I found a programmer thru craigslist looking for designers to work with on freelance pr projects. I am new to freelancing and I’m not sure what to ask this guy to make sure he’s legit. What kind of questions do you usually ask programmers to feel them out?

Thanks!

these may come in handy.

that's funny

From someone who has worked with different freelance programmers for eight years now (and for 6 we've got a pretty solid team that has stayed together through mutual respect) I would ask the following:

- Do they have sites that they have programmed that you can go and see. Yes, you might only be able to use the front-end design, but you should be able to see if the programming works well or not
- Do they have references from anyone else they've worked with
- Do they have particular preferences when it comes to programming languages. If someone is ardent about only doing programming in ABC and "everything else is sh*t" then I would walk away. If you find a programmer willing to be flexible, they will understand the changing nature of the industry and you will also have someone keen to learn. The second side of this is sometimes clients dictate the programming language they want something created in and therefore you do not want to get locked into one language or method

Finally, I would try them. The best way that I have found is to invest a little bit of money in a mini-projects - this could be something that you wish to create yourself anyway. Get them to do the programming and monitor the relationship. Are you updated regularly? Is it full of bugs when they tell you 'it's finished' or do they do their own thorough bug testing? Is the mini job delivered on time? Do they say "yes, this looks great" or "that will be difficult or might not be possible".

I myself taught myself to program at a basic level just so that I was aware of what was required, and it helped to be able to converse, to a degree, about technical matters

Hope this helps. Just my own take on it of course :)

Ade
inovica.com

To invica, it is fairly difficult and/or time consuming to learn multiple server side languages and be proficient at them. If they can create what they need to in the language they use, and can do it in an acceptable time frame that I see no reason why they should learn a second server side language. Honestly, if someone told me they know coldfusion, ruby, php, asp, aspx, jsp and whatever else I could call them out saying they were just BSing to fluff their resume. If someone told me they were highly proficient in aspx or php I could be more likely to hire them (if I hired programmers).

Honestly, try to find a good programmer you know to sit in on the interview, it really really help. I have been asked to sit in on some interviews, and even them just knowing there is someone who is good in their field watching will make them stop their bs. :-)

It all really boils to can they think like a machine and hit the deadlines.

Once you know how to develop an algorithm, then it's just syntax for the particular language you are coding in. Most projects that would be partnered out don't require you to spec out the Big O notation and determine efficiency. I do all all the fun CS stuff because that's what I like doing, but I've had small projects that I've done some pseudo code and then went banged it out without doing any benchmarking tests because scalability wasn't going to be an issue and the budget was tight.

Also, many languages are going to be nice to have, but that person usually comes with a higher price tag and will most likely code in the language he/she is most familiar with which is as good as knowing one language.