Q: Non-Dolphin experience Freelancers. Yes? or No?

Im about to offer about $750 - $900 for work to be done on my site, via Elance.
So my question is this.. 

Can most people who are skilled with PHP/MYSQL/HTML/CSS, work well with Dolphin? I know its PHP based, but that doesnt mean, in my eyes, that they understand the platform.

I just want to know if I should consider candidates who are strong in P/M/H/C, but don't have 'Dolphin experience' listed, as potential candidates?

Thanks for the input!!

Mac

If you can, you should hire someone that knows Dolphin; knows the classes and functions and service calls and alerts system, etc and how it all works.  If they don't know Dolphin, it will take longer to do the project so factor in more time because they will have to do a lot of reading and exploring.  The documentation is spotty in places; most here have learned the guts of Dolphin through years of working with it.

Thank you, GG!

I would actually love to hire from here, but most here are trying to get rich quickly and charge an arm and a leg. in one case, I was quoted $50 an hour (Edit: I should mention this guy lives in a country with WAAAYY lower cost of living than in the USA). Hell!  Thats almost 3 times what "I" make an hour.

I know you (mostly) get what you pay for, but by paying by the job, I dont actually 'have' to submit payment until I sign off on the job. That said, I thought by paying for the job (rather than by the hour), The amount of time it would take wouldn't be totally a concern.

The part where you mentioned knows the classes and functions and service calls and alerts system, etc .. yeah.. THATS what I am most interested in, right there!

Thank you again!! :)

 LOL the 50$ an hour i've seen that somewhere here and i was like wtf ! are you serious man ? Are those people think dumb people still exist in the world by 2015 ? weird

Good skills are going to cost.  One could hire the Monroe Brothers to build your house but you get what you paid for.

I personally still think 50$ an hour is too much...

 How much do you think is reasonable for programming work?

My best advice whether you're using someone from here or a freelance site is to never pay up front. We've seen some pretty crazy things here including people faking their own death to get out of finishing projects they were paid in advance for.

To look on the flip side - there are those out there who have such a great grasp of php and everything else, that it does not matter about the rest. I have a freind who has helped me a lot with coding issues and he never even looks at the site. he just writes out what I need in a text document and emails to me - and it has always worked with no issues - unless I mess something up.

So, it is kind of a catch 22. Just because someone is knowledgeable in php does not necessarily mean they can assist with what you need, but just because someone knows a lot about Dolphin does not mean they are the best for your job either. It will have to come down to your gut feelings about those you deal with.

But one thought - ask your specific questions here in the forums. In most cases there will probably be several answers to your scenario and it wont cost you a dime. I always try asking here first for all my issues. Then I call in outside help if I cant get the answer or solution here.

As i said this is my personal point of view and i will not be paying 50$ an hour as i can't afford that ! I think it is too much , until now i didn't meet any programmer or whatever you call is charging their customer a 50$ an hour !

Of course seen one here lol

If i was a designer or programmer myself i wouldn't charge my client this price anyway ! or at least i would introduce a fear package to choose from and drop the hourly charge , i think anything about 20$ is too much !

Anyway at the end of the day , anyway never heard someone got rich from building social site ? Of course twitter and facebook.

Most of us will end by giving up sooner or later and close their sites , as maybe  80% of us willing to succeed ( days dreaming )

Can anyone here come forward and share a good experience while building a social network ? what money they generate ? Incomes ?

So why paying 50$ an hour to make Nill , doesn't workout for me as my site is just hobby for the moment then if it grow and start generate money then i would say i probably will be able to afford 20$ maybe max 30$ an hour and that's if i make money as well.

Life is sweet when your sweeter.

I hired someone from India a couple years ago to build a friends mod. I still use it today and it has functioned across all the updates. All I got to say on the matter.

 How can you judge what a tech makes?

If your job was the same then I would agree with your statement.

In my case, I charge $60 and hour no matter what I do.

• service call to a house for computer
• online work on servers, and the like
• contracting work for bars, night clubs, offices, and other retail businesses
• fixing what ever...

It all goes back to my ability to work fast. I could solve most work in one hour, sometimes less. So for me working fast hurts in a way, I can only get about an hours pay in each job; and jobs are not every single hour.

For you guys to say that is "too" much; what are your skills for your job?

I'm sure your getting what your worth. 

"You get what you pay for..."

Just like the A/C man that comes to your house in the mid summer.

"Sir, your filter was dirty..."

That will be $129.00 for the service call.

I charge $15 per hour for PHP work. However, i only go that low because most people will not pay more. But i don't have time to do it anymore now anyway.

When i was doing computer repairs, i charged $45 per hour which is also low. Drive to Boston, ma about 2 hours away from me and the average price per hour for computer repairs is $90 per hour.

 Honestly, Newton, that makes you rare! I have yet to fine ANYONE who would quote less than 5 hours for anything, much less 1.  I dont know where you are based (your home), but in India, $50 an hour is over $300 in the USA (in terms of cost of living). That's what I meant by my statement you quoted.

Regardless, my intent was to say 'kudos' for being a fair person with your time, and not trying to milk the average Joe.

Deano:  "I charge $15 per hour for PHP work. However, i only go that low because most people will not pay more. But i don't have time to do it anymore now anyway."

And that makes me sad, Deano! I wouldnt BLINK having"YOU" work on my site! But I understand your 'why'.