I don’t have a horror story, more of a caveat emptor tale: When I was a freshman in college and learning iOS, I contracted out a developer team in Bangalore to

I don’t have a horror story, more of a caveat emptor tale: When I was a freshman in college and learning iOS, I contracted out a developer team in Bangalore to write the backend software for an app I built, so that I could focus on the front end. I had not taken a software engineering course by that point and had little experience writing clear and concise requirements, so that when the product was done it was missing key features that were necessary for the app to function but were not explicitly detailed in the contract. I had to renegotiate for the missing features at an additional cost of $100. Granted, it was not a lot of money, but it was more than 50% above my original budget, and as a college student, that stung. Sometimes I still wonder if I was screwed intentionally. Not much of a horror story but I hope my tale can serve as a lesson to others who may find themselves in the place I was then: learn the tech or be very very clear about your requirements before you sign a contract.