Has anyone paid someone else to develop your side projects?

Question

TLDR: Has anyone paid others (solo or shop) to develop your ideas? was the process relatively easy? was the end-product good? Would you do it again?I'm getting to the point in my life where I'm finding myself with less and less time. I have a job as a programmer, a child on the way, and I live in a community that demands a bit more of my time away from the computer, (not to mention the child).I still think up fun ideas to do, and I don't come up with 50 ideas a day like when I was younger, but I do come up with 1 - 2 ideas each month / week / quarter, that I am able to think about for longer, chew on, and think them through. I love it, and being able to create things is the sole reason I got into programming in the first place. Being able to say "Wouldn't it be nice to have X" and then go off and create X is immensely attractive to me, and I think I've matured to the point where I think these ideas through so that I don't waste my time.However, I just can't write them anymore. I roughly save all my programming work for my employer around the hours of 9-5. The work is engaging and the employer is ethical. All the little gaps of time around the commitments aren't enough for programming side work. I love my job, and I'm not proposing to just throw it away for my side fancies, but I also like the idea of my side fancies. Often I wish someone else would just make them, but I'll be the only one who's that interested in them to that point.I do like learning technology and experimenting with new things (CL atm), but if I try to build my ideas in the new, I get stuck in the weeds very fast, and then frustrated that I can't see my idea through to completion.I was thinking about putting some money aside to pay for a developer, and I was wondering if anyone had any experience in that; how did it go? how long does it take? cost vs what you received? recommendations?I came up with some general ideas on how it might work, so please feel free to correct my mistakes before I make them:* I'd try and find developers for the technology that I know, so when I do take the project off their hands, I'm able to tweak and extend it. * I'd be able to come up with the idea of the program; general information it, some "story" cards to develop, and some layouts to show how I want it to look * Practically I'd just load them all up into some sort of asana board that I'd be able to use with the developer; along with the figma/slides. * Weekly catch up, tick them off one-by-one until the work is complete.I don't know how pricing would work; would we just agree X amount up front? Y per card size?I'm concerned a little bit that, when involving others, the projects might get a little wonky; ie: if I tell a developer that I want some sort of search function, they might bolt on this big elastisearch contraption when I really just wanted to use Postgresql FTS; I would have to architect the software a little bit before I let the developers go at it. I'm not sure how much other developers would like it.My main goal is that I'd still be able to make and use the software and hack around it, but I just want to pay someone to do the bulk work that I can't find the time to do.What happened in your case? is this the right way to go about it? Am I being deranged?

themoops36 · Accepted Answer

Keep in mind that if you hire contracted devs, you'll have to write out very clear documentation about what you want, and when you need it by. Otherwise you'll get 1. Garbage or 2. Expensive Garbage

readonthegoapp · Answer

i've done this and do this, with mixed results, and will continue to do it.
one spectacular-for-me failure.
one small win.
several not-great and never-got-to-production projects.
my last time i specifically took a new tack -- farmed out the same test project to 3 diff people - or tried - only ended up with two diff teams - chose one.
both were good-ish, but one guy was too-inexpensive (guy i chose), and the other guy was trying to overengineer, etc.
i'd def recommend my current guy, tho i don't have work with him right now, and i'd prob recommend the other guy, too. both upwork.
ping me if you want a name. this was a real simple php/laravel/postgres/bootstrap project.
and i've been hacking on it a bit since, which is somewhat typical. my guess is i'll try to add a bunch of new functionality, at which point i'll send it back to my dev.
i typically provide at least a Balsamiq, then a few must haves and/or must not haves, then hope for the best. i prefer to not be involved until something is just done, and have set up 'milestones', which you can do in upwork, and that can work, but it's all kind of a shit business, imo -- there def needs to be a better way.

byoung2 · Answer

For me, side projects are a way for me to learn, so I really have to build them myself. That said, I try to focus my time on just the new thing I'm learning, and not, say, logo design and templating. So I get off the shelf templates and libraries for the boilerplate stuff.

Jack000 · Answer

only hire people for easily commoditized tasks (work that's done frequently and where requirements are similar from project to project) In any other case the friction of finding the person who can do a good job is not worth it.

shubham_sinha · Answer

If you&rsquo;re not coding and you want an MVP you need to act like a manager. Document everything, do code reviews. These activities will also consume time and will depend on the developer you&rsquo;ve hired. It will be hard to find a good developer at low hourly rates

DrNuke · Answer

Try and join the network of a local hub / co-working set up for startuppers / lifestyle devs maybe? Such an environment should not leave you in the dark.

winterplace · Answer

It can work if you are willing to pay well for quality. Or you just get short term crap.Do you have an email address or a method of contact?

Has anyone paid someone else to develop your side projects?

Keep in mind that if you hire contracted devs, you'll have to write out very clear documentation about what you want, and when you need it by. Otherwise you'll get 1. Garbage or 2. Expensive Garbage

For me, side projects are a way for me to learn, so I really have to build them myself. That said, I try to focus my time on just the new thing I'm learning, and not, say, logo design and templating. So I get off the shelf templates and libraries for the boilerplate stuff.

only hire people for easily commoditized tasks (work that's done frequently and where requirements are similar from project to project) In any other case the friction of finding the person who can do a good job is not worth it.

If you’re not coding and you want an MVP you need to act like a manager. Document everything, do code reviews. These activities will also consume time and will depend on the developer you’ve hired. It will be hard to find a good developer at low hourly rates

Try and join the network of a local hub / co-working set up for startuppers / lifestyle devs maybe? Such an environment should not leave you in the dark.

It can work if you are willing to pay well for quality. Or you just get short term crap.
Do you have an email address or a method of contact?