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Ask HN: Any advice in finding a reliable programmer?

4 points by LUTOPiA ↗ HN
A year ago, i started to build a social networking game on FaceBook through delegation; I would hire the artists and the programmer out of pocket. I had a good job then and i leaned myself from bad, wasteful habits, like eating out, going out, buying games, gadgets, etc. I would just pay my bills, food and focus everything on paying my people.

I bought a Mafia Wars blank canvas clone from a Russian programmer, Railorz.com, and i also bought modifications from him. The game is written in RoR with some PHP, AJAX, FBML and SSAS. Well, he started to get busy with other projects and walked away to make room. So i looked for another programmer running DXWebDesigns.com, but after working for 2 weeks he wanted me to accept some new and pretty draconian terms, namely that i had to get a new server from him, get a new domain from him and give him total control of my database. When i refused he did a bunch of damage to the server!

The Railorz.com guy responded to my email asking for help and accepted a job to fix the damage. I also found an Indian guy with little experience, but cheap, and i had him learn from the Russian anything he could while he could, as his time is limited.

The game was fixed, but it is barely functional, running in about 20% efficiency. I still have some pretty big bugs such as players no longer being able to level up, items page not available, etc.

I have my first 20 players yesterday right after i launched, but now that there is people waiting for it the pressure is higher to get it fixed fast.

I sent an email last night to both of my current programmers and i haven't gotten a response yet. I really need advice finding a reliable RoR programmer. I lost my job 6 months ago, but i do have some savings to pay them from, since my lifestyle is so lean in spending, but i can't continue guessing when he will have the time for me, because this game is what is going to be paying my bills and the savings are in the red.

I was thinking of getting another blank canvas built from good PHP and although it is more likely for me to find PHP programmers than RoR, the issue at the end of the day is to have someone that responds.

Thank you.

My FaceBook page: www.LUTOPiA.Co

8 comments

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megamark16
Learn Ruby on Rails and take over the development. Maybe it didn't make sense back when you had a job, but now that you're out of work you should totally try learning to code yourself. Maybe you could hire an expert trainer who could help you fix your app while learning the ropes at the same time.
LUTOPiA
How long would that take?
megamark16
Well, you're not going to be a master after a week long crash course, but I bet with a lot of studying and reading, and a good tutor to answer questions and walk you through tricky parts of the code you could get to the point where you could at least read the existing code and grasp what it is doing after a week or two. From there it's just a matter of digging in and trying to solve bugs and fix stuff.

The best way to learn is to start getting stuff done. Once you can read the code you can start making changes and seeing what happens. You'll break stuff, that's OK as long as you're not making changes on the production server. You should have a local copy of the code on your computer that you can play around with without fear of screwing things up royally.

I'm not a Ruby on Rails hacker, I'm a Django/Python guy, but I'm sure there are plenty of good guides to Ruby on Rails out there that could get you started.

LUTOPiA
That's good advice for long term, but i need to find someone reliable right away and i don't know were to look.

I have tried sites like vworker.com and the coders there, so far, have been very flaky. I don't have time for that, it's an emergency situation.

Thank you for the advice.

keefe
what is your runway? if you've got only 20 users I don't think you can count on this to pay the bills if you don't have months of runway ahead of you and that you should get some work and then find someone to have a long term relationship with.
LUTOPiA
I have 20 players right now, but they are personal friends and family that are helping me alpha test. I haven't even tried to make it go viral and won't until it works decently.
petervandijck
Are you willing to pay them decent rates? (ie. 30+$/hr)
LUTOPiA
Only if they are decent programmers, absolutely.

The price must match their skill, responsiveness and responsibility.

Do you know of anyone?