.
>
> I grew so desperate over this situation that I am considering abandoning
> the Drupal platform, where I am totally dependent on programmers and look
> for an alternative platform that I could maintain without technical
> knowledge. However, I have many Drupal-based sites and that would not be an
> easy to choice, neither. So I want to give it one more try. Given that I
> don’t know you, how can I get a sense that you are not one of the “other
> bozos” that you talked about?
>
> > I am looking for more work, but, as usual, not entirely sure how to find
> it.
>
> Well, maybe you’ve just one found one if you can answer my question above
> and if I can afford your fee. What I’m looking for is ongoing site
> maintenance, upgrades, customization, and light programming. If you, or
> anybody else is interested to explore that possibility, drop me a line.
>
> George
>
> _______________________________________________
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> consulting at drupal.org
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>
>
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