by: John Chilton
I recently finished creating my latest website, and since I am a designer, not a
coder, I often find the need to seek the services of a freelance IT
professional. There are several good sites out there that can easily help you
find the help your looking for. There are quality professionals available that
provide everything from logo creation to website design, to marketing and
advertising. There are people that can help you from beginning to end during
your entire website creation process.
There are literally thousands of IT professionals and not-so-professionals out
there ready to take on your project. I have had wonderful experiences and
slightly less than wonderful experiences in these situations, and want to give
you some help in finding IT professionals that can save you money, but sometimes
more importantly, lots of time.
1-Get Several Quotes- After you post your project on the boards, you will
probably receive a couple quotes within an hour or so. Check each quote
carefully; make sure it encompasses EVERYTHING you described in your job
posting. Cheaper is NOT synonymous with better so make sure you get are getting
quality help at a reasonable price. Don't be afraid to pay what the job is
worth. These people have to make a living and if you take care of them they will
take care of you. If you go looking for the cheapest bid available often you
will find yourself wasting lots of time and sometimes money, and probably having
to hire somebody else to go back and re-do what should have be done, or done
right, the first time. With that being said..
2- Check Their Qualifications - Once you receive several quotes and have a good
idea what your budget is probably going to be, check their qualifications. All
Freelancers will have a profile page available when they submit a quote for your
project. MAKE SURE THEY ARE QUALIFIED TO PERFORM THE PARTICULAR TYPE OF WORK YOU
NEED. More than likely you will receive lots of bids on every project you post.
And most of the time you will receive quotes from people that are not completely
qualified to perform the work you need. One thing to keep in mind, ANYBODY CAN
BE A FREELANCER, and lots of people will say they have the skills required to
perform the task but may only have a little knowledge about a particular skill
and assume they can "figure it out" as they go. And they quite possibly may be
able to do that in some situations. The problem with that is: guess what you're
doing while they are "figuring it out"?......waiting. And sometimes time can be
more valuable than money. I have given freelancers days and sometimes a week or
so to complete a task that would have taken a QUALIFIED person 2 days to
complete. A higher skill level is more valuable so sometimes you may have to pay
a little extra to acquire the more qualified person. I have even awarded a
project to an unqualified person, waited a week for a 2 day project, only to
find out they were unable to complete the project and had to hire someone else.
With that being said....
3-Check Their Feedback-On their profile pages they will have a feedback page.
Check their feedback and actually read some of the comments posted. Find out if
they are professional, timely and responsive on their projects. See if all work
was completed and if they would be hired again on future projects. Make sure you
check any negative comments left. But don't let a negative comment sway you from
a professional if they have 98% positive feedback and had one bad experience
with someone. Sometimes people can expect too much work for their money or
aren't descriptive enough in their job post and fail to sufficiently let the IT
pro know the full scope of the work needed, and then get upset when they don't
receive 15hrs. of work for their $200 bucks. And on the other end, when your
project is complete, don't forget to go back and leave feedback for your IT pro.
It will help others like yourself find quality, professional help, and it's just
simply good business practice.
4-Be Descriptive In Your Job Post-I can't stress this one enough. One key to
making sure your project runs smoothly is making sure both sides understand
exactly what the job at hand is. Don't leave anything out of your post. If you
know something is going to be a challenge or if there are other situations
attached to the current problem, make sure you let them know up front what they
are getting into. Like I said in tip #3 if your post is not descriptive enough
and the IT pro ends up "opening a can of worms" on your project, you will only
get the amount of work your budget allots, often leaving your project unfinished
or poorly completed, or they will be forced to request additional funds, or they
may refuse the project all together leaving you to post the project again, go
through the whole process of finding someone, again, and wasting lots of time
that wasn't necessary in the first place.
5-Find Good Help and Stick With It.-When someone does a professional, quality
job on one of your projects, reward them by using them again in the future (if
it doesn't conflict with tip #2). You can build professional relationships and
fore go all the "weeding out" processes on future projects and save yourself
some time if you have quality pros that you can consistently rely on. And they
may feel inclined to put in a little extra effort on your next project and can
add to the overall quality of the job.
Hopefully these tips will help save you time and money and most importantly will
allow you to achieve your ultimate goal, which is finishing your project in a
timely and professional manner with the highest quality possible. Guru.Com,
ODesk.com, & Elance.com are a few good places to start when beginning your
search. Freelance work can be a great solution to your IT needs and is most
effective when the process is carefully monitored and a few guidelines are
followed.
About The Author
John Chilton is co-founder of Platypus PC Inc.
Source:
http://www.articlecity.com/articles/computers_and_internet/article_4838.shtml
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5 Helpful Tips
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When Hiring Freelance
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