Ask HN: As a developer, how do I work with freelance designers?

1 points by drygh 12y ago ↗ HN

I am working on a small start up, and I am nearing the point where I need to hire a freelance designer to add some finishing touches to the web application. This is my first production application, so I am quite nervous about just about everything.

How do I work with a freelancer though - when so much of my code contains sensitive information or information a designer doesn't need to see. On the other hand, I happen to be using Django to power the backend, and I don't believe there is a way to have him work locally without setting up a development server.

What do you guys do? Should I just make sure the contract clearly lays out he cannot use/share backend code in any ways? Do I need to change all my backend API keys and sensitive information after working with him? Or should I cross my fingers and hope my payment API account doesn't get hacked 6 months from now...

2 comments

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gee_totes 12y ago ↗

You're payment API doesn't have a sandbox mode? Maybe that will work? Short of that, maybe you could create a fork of your application for the designer that just returns payments_processed=true and doesn't talk to the payment API at all.

drygh 12y ago ↗

Most of the APIs I'm using do have a test/sandbox mode of some sorts, or I could disable them in a way the designer could still work on the application. If this is the norm in working with freelancers I am fine with it. It just seems as the application grows, it would be substantially more difficult to make sure everything is 'freelancer proofed'.

That's why I brought up the contract as well. Not sure if this is a good cautionary step to take, or if I should do it in addition to putting APIs into 'test/sandbox mode'.