How to find a capable and trustworthy programmer?
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On earlier questions posted here I received replies that I neede to learn CSS, PHP etc. basically that I should not do it myself. Sadly, the reason I got here in the first place is that I got burned 4 times in hiring people to do this for me on my http://www.cardesign.tv web site. People these days, especially in this field, seem to be very happy to lay claims to a lot of sites and experience, but when hired, actually seem to be a whole lot of hot air and very little substance behind it.
Now, for someone like me, who just wants his sites to run properly, and who wants to have his sites updated after a while to make them more interesting for visitors and sponsors, or just refreshed, or just more functional, and who has a life outside of this working in a completely different field, is there any way to distinguish the good from the riff-raff? Do you guys have or plan to set upsome sort of guild or whatever, that distinguishes the good from the bad, that helps simple minded folks like me to find people worthy of their time and money, and not have the wool pulled over our eyes and ears, not get robbed blind, not have to consult lawyers the whole time?
Any help or advice is welcome.
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As far as programming guilds go, they are pretty much useless. There are so many people who write code, the guilds would just be something to add to your business cards as a title without ever meaning anything. There’s probably hundreds or thousands of guilds out there, but none of them would be considered an authority on the matter.
In the end, you’ll get what you pay for (most of the times). If you can afford it, then I’d recommend staying away from freelance coders (even though there’s some great ones out there) and find a good web design company. It will cost more, but if a programmer leaves, then there’ll still be someone at that company to help you out.
Talk to other web site owners in your subject matter community/industry and see who they used and get recommendations from other web site owners. There might even be web design firms that specialize in your subject matter and have made similar sites, so they have a good idea on your audience likes/dislikes, etc.
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Thanks Mark, James. Thus far I spent just over $10,000, and I don’t have what I want. The area I am working in is not exactly “on the edge” as far as web site, Internet or even computers are concerned, so that leaves a big blank to ask around. I went through Guru.com, and based my choices on apparent advertised experience, but even there people are laying claims that can not be substantiated. I even had a web specialist company.., and not any better result.
All in all, if I had ever dealt with my clients in any way close to how I have been dealt with, I would be out of work for good.
So, are there any people on here that are objectively rated as very good, work on contracts, and can substantiate what they quote and offer within the time frame they pre-determine?
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Looking at list.automattic.com does not indicate to me that people on there are any more specialist than on Guru. In fact, from the simplistic design layout, it does not indicate any experience of anyone with WordPress since it was not made in WordPress. See..? How is an outsider to know then?
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Mark has provided a link to contact those programmers who may have experience with wordpress technology and this is the best we can do for you. If you would care to look further afield for a programmer that’s up to you. :)
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There are very few programmers hanging around the wordpress.com forums, this being a hosted solution aimed at newbies :) You could try the mailing list Mark suggested, or possibly the jobs site; but, since anyone can sign up to that list or reply to an ad, I’m afraid you’ll still need to check the programmers out yourself. Sorry I can’t be more helpful.
edited to add: the link Mark pointed you to is just the web interface for the mailing list. No, it’s not pretty, and no, it’s not run on WP (it doesn’t need to be, since it’s only there to let you subscribe and unsubscribe your email address, which is an entirely different application from blogging) but it is Automattic-run.
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