As Developers, What Do You Want to See in a Proposal for an Idea?

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As Developers, What Do You Want to See in a Proposal for an Idea?

LongLost

Hi,

New here, so hopefully I make sense in my question...

I have an idea for a social media website and am looking for a developer to partner on the project. What I want to know is what sort of information does a developer want to see and in what sort of format?

Is there some sort of software that I can use to line out the idea so it's easy for a potential developer to understand?

Your feedback is GREATLY appreciated!

dclamp

Be as clear as you possibly can in explaining the project. Note any specific requests you may have such as: use of PHP/ASP/Ruby/etc. Note what type of server you are running, if you have one already.

Be upfront about payment. Tell them the budget you have or how much you will be offering per-hour of work.

Thats what come to mind at first. I do not do freelance work so I am not too familiar with the project bid process.

LongLost

Thanks for your input!

Yes, this is very helpful and hopefully some of the "freelance" folks will chime in with their advice.

For servers I'm thinking cloud servers, but is that too vague?

Not sure what framework we would want and actually I thought I could ask the Developer to choose? I have some reference material that could be useful in creating at least one aspect of the site but it's based on Python and I note you didn't mention Python?.. Is that language lesser used?

Again, thanks for the input!

Cheers!

dclamp

If you don't have any specifics in mind, it allows you more developers to pick from.

"Cloud" server is a buzzword. Something being "in the cloud" just means it is online. If you are talking about something like Amazon hosting services where its all virtualized and you pay by how much server time you are using, then that is different.

I didn't mention Python because I am not familiar with it, doesnt mean it is a bad choice. I primarily work with PHP and have dabbled in ASP and Ruby.

Your best bet is just to make a really detailed explanation of what you are trying to accomplish. Don't worry about explaining how you want it to work. Just explain what you want it to do and how everything should work together.

Perhaps you might consider posting your idea and suggestion here to see what people think. Maybe you will even find a developer.

Another thing, Depending on how large your project is (I am guessing it might be pretty intensive) you may want to make sure the developer you pick will be in for the long haul and write good code. Not just produce some mediocre code that gets by.

NogDog

Yeah, there's no reason to pick the technology up front before you pick your lead developer(s) -- let him/her guide you to what best fits your project and what he/she is best at working with.

Pictures are always good (worth a 1000 words, etc.). If nothing else, draw some sample screens, workflows, whatever helps explain your product, business rules, etc. Even just some colored pencils, a pad of paper, and your cell phone camera can provide enough to convey the graphic information (this is not for the live product, after all ).

LongLost

Good to know...

Yes, by Cloud server I mean like Amazon, although I'm thinking of trying to work something out with Kim Dotcom and his Mega cloud here in NZ.

Good to know about the various languages... Any thoughts on Ruby on Rails? I've heard some people rave about it while saying Python is outdated. I think the raving may be a bit of a bias and possibly just a regional preference (NZ/Aus), but not sure.

I've got a few documents together, to include a VUE (Visual Understanding Environment), document but I've been unsure if it's sufficient to convey the scope of the project.

Unfortunately I can't post the idea here as I have a few business partners on this with NDA's in place for the idea. My Project Manager has been looking for a developer but we haven't found the right person so far. Possibly because we're looking for someone to work as a partner rather than a paid employee. We're also looking for a person that is very open minded as one of our major demographics are the LGBT communities.

Yes, good code is the need as the project is meant be large and expandable. I think the initial alpha site could be pretty basic but needs the ability to add various user modules, some of which will be somewhat stand along while others will need to interact so the code has to have some consideration of this.

Thanks for your input!!

LongLost

GREAT idea about the pictures... I think I can start working on something from the user perspective and how I see them using the site. That might help to clarify a lot!

Any more ideas would be greatly appreciated!

LongLost

Is it just me or does it seem odd that there isn't a piece of software that would be a tool to generate an idea for Developers? Seems like there could/should be a product like that but I suppose developers are all different and may want to see an idea in various forms?..