Dear Programmer,
I have been managing the development of a site made in PHP and MySQL. Basically this site leads the user through a series of steps that help him/her solve a problem.
In this project I have used the services of about 10 different programmers. This approach however, is not working anymore. I experience some typical and highly frustrating - if not to say depressing - problems that seem to be common to outsourcing:
- A programmer has a problem with the Windows environment. I send his problem description to the provider. But I don't have a clue what it is about, so the communication takes endlessly, with me e-mailimng back and forth between the provider and the programmer about issues I don't understand.
- A programmer changes a small aspect without understanding how the whole system works (which is pretty complicated) so his change causes problems. But it is too much work for the programmer to familiarize himself with the whole site.
- A programmer changes something which is not logical and does not work, but he simply does what he is told to do (by me)in this project without considering the site as a whole.
I am not blaming any of those programmers, because I understand quite well, that for say a 10 hour project you can't spend 20 hours familiarizing yourself with a complex site.
So the next thing I want to try, and hopefully solve at least some of these problems, is to hire someone for say 10 hours a week for 10 weeks and see whether that works better.
Or if you have any other suggestions, I would like to hear them.
I am basically looking for:
- a dependable PHP MySQL programmer
- with proven expertise
- who can think independently along with me
- who wants to really get involved with this site on a long term basis
- who is willing to seriously study this site
- who can do very quick work in case of emergencies
- who is preferrably in a time zone not too many hours removed from GMT
- who can communicate by microphone in Skype
The site is: [login to view URL]
If you are interested I would like to start a discussion with you on the message board.
Regards
Jaap