Looking for a Great PHP/MySQL (LAMP) Developer?
It's getting harder and harder to find great software developers in 2008. Today many of the finest PHP/MySQL developers are not commuting to work but instead are telecommuting freelancers who've discovered that they can work remotely more effectively and profitably. The good news for your company is that you have access to these remote/telecommuting developers as part of your workforce...as long as you can locate them.
You may have seen the suspiciously low-priced and skillset-seductive ads on freelance or resume posting websites like DICE, Monster, Guru, Elance, Craigslist, etc. Perhaps you've even gone down that path, choosing one of the low bidders for your web or IT development projects, hoping you'll find a diamond-in-the-rough. Unfortunately, statistics show that more often than not, small business has been sorely disappointed with their freelancer experiences. One 2005 outsourcing survey found that the process of offshore outsourcing was significantly harder than anticipated by the vast majority of respondents and that overall satisfaction was dropping precipitously from the previous year. Continuing disappointments over quality and schedule-adherence indicate systemic outsourcing problems. Some common tactics and traits of low-quality freelancers are:
- Underbidding rates, while overbidding hours (the #1 reason why many freelancer hourly rates you see are by definition "too good to be true")
- Promising overly-optimistic deliverly dates to win bids, then routinely slipping schedules
- Shoddy data security or outright piracy
