How Do I Find a Qualified Programmer

[arcanom]

Hello, I'm a building a startup project and I will be in need of a programmer, yet I do not know what qualities I should be looking ffor. I can not give too much details because of competitition concerns, yet the project will require an ATM software (and relative security protocols as you can guess), online wallet website, android wallet, html5 based website (thats whats needed for ios mobile I guess? confirm please).

What qualities should I look for? I will not be hiring a foreign guy since the project involves local businesses. What languages a programmer MUST know for crafting such softwares? Also how big is the learning curve of Bitcoin programming for a experienced programmer (say +10 years in programming)

thanks

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[Sukrim]

http://www.cs.uni.edu/~wallingf/blog/archives/monthly/2010-12.html
Check the entry down at the bottom...

If you have no idea how to do stuff, you're going to have a bad time. Try to do something you actually are competent in and try to succeed there or learn for yourself. Programming ATMs, web wallets etc. is nothing that can be done just like that and that is VERY hard to estimate the scope of for example. Also competent programmers aren't cheap and usually not looking to work for people who have no idea what qualities they are actually are looking for.

Sorry that this sound so harsh, but just imagine something you are very good in and then some random programmer coming up and saying "I have no idea how that's done, but I want to do several highly difficult things, where can I find someone to do this for me?".

[XBladeRunner]

Where do I start? Anyone that could pull off what you want correctly is already hard at work on their own ideas that will be much
more lucrative for them than any amount you could pay OR they are working for a big company for a big salary especially the
bank/ATM guys. If you do find someone that says they can do it then it's all on you to make sure it's done right because if not
your site won't last long because it will be hacked and all the bitcoins will be gone. How do you know it's done right? You don't if you
cannot do any of this yourself. Seriously if you just have a great idea with nothing else or don't have a $500,000 budget to start then I'd
suggest not even starting.

[arcanom]

http://www.cs.uni.edu/~wallingf/blog/archives/monthly/2010-12.html
Check the entry down at the bottom...

If you have no idea how to do stuff, you're going to have a bad time. Try to do something you actually are competent in and try to succeed there or learn for yourself. Programming ATMs, web wallets etc. is nothing that can be done just like that and that is VERY hard to estimate the scope of for example. Also competent programmers aren't cheap and usually not looking to work for people who have no idea what qualities they are actually are looking for.

Sorry that this sound so harsh, but just imagine something you are very good in and then some random programmer coming up and saying "I have no idea how that's done, but I want to do several highly difficult things, where can I find someone to do this for me?".

Hey thanks for the reply, as I've mentioned I'm not a programmer myself. I'm a business manager and my family was in computer market for a long while. My father was a founder of a company (which I will not mention its name) who first brought in Intel, Seagate and other big computer firms aswell as concept of strategy & marketing of an IT company into our country. Later the company got sold for 14 million dollars AFTER the 2001 crises. (4 years after its foundation.) I'm pretty young and excited. My father will be the leader of the project as he is the mastermind. I'm just bringing the youth look to the topic, and as you can guess I brought up the investment idea as he is out of computer business for 10 years now. I have read enough management to know that without execution an idea is just an idea.

Where do I start? Anyone that could pull off what you want correctly is already hard at work on their own ideas that will be much
more lucrative for them than any amount you could pay OR they are working for a big company for a big salary especially the
bank/ATM guys. If you do find someone that says they can do it then it's all on you to make sure it's done right because if not
your site won't last long because it will be hacked and all the bitcoins will be gone. How do you know it's done right? You don't if you
cannot do any of this yourself. Seriously if you just have a great idea with nothing else or don't have a $500,000 budget to start then I'd
suggest not even starting.

We're looking into 200k+ investment at 3QT, most of it spent on the marketing side of the project. Will be followed up by bigger numbers. Just need to bring up a physical concept with minimal cost as a beginning. Probably just the ATM and wallet app at this point.

[XBladeRunner]

Probably just the ATM and wallet app at this point.

That's the most expensive part and the most difficult to get right.

[doof]

Im not sure what trade your in, but coding is analogous to building a house.  Your asking a tradesman to build you a house.  A lot of coders do what you tell them to do.

If you don't know what your doing, then you will make mistakes along the way, like pouring a slab before laying the plumbing, which of course is very expensive to do.

I remind my wife using this joke daily:

A programmer is sent to the supermarket with instructions to "buy butter and if they have eggs then buy a dozen."

Returning with 12 butters, the programmer says, "they had eggs".

[arcanom]

Probably just the ATM and wallet app at this point.

That's the most expensive part and the most difficult to get right.

 both of them without the high-end security measures. Think it as a showcase not full product.

[raskul]

that's gonna cost you a pretty penny

 

[Realpra]

We're looking into 200k+ investment at 3QT, most of it spent on the marketing side of the project. Will be followed up by bigger numbers. Just need to bring up a physical concept with minimal cost as a beginning. Probably just the ATM and wallet app at this point.

These technologies already exist, if you have 300K to blow on marketing then:
1. License an app, stick your logo on it.
2. Buy robocoin machines or whatever.
3. Do the marketing.

[arcanom]

We're looking into 200k+ investment at 3QT, most of it spent on the marketing side of the project. Will be followed up by bigger numbers. Just need to bring up a physical concept with minimal cost as a beginning. Probably just the ATM and wallet app at this point.

These technologies already exist, if you have 300K to blow on marketing then:
1. License an app, stick your logo on it.
2. Buy robocoin machines or whatever.
3. Do the marketing.

Thats always a choice but I'm not living in U.S and robocoin delivery would cost me TONS. I rather implement software for my own deisgned ATM. I dont like how Robocoin looks. It looks like coffee machine rather than "the next big thing". Also I dont they would not be able to take care of the ATM's after I buy em since I live far away. No point for me paying double price for a capital which can be created pretty quickly since as you said they already exist.

[Sharrow]

The question is kind of difficult to answer without knowing more details but you'll more than likely be needing more than one person for a project like this.

If you are changing Bitcoin source code on more than a superficial level, you will need somebody who's competent in C++ and seriously capable in cryptography. Probably, never the twain shall meet - unless you are very lucky - so that's two people already.

If you are essentially using the existing Bitcoin code and creating wallets, good C++ skills will be needed for building Android wallets, but there are people on here that can do this for you. ATM software in itself may require yet another person who's experienced in ATM software development (C++ and maybe Java) as the security is really best left to an expert.

Many people who are full-time C++ programmers probably won't want to get involved in building websites, so you'll need a web developer to take care of that side of things. Yes, most new websites that are optimized to work on mobile phones, tablets etc are built in HTML5 but this is not specific to iOS, Android etc. Most web designers/developers use responsive design frameworks that work across all screen sizes and which make this job quite easy and relatively cost effective in comparison to everything else.

For now, you'd be best to visit sites like freelancer, elance etc to get an idea of the costs involved with the C++ programming part as that is the most fundamental part to a project like yours.

[kdrop]

Hello, I'm a building a startup project and I will be in need of a programmer, yet I do not know what qualities I should be looking ffor. I can not give too much details because of competitition concerns, yet the project will require an ATM software (and relative security protocols as you can guess), online wallet website, android wallet, html5 based website (thats whats needed for ios mobile I guess? confirm please).

What qualities should I look for? I will not be hiring a foreign guy since the project involves local businesses. What languages a programmer MUST know for crafting such softwares? Also how big is the learning curve of Bitcoin programming for a experienced programmer (say +10 years in programming)

thanks

Hiring a programmer without a CTO who can lead the technical side of the business will be very difficult. You might want to look for a co-founder that can run the technical side of the business and hire programmers. This might also be difficult, but try local meetups 

[Nova!]

Ya'll are being WAY to pessimistic.  If the guy has funding, paying a programmer isn't going to be an issue.

Here's how I hire qualified programmers on the cheap.  It works well and I have a track record of putting together solid teams that can deliver on time and under budget.

First make sure you actually do have a budget of some sort.  Any programmer willing to work for a percentage stake on a serious project is not someone you want to hire, period.
Second make sure your legal bases are covered.  This means talking to a lawyer and finding out what your actual liabilities could be in the area you are operating in.  This is especially true in the western world where we're all a bunch of litigious bastards.  I've found it to not be such a big issue in Central America, but here in the States and in Europe, you'll be sued into oblivion within a week of your first press release if you don't handle the legal issues first.

Third don't hire a programmer, hire a project coordinator.  Someone with a track record.  You can find them on LinkedIn.  They'll be the guy/gals hanging out in the PMP and Project+ areas and they'll have a ton of references posted clearly on their profile.  What's a ton?  At least 10 glowing reviews.  20 is better.  Anything more than 25 is probably someone who paid for it and not worth your time unless you can verify the people endorsing them are who they actually claim to be.

Fourth, once you have a detailed project plan look at all the technologies involved.  More than likely each tech will have a definitive open source project that sort of serves as the defacto-standard for what you're trying to accomplish.  Look at the list of contributors.  Github is a good way to see who's been up to what.  Find someone with recent commits to the repo, or pull requests that have been accepted in the last 90 days.  Don't pick the #1 guy/gal they'll be consulting and they will charge a small fortune.  Instead pick someone from somewhere in the middle up the top 10%.  They are interested enough in the tech to be playing with it in their spare time and have gotten good enough to make an impact.  All while probably not being compensated for it.  Their compensation demands tend to be minimal, although you may need to work them part time.

Approach them and offer cash money to work on your project in a similar capacity.  Do not offer equity!  If they want equity they will ask for it, but don't think you're going to get the next Satoshi Nakamoto or Linus Torvalds for straight equity.  In fact you'll be lucky if you get the next Leeroy Jenkins.

Doing this one wierd trick has given me a track record of 0 project failures and only 2 late deliveries in 10 years of IT Consulting across a broad and diverse range of products.

[thezerg]

I agree with the prior post.  You need to hire an engineering CTO or project leader to make this technically succeed.  You are asking for a very diverse skill set.  A quality project leader is going to want 6 figure salary + equity and a budget.  A budget because s/he'll be HIRING other consultant engineers to handle the diverse aspects of this project.  There ARE people who could do this solo, but they are rare and already working in great jobs...

And yes you should repurpose an existing BTC ATM for your first release even if it is not beautiful.  This will dramatically reduce schedule and risk.

[ogenrwot99]

Buy an ad at a well known bitcoin site such as bitcoin magazine 

[daserpent1]

For the ATM part of coding, you need to contact the ATM company developers. Because the coding of ATMs are closely guarded. For android you can hire almost any developer that has successfully launched good apps in the past.

You can also contact devs of Litecoin, cgminer etc to see if they can help you with the project in any way. These developers do code for anyone at a fee.

[Bitcoin-Corporation.com]

I've taken your approach at least twice, and as it's been suggested, it was difficult.

But with determination, it's possible to succeed, depending on your goal and your definition of success. For me, the experiences have been mostly fulfilling, with ample moments of pain.

Ever have a kid?

The world stays in need of honest, determined people.

BC Rep.

[raskul]

I've taken your approach at least twice, and as it's been suggested, it was difficult.

But with determination, it's possible to succeed, depending on your goal and your definition of success. For me, the experiences have been mostly fulfilling, with ample moments of pain.

Ever have a kid?

The world stays in need of honest, determined people.

BC Rep.

nam myoho renge kyo. 

[Blinken]

LOL "I have a great idea and need a programmer."

I have watched that disaster play out so many times in the last 30 years. One doctor I worked for burned through $3 million, his entire life's capital, in one year.

Here's a suggestion: start a business doing something that you know how the f4ck to do yourself.

[TheButterZone]

http://webchat.freenode.net/?channels=%23bitcoin-dev