Freelance Web Developer

Q. What advice do you have for a customer looking to hire a provider like you?

A. If you're looking to hire a freelancer or another company to make your website you probably have a very limited IT budget, so find someone who uses open source technologies whenever possible to build your site. It's expensive enough hiring someone to make your website and paying for the servers to run it, there's no point in also paying yearly or monthly licensing fees for operating systems and software that don't run any better (or sometimes worse) than free alternatives, not to mention the fact that with proprietary software it's generally harder to find other people with the knowledge to maintain and enhance such systems. In Rochester I see a lot of web development agencies who build websites using .NET and Windows for mom and pop businesses who don't know any better, and I think it's unethical.

Also, many people don't realize the difference between a web developer and a web designer. Basically, designers decide what the website is going to look like and developers write the code that makes it all work. There's plenty of overlap between the two, but usually people either specialize in one or the other. I think it's worth your money to hire both a designer and a developer to do their respective parts of the project than to hire one person who is mediocre at one aspect.

Q. If you were a customer, what do you wish you knew about your trade? Any inside secrets to share?

A. I think most customers want to know what goes into making a website. Often times when working for non-technical people they ask for highly impractical or impossible things because they think it's easy to do, but they don't speak up about things they want done that are ridiculously easy because they think it would be too difficult; programming is strange like that. My advice is to ask lots of questions, be upfront about what your needs are, and trust the person you've hired to either make the right decision for you or give you sage advice.

Q. What questions should a consumer ask to hire the right service professional?

A. Since the person or company you're hiring is only working for you temporarily, make sure the work they produce is of high enough quality that it can be easily picked up by the next person you hire. Ask candidates if they:
* write project documentation
* comment their code
* write automated software tests

If possible, ask for code samples and have a technically competent friend review it.

Q. What important information should buyers have thought through before seeking you out?

A. You should decide what goals you need to accomplish, such as:
* help customers find your real world location
* show off your products
* have online conversations with customers
* notify customers of events
* sell items online

After you've decided what your goals are, a professional can consult with you on what the best ways to achieve those goals are, whether it be through a website feature or utilizing 3rd party websites such as Facebook or Twitter. This is a much better approach than making a list of all the bells and whistles you want on your website; every feature costs time and money to implement, and any features that don't serve a specific goal will be a distraction from what's important.