Signed up and looking forward to the email! Does anyone know of other sites like this out there? I've spent the past year or so pushing my own startup idea, it didn't work out but I learned a lot. Now I am just looking to take a few months off of my own ideas and pitch in on someone else's MVP, get more experience, and meet new people.<p>I guess I might as well shamelessly plug myself: I am a developer who writes python and nodejs on the backend, loves coffeescript, and my last project used Meteor.
Unfortunately I've interacted with the author of this project, Zander Brade, and he turned out to be one of the most untrustworthy designers I've ever encountered. Due to my past experience with him I have no intention of touching this site/project. Sorry, but I had to say it.
A few weeks ago there was a discussion between developers and designers here becasue of an article 'Designing Open Source'. Discussion here: <a href="https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5550522" rel="nofollow">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5550522</a><p>Basic idea was designers want to give back to the community but can't find any (good) projects. They could do 'drive-by-design' or put in more time and see the project grow. This site could help. But reputation is everything and I'd like to see a bit more up front. A bit more of the guy who made it would be nice. Kind of makes my Spidey sens go off as empty as it is right now...
Developers: learn Photoshop and CSS. The designers you'll find this way will not be worth anything more as designers than operators of Photoshop and CSS.<p>Designers: learn programming. The programmers you'll find this way will not be worth anything more than a really inefficient way to test your designs through a compiler.<p>There is real value to having a skilled designer and a skilled developer, but those people are rare and you aren't going to find them reliably if you don't know anything about their fields. At best, you might randomly stumble on one. Considering that communication is far more important of a skill than most other skills, the only way to find the right people is to first get to know them as people, not as objects to plug in to a whole in your project. I talk more about this on my blog (<a href="http://moron4hire.tumblr.com/post/48619863000/hiring-is-dating" rel="nofollow">http://moron4hire.tumblr.com/post/48619863000/hiring-is-dati...</a>)<p>Both of you will be far better served by the experience. You might have an idea now that seems like it has a burning need to be developed and you don't have the time to learn on your own, but it's just not true; that's the manic tendencies inside of you talking. If you give in now, you'll be in this exact, same position in N months when the next burning-a-whole-in-your-brain project idea comes along.<p>By all means, continue with your project as you learn. It will probably suck, but you'll come out of the other side with more skills, ready to make the next project even better.