I’m Nathan Barry. I’m a creator, author, speaker, blogger, designer, and the founder of ConvertKit.

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11 Responses to “Finding a Developer”

  1. Hey Nathan,

    Really enjoying the sneak peak you are providing into your product development process. I’m curious, I note you are spending time learning Rails yourself but you’ve also hired a dev to help build your MVP. Had you always planned it this way (i.e. to hire a developer rather than building the MVP yourself) or is this an early product development process pivot :)

    Ed

    • I want to learn Rails myself, but I’m not willing to wait that long to release a product. Which is why I am doing both simultaneously. I find it best to learn on actual projects, so this has been really helpful.

  2. I just wanted to thank you for not ignoring the developer because of his age. I’m a 17-year old web designer and developer (also still in high school) and a lot of potential clients lose interest when they find out my age. A positive result of this, though, is that the clients I do end up working with are almost always nice and enjoyable to work with and judge me by my work, not by my age.

    Thank you for writing these posts. I also have an application in mind so it’s really interesting for me to see how you handle this.

  3. I think you’ll find the process of teaching yourself + working with another developer really rewarding. I’ve done that a few times when learning various languages (have done it with both PHP and Rails).

    It was priceless to be able to peek into other dev’s code and, more importantly, their dev process.

    Keep it up!

  4. Evaluating a developer is definitely not an easy task. There is a great conversation going on about how hiring designers is easier because some designs can be completed within an hour, but even the simplest dev project will take a few days.

    That being said if you do know how to program or can at least read some code…you should always ask to check out a potential developers GitHub, Bitbucket, or Coderwall accounts. This will give you an idea on the quality of their code, what projects they have been involved in, and how helpful their code or tips are.

    Very curious to see your unveiling!

  5. Hi Nathan – first time commenting on your blog. I’ve been lurking for awhile but just wanted to say that I really enjoy the honesty in your posts. I’ve hired elance dev’s before with mixed success, but have never tried a US based developer because I didn’t think I could afford one. Really surprising that you’ve been able to get several offers within the 3-7k range.

    Looking forward to hearing about how the project turns out!

  6. I think hiring a young developer for this is actually pretty smart (I am 19yo dev, so may be biased here). There’s the obvious advantage in cost and the reality is any developer, regardless of age, can be good or bad. In fact people my age are really the first generation to grow up with computers as a common household item which no doubt makes it easier to learn. So I applaud your decision to go with the younger option, it’s something many businesses are afraid to do.

  7. Nathan,

    The last person I know who graduated from High School at 15 was in Jamaica where you can do that, and he’s almost a billionaire. I’m probably not the only one curious as to how you graduated at 15?

    • I was home schooled and motivated. I’ll write the full story sometime.

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