I've been running a small rails development shop for the past 6 or so years and the past year we have seen an explosion in new business. I've been building our network of freelance designers and front end guys but been having a really hard time finding freelance rails developers with enough free cycles to commit to a fixed amount of hours/week or entire projects. I know there are a lot of other individuals in my position out there so where do you go when you need freelance developers?
I've used Odesk.com with good results too, I was very selective.<p>I looked for individuals as opposed to groups or agencies, I avoided 5 out 5 star (100%) ratings and headed for better than 2 and not better than 4, I chose people who had experience in the technologies I needed, almost invariably they overestimated their ability, but I do that too, that's just human.<p>I chose people who had been with Odesk at least 6 months and not more than a year or so.<p>I checked that they were able to speak enough English to understand job requirements, don't expect impeccable grammar, this is after all the twenty first century!<p>I made very clear the commitment required and we discussed at length the time they would have available and what factors would affect that, every one I worked with had a 'day job', so my arrangement was that they would be required for a maximum of 10 hours in any week and we would agree in advance realistic schedules.<p>With those caveats in mind go for it, it is an enlightening experience to work with people from around the world, all so far have been honest and hard working, I pay everyone the same wage which is 10% or so above the minimum wage for my country, a rate that I have had to work for numerous times in my life. Invariably their living expenses are lower than mine and all have appreciated the income, I have a freelancer who has emigrated to avoid persecution and another that had 11ft of water through their home but was back online within 5hrs as they had taken the computers to the attic space, instead of a gift of charity I made an advance so they could rebuild their home and the advance was paid of with labour at a slow rate so they could maintain their current commitments.<p>We live in a global community, and it is truly awesome :)
Unsolicited advice: this is the market telling you "Charge more."<p>(I also suspect that, if you offered more money, your freelance contacts would discover an almost magical ability to find free cycles for you.)
Looking at the responses, I'd say here isn't a bad place, though it would be problematic if there were too many posts like this. Somebody created <a href="http://hnhackers.com/" rel="nofollow">http://hnhackers.com/</a> to solve your problem.<p>I could probably commit some time. zak.wilson@gmail.com
There is the hacker news spreadsheet: <a href="http://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc?key=0AlD_6iEb8Ed9dGs3clVJYi0yYVBka181Z0ZKRW9kQ0E&hl=en" rel="nofollow">http://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc?key=0AlD_6iEb8Ed9dGs3clVJ...</a><p>oDesk has a reasonable number of qualified people<p>Guru/Rentacoder seem saturated with low bidding "fail 3 times before you get a success" types.<p>Additionally, the Basecamp people have a site with samples (but the name escapes me).
I'm using and loving www.solvate.com -- think odesk or elance, but curated by people who know what they're doing, so you get matched with someone already well qualified for the project, and you don't have to waste so much time combing through results trying to figure out who is any good.<p>Solvate connects you with the contractors, then handles contracting, NDAs, billing, etc. so that it's a really easy process. For this, they take a cut of what the freelancer gets paid.<p>I've worked with Solvate "talent", as they call their freelancers, on several projects now and I have yet to be disappointed. I don't work for them or anything, just a happy customer.
I'm currently free, I'm a rails/php developer and badass designer. Here are some things I did last week(though this was design =/)<p><a href="http://imgur.com/KRbNx.jpg" rel="nofollow">http://imgur.com/KRbNx.jpg</a><p><a href="http://imgur.com/w8S4A.jpg" rel="nofollow">http://imgur.com/w8S4A.jpg</a><p><a href="http://imgur.com/DlHDb.jpg" rel="nofollow">http://imgur.com/DlHDb.jpg</a><p><a href="http://imgur.com/qfhbv.jpg" rel="nofollow">http://imgur.com/qfhbv.jpg</a><p><a href="http://imgur.com/KedPg.jpg" rel="nofollow">http://imgur.com/KedPg.jpg</a><p>lets get in touch, hajrice@gmail.com
Self promotion here, we built <a href="http://pick.im" rel="nofollow">http://pick.im</a> for just this purpose... Check it out and let me know how you like it?
I'll soon be finishing up a project myself, and will be looking for work in a couple of weeks. I'm a Rails coder (freelancer), with sysadmin chops and close to 6 yrs web dev exp (major part of it Rails related). Please mail vamsee AT viamentis D0T com if you're interested.
If I was further along in my Rails learning, I would be interested, as I am looking for some work. Still feel free to drop me a line at freelance@phsr.org if you wouldn't be opposed to a bit of learning on the job.
I'm currently available for freelancing, especially to commit to a fixed amount of hours. I'm a kickass front-end and back-end guy. Send me an email to get in touch, logan@loganleger.com.