What are the best things to ask when hiring a web programmer?

Question

I am trying to hire someone for a 5-10k job, and it's pretty serious work... but I am getting bad vibes from virtually everyone on craigslist. Worse, 2/3rds of them don't even have their own websites. Among those who do, they are awful sites. So, craigslist is sort of out... and the "hire a coder" websites online do not seem trustworthy.

I am a PhD student and we are designing a very large, complicated experiment that will run over several months...and has about 100 requirements involving a lot of server side programming & database stuff. The funds are coming from a grant... not me. I was a systems analyst for a consulting firm before this, and so I can write requirements and speak to a developer. I just can't figure out how to hire them. (My PhD is not in computer science or I'd do it myself at this point... but I am a bad coder)

Answer 1

You're on an academic grant, I'm assuming you don't have much spare cash, so skill sets focused towards "Open Source" tools are what you should be looking for. In server-side/database terms this is probably

Linux
Apache
MySQL
PHP

The so-called "LAMP" skills: you shouldn't be struggling to find those in the current job market. Its difficult to know what sort of experience level you should be seeking without knowing your budget or software requirements, but definitely DON'T be put off by a lack of "own website" or flashy AJAX if they do have one. A Java-script/CSS wizard might not be the best choice for coding DB interfaces or system level utilities. Look for good solid "back-end" (encompassing everything outside of web browser) engineering experience.

If you have been given the task of "technical interview" then I suggest - I cannot stress this highly enough - that you become very familiar with whatever technologies you expect your developer to work with, especially on the database side since this is most likely the critical interface to your information. You should at least be asking your candidate to normalise table structure, optimise queries and spot security issues (e.g. injection attacks).

Find examples of flawed code, badly normalised data models, poorly configured Apache servers etc. - put them in front of your candidate to see if they can diagnose issues and suggest fixes. Get them to write out the modified code/architecture/whatever themselves and keep it on file (keep a digital camera handy if you're using a whiteboard) and you can always check it after the interview if its not immediately obvious they're correct.

One more thing: if your requirements include a high specification front end, you might struggle to find a single person to do all the work. My experience in the industry has shown that web engineering ("back end" if you prefer) and web development ("front end") are sometimes treated separately and handled by different teams. Perhaps you should consider splitting this project across two roles and hiring two contractors?

Hope this is useful.

Answer 2

"Web programming" is a bunch of different disciplines all rolled into one. The people you are looking for will probably not have all of the skills needed to build an entire site that looks great.

From the sounds of it, the best job description would be "web developer." Ask for someone with experience with a lot of varied things, and make sure they pick up new stuff easily. Don't worry too much about how their web site "looks"; what you're looking for is someone who can deal with the back-end of things, and maybe throw something in front that doesn't look terrible.

Things to check on would be SQL experience/knowledge, knowledge of information architecture, and any related languages/requirements you've got.

Above all, most computer geeks are very defective people! (Just like the rest of humanity.) So the best thing you can do is check their references and look at their portfolio. Your best applicants should probably have at least one or two major database projects behind them.

Answer 3

In this business you get what you pay for.

Try to look for lot's of experiance working on projects that are require a lot of skills. example: building bank websites, search engines, sales reporting applications, ecomerce sites, etc...

A) ask to see samples of past websites, screen shots...

B) Have you worked on any ecomerce sites... if so what are the sites?

C) Have you worked on any sites that require security and authentication? If so what are those sites?

E) Can you program C# .NET 2.0, PHP, or Ruby on Rails,
How many years experiance in any of these languages?

How long have been programing object oriented applications?

Are you experianced in UML?

F) How many years experiance do you have designing and maintaning databases? If so what kind? SQL Server, MySQL, Oracle?

G) Have you any experance with SEO or web anylitics?

H) Have you any experiance with CSS, xHTML, JavaScript, XML, WC3 compliant code, ActionScript or Flash?

J) Do you have any design background? Usability? Photoshop?

K) How many years experiance do you have with project managment, business presentations.

L) Have you ever lead a team? If so tell me about that experiance?

M) Have you any experiance with QA, testing, usability testing, Please tell me about it?

Look on linkedin.com you maybe able to find more professional contractors...

Answer 4

Try this place. They are a production company in multi-media,
web site and data base design, and business solutions. They work with server side programming and data base design every day. They are professional and have developed for large businesses. I can personally recommend them. They may be able to help you.

http://www.impactcreativity.com.au

Answer 5

best way go on the web..

check out some web site designs you like but make sure you know exactly what you want, all the frills and fills

then for the sites you see and like call the site and ask who built it for them, you don't have to ask the cost

next off your idea get the builder to give you a demo that can be downloaded on to your computer that way you will know how good it is. when it is updated you will see verything you will be able to have it altered, to your liking

good luck

Answer 6

I have tried http://expert.myitcareer.org/
you can get freelancers/companies with hundreds of good reviews about them. Just post your requirement there.
You have to pay only after work is delivered to your satisfaction

Answer 7

check their resume, see if they already worked on web development.. check up their references

Answer 8

do you know IT?