Questions for professional programmers who are often contracted out for various positions rather than being part of a company.
3
votes
3answers
219 views
Is 25% to me as sole author a good deal? [closed]
This is my first contract negotiation. So I've written a program which supports some hardware that the company makes. (The support is important, and most customers will buy it, but the software ...
1
vote
0answers
133 views
How to manage company passwords when employing temporary freelancers? [migrated]
I am from a marketing firm which now has a development team, which i am part of. We have been tasked with finding a few freelancers who can come in and work when either me and the other developer is ...
1
vote
4answers
140 views
Freelancing and GPL?
Is it possible for a freelance programmer to use Open Source products under GNU Public License and make money given that he cannot stop his customers from freely distributing his products?
-3
votes
0answers
87 views
Flexible time / 4 days a week contract? [closed]
I am developer.
Is it possible to find a contract (London, UK) with flexi-time or part-time features?
E.g.
- 4 days, 10 hours /day
- 1 day off
or just 4 standard days a week?
-1
votes
0answers
46 views
Contractor in UK - flexible time? [closed]
I am a developer.
I'd like to start my own start-up project but I do not have enough time and money.
I cannot go part-time because my expenses are close to my income.
One of my ideas is to switch ...
2
votes
4answers
276 views
Clever way to license/obfuscate web applications until the client has paid for it
I am doing contract work for various clients and I was wondering how best to go about safeguarding myself against non-payment. The projects will be ASP.NET web applications, most likely ...
4
votes
5answers
245 views
Should Cross browser testing be explicitly mentioned in the scope of a project?
I do freelance web development and front end dev is not my strongest point. This question came to me in my recent fixed bid project.
Nowadays we use Jquery and Bootstrap and these take care of lots ...
-1
votes
0answers
86 views
How do I go about increasing my freelance web developer rate? [closed]
I currently have direct clients and I also do projects for a digital agency. I am thinking of increasing my rates this year. I don't have much issues with my direct clients but with the digital ...
3
votes
6answers
512 views
Should I allow my client to self host?
I'm just starting out as a web designer. I'm trying to build up a portfolio for my own website.
I'm concerned about designing a site and handing it over to the client. Once I do this I could lose ...
3
votes
3answers
221 views
What's an incorporated software developer?
I saw a job posting asking for "incorporated software developers" and asking them to state their "incorporated rate" when applying. What's the difference between an incorporated developer and a ...
0
votes
0answers
71 views
Never had a job - Will it matter for internship? [duplicate]
On my 20 years on this planet I have never had a job.
I am a CS student who just finished his first year at uni with a 3.8 GPA. I will be applying for internships next fall, and I will have a nice ...
4
votes
2answers
163 views
Important Questions to ask Client at Briefing (Web Development) [closed]
I am just moving into freelancing (my primary sector will be web design / web development). I've got a few projects for friends as well as one or two 'professional' projects in the pipeline. I would ...
3
votes
1answer
98 views
Estimating cost of labor for a controlled experiment
Let's say you are a software engineering researcher and you are designing a controlled experiment to compare two software technologies or techniques (e.g., TDD vs. non-TDD, Python vs. Go) with respect ...
0
votes
1answer
105 views
Impact of ending contract with know-ins-and-outs lead developer of a project [duplicate]
I have a long time running project. Its been running for about 6 months. The project is very big. The lead developer/team leader designed the project and the whole project is in his brain. He knows ...
1
vote
0answers
87 views
Expanding on vendor software?
I am a SCADA consultant and I work with many software packages. Due to their robust nature they include the capability of executing internal/external activex and vbscript code.
Over the years I have ...
7
votes
2answers
329 views
Who owns code if project cancelled
The problem: I am working on a freelance marketplace, and I decided to cancel project with one of my clients, because client is impossible to work with with limitless delays and lots of bugs in his ...
-5
votes
1answer
212 views
Hire a programmer and own the source code [closed]
I am about to hire a freelance programmer for a application that i need. Sure i'm going to create a contract where I need to state that all source code files and binary code will be my ownership, in ...
5
votes
2answers
296 views
How do I get my first job at a freelancing website? [closed]
I am new to freelancing websites. The problem is I have zero rating and I can't get any projects even if I bid the lowest amount.
I tried bidding aggressively. I even tried bidding the lowest ...
-5
votes
2answers
405 views
How do you know if you're an underpaid developer? [closed]
I have been having a lot of discussions with developers on being paid fairly. I'm curious how do you define being underpaid? And what do you do to fix that problem?
This is the article that caused ...
-1
votes
2answers
113 views
Website Development Process - HTML to CMS [closed]
I need some advice from experts. I recently hired someone to develop our website. She submitted and we approved a proposal for $9100 to first code the website in HMTL and host on Dreamhost and then ...
1
vote
1answer
97 views
Referring to freelance marketplaces as evidence of the experience for a potential full-time employer
I am currently a freelancer (JavaScript) developer, and now I am striving to work more on freelance marketplaces. Some time I want to move from Russia to Canada and find full-time work there. So:
How ...
4
votes
1answer
126 views
Who manages a CMS after a freelance project is complete?
I've been a full stack .net developer for several years now using C#/MVC4/SQL Server and have never taken on a freelance project. This is because up until now I have worked only as a full-time ...
11
votes
3answers
874 views
Starting consulting while employed - conflict of interest
First of all I am not after legal advice. This is a bit TL;DR but I have a summary at the bottom, I'm explaining it all so people can offer insightful advise.
Situation
I need to explain my present ...
-1
votes
1answer
149 views
Software agreement for farming out development work [closed]
I'm looking for guidance from someone who has successfully hired a freelancer to assist with writing software they later marketed publicly. Simply, what kind of software agreement should I have the ...
6
votes
1answer
443 views
Wrote an application for a friend. Who is the owner of the software? [closed]
Friend asked me to develop a software application for him. I did and he paid me.
There was no written contract. I live in UK and he resides in Canada.
My question is: who is the owner of the software ...
0
votes
2answers
177 views
Which Open Source License is right for my project?
I'm developing a suite of software tools that I need help with which is why I want to release my software open-source. People should be able to use and modify my code as they please while contributing ...
3
votes
5answers
558 views
If I hire you for “a day”, how many hours are expected? [closed]
I've seen a lot of advice for freelance programmers which advocates quoting your rates in periods of a minimum of one day. That means that when someone asks your rate, you would say "$500 per day" ...
1
vote
4answers
487 views
How do web-developers do web-design when freelancing? [closed]
So I got my first job recently as junior web-developer.
My company creates small/medium sites for wide variety of customers: autobusiness companies, weddign agencies, some sauna websites, etcetc, hope ...
4
votes
4answers
462 views
Freelancing - Getting paid for the quote or estimate
It is often necessary to spend time designing a solution, breaking down the design into tasks and sub tasks and estimating the time it will take to complete each task in order to produce a reasonable ...
120
votes
15answers
7k views
Demonstrate bad code to client?
A client has asked me to do a redesign of their website, an ASP.NET Webforms application that was developed by another consultant. It seemed like a relatively straightforward job, but after looking at ...
1
vote
2answers
162 views
Independent contractors posting projects to their portfolio
I'm about to hire freelance contractors to do small pieces of my web projects.
Is it standard to allow them to put the project on their portfolio? Say a simple debugging task getting a specific ...
3
votes
4answers
235 views
Which metric/list should be used to evaluate whole software development team?
The title might be seem vague, so let me tell you a little bit history what i am trying to clarify question.
I have been hired as a consultant for a corporate's small development division. The ...
2
votes
4answers
214 views
How to justify technology choice to customer?
When freelancing / contracting a customer will typically specify functional requirements, acceptance criteria, etc, and the implementation details are in the developer's hands.
As a developer your ...
4
votes
3answers
207 views
Pricing personalized software?
Currently i'm working on a Purchased Order System Application Project for a small scale company.
The Software that i am working on is personalized based on the on their business requirement.
The ...
-3
votes
1answer
160 views
Is there a 2-year exclusivity requirement for building iOS apps? [closed]
I've heard a rumor that when building applications for iOS, the developer is bound to a 2-year exclusivity of that application for iOS upon the project's completion. Is this a true statement or is the ...
0
votes
3answers
321 views
Freelancer web designer/developer charges [closed]
I'm about to start my freelance career as a web designer/developer. I'd like to know on what basis web devs charge their customers? I know its a bit difficult since prices wary based on various ...
3
votes
3answers
269 views
What are general guidelines and advices to estimate how much you should charge for a project, being a novice freelancer? [closed]
I am an experienced programmer but completely new to the market. Someone wants me to do a project for them, but I do not know how much it is worth. What are general guidelines/advices for finding what ...
2
votes
4answers
307 views
Problems hiring someone on elance or similar sites [closed]
I am assigned to hire some developers/designers in these kind of sites, and I'm looking for war stories about problems with this strategy. All I found so far are tips about getting more jobs as a ...
17
votes
6answers
2k views
Is it okay to rollback code if your client refuses to pay you? [closed]
A friend of mine did some contracting work to add localization support to an existing mobile app. He was not contracted to add any other features or fix any already existing bugs. He has finished his ...
3
votes
0answers
268 views
Best accounting software for freelance/contractor programmer? [closed]
I know this isn't exactly a programming question but I am hoping to find some programmers who freelance or do contractor work in the US. I have started to work on side jobs and have been billing my ...
4
votes
2answers
249 views
Is it common to purchase an insurance policy for contract development work? [closed]
I am not sure if this is the best place for the question, but I am not sure where else to ask.
Background
I am a contract developer and have just been asked to provide a general liability policy for ...
1
vote
1answer
272 views
Long-term Freelance contract: should it have a salary-day or not? [closed]
I don't like to speak about money. I just like to work. I still believe in a relationship between good work and good compensation. Hence I don't want ask my employer about my compensations, actually ...
-2
votes
1answer
301 views
Is it a bad practice to quit a company only to begin as a consultant? [closed]
Like the title says; is it a bad practice to quit a company after a few years, only to begin as a consultant for the same 'customer'?
I've been lucky enough to come in to a company in the oil ...
4
votes
5answers
381 views
Productivity strategies for one developer using many PCs [closed]
In a talk about time management, a famous computer scientist said:
"One machine in your life is the right number."
He recommended a laptop with a docking station.
After trying this approach ...
4
votes
5answers
413 views
My work isn't being used… what can/ should I do?
Several months ago I was approached by a small business, who had seen my work previously and asked me to create a website for them.
Since then, the website hasn't changed one bit and I haven't heard ...
1
vote
1answer
240 views
Applying for job: how to showcase work done for (private) past clients?
I want to apply for my first "real" (read: non-freelance) Ruby on Rails job.
I've built several apps already. My best work (also the most logically complicated app) was for a freelance client, and ...
4
votes
4answers
322 views
Version control and project management for freelancing jobs
Are there version control and project management tools which "work well" with freelancing jobs, if I want to keep my customer involved in the project at all times?
What concerns me is that repository ...
2
votes
3answers
498 views
How much more should I charge for freelance project source code?
Currently I'm working as a freelancer, and for the first time a faced a client who wants the source code too.
This client owns a software development company, and wants to have rights over the source ...
17
votes
4answers
874 views
Should I continue to perform freelance work for customers who keep on demanding more without paying?
So a client comes to me and says it needs some work done. Basically 4 tasks, which I agreed to perform for a certain price. The customer creates the job offer (a fixed time and price job) on ODesk, I ...
2
votes
2answers
462 views
Where to find sample Statement of Work for freelance? [closed]
I recently found myself in a position to complete freelance iOS development. I would like to provide the client a contract outlining scope, timetable, deliverables, and cost. Where can I find a ...
