Etiquette toward bidding programmers on Elance

[rrbarna]

I joined this site in the hopes of learning Access, but soon discovered a couple freelance websites such as Elance where I can get someone to create the database I need quickly and for a low price.

I have narrowed my selection to 5 bidders who seem like good candidates and have assigned all of them the same task of creating a prototype data entry form so that I can see who has the best grasp of what I need and how they execute that task.

I'm in a situation now where most of them have submitted their assignment and each candidate has put a lot of thought and effort into their work. Obviously I will only choose one in the end, but how do I deal with the others? Is just a simple thank you enough, or is it appropriate to pay them a small amount in compensation for their time? How would you feel if you spent an hour to work on a test project and did not win the bid? Is this just part of the job that you accept and move on?

 

[DJkarl]

As a contract programmer I would say you are not any under obligation to pay for the time spent on a bid, unless you've lead that programmer to believe they had the job already, if they are bidding for a project then it is like an interview, put your best foot forward and try to land the job, sometimes it works sometimes it doesn't, but if you don't get the job you certainly would not expect them to compensate you for the time you spent trying to get the job.

One other thing, I have used Elance before, I have seen some unrealistically low bids on complex projects, I would be wary of going with the cheapest if the majority of bids are higher.

 

[Pat Hartman]

Only bottom feeders bid on jobs at Elance so be extremely careful with a person hired there. The bidders are primarily Asia based and non-English speaking. They will not understand standard US/UK business practices and so will not be able to help with design. They may also not understand your directions so make sure you communicate in writing whenever possible. If you give verbal directions, have the programmer send you a written summary of his understanding.

Professionals will not audition for a job by building a prototype unless you are willing to pay for it. They will show you applications they have built for others and give you references you can check so the fact that these people agreed to build an app for free should be a warning. You may get lucky. Pay more attention to the hours they think the job will take rather than their hourly wage. If there is some consensus with the time estimates, choose the one with the best language skills. Talk to them using Skype if at all possible. If the hours estimates are all over the place, you have not been clear and specific with your requirements.

I use Guru which has some of the same problems with low bids but Guru explicitly prohibits employers from asking for demo's or prototypes and will cancel the membership of anyone who asks for them.

Since the applicants did work on your behalf without a contract, you are under no obligation to pay them. If you feel guilty, pay each of the ones you don't hire 1-2 hours at their hourly rate.

 

[rrbarna]

I've narrowed my selections to two applicants and I'm having a real tough time deciding who to go with. They both speak perfect English (USA/UK), are skilled, have great feedback and produced a great prototype for me... it's just that they each took a completely different approach, both of which I like.

So... I thought about hiring both of them and let them each go at it their own different way. In the end, one will probably have a better design overall, and the other will likely have some features I wish the overall better designed one had. Would it be appropriate to ask one programmer to implement his features into the other design? Maybe I should tell them each at the beginning that I've hired two of them? Is it normal to ask them to collaborate and maybe they both work on one design?

I really would like to hear your thoughts one this.