How to choose a freelancer to work with on your projects
General, Outsourcing, Web design Add commentsFirst of all you should take this information very valuable. Why ? That’s simple. I work as a freelancer for about 4 years now and i met a lot of people from all the countries and i have some experience.
Let’s enumerate most important things you should consider before choosing a programmer / designer.
- Portfolio ( not always most important )
- Skills
- Reviews ( if you are connected in a freelance website )
- Hourly rate , or rates per task.
When you first contact a freelancer ask his name & nickname & website / portfolio and google them. You might find very interesting info about him ( complaints maybe from clients ) and we both now you don’t want to waste your time rite ? Most of people don’t do this and i think it is very important.
Second ask for a portfolio but keep in mind that there are out there a lot of good programmers without a portfolio. I know some of them 
Though a good designer i think will always need a strong portfolio to impress his potential clients.
Few tips when you work with a designer :
- be very polite
- look for prompt response, tight communications
- give him examples of designs you like and explain your ideas as much as you can from the first time
- encourage him even when the first concept isn’t what you are looking for ; don’t say never “I don’t like it, it sucks!” because he will loose interest.
- leave him to be creative ( very important for your project ) ; there are some people asking for a design like xxxx.com with few changes and this is unacceptable. He will know you are an inexperienced person.
- learn few things about your project, google the terms so you’ll know to guide the provider. This is really important unless you want to pay for a project twice.
The worst things you can do :
- pay upfront all the money agreed for the project; the provider’s motivation will be for sure 0 unless he is a very credibile;
- release payment during the project ( if it is held in a escrow account ) ; most providers ask for this , beware !
- start the project without having the smallest idea about programming & design.
- don’t pay freelancer’s work on time as agreed. He could make a bad reputation to your name with google’s help.
- use copyrighted work from a freelancer even if you didn’t paid for his work ( please use Alt+F4 combination if you did this )
These are just few ideas i could come up with.
If you have more ideas, you’re welcome to comment here !
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August 7th, 2008 at 6:07 pm
When choosing a freelancer to work on your projects the most important thing is for both the client and the freelancer to exchange as much information about the project as possible. Both need to have a deep understanding so the vision may be translated in the work.
September 12th, 2008 at 12:57 am
He could make a bad reputation to your name with google’s help.
How can this be possible….?
September 12th, 2008 at 7:02 am
Very simple
A forum post is enough and google will do the rest.
April 29th, 2009 at 6:41 pm
Thanks for the advice. Internet based freelancing is more difficult than regular freelancing because you rarely meet face-to-face.
I check out potential clients very carefully. I find it very important to choose clients based on personality. Communication is the key, but sometimes all you have to go on is their web-presence.
Even so, you can often tell a lot about a person, like if they respect others, and have high moral standards, by reading their blogs. Blogs like this one, offering solid, complete, real-world advice in a respectful manner, for example, show that you care, share, work well with others, know what you are doing, and do it. Those are trademarks of success, and are more likely to lead to a successful business relationship.