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If you just need to build some special purpose application sure, it's better to hire a specialist to do it for you. But if you're talking about starting a busin

If you just need to build some special purpose application sure, it's better to hire a specialist to do it for you. But if you're talking about starting a business it pays to either learn how to develop software yourself or get a partner that can do it. Trying to outsource the core of your business is just nuts. While the initial code you write might not be optimal you'll at least understand the code, have a clue what to do when something goes wrong and be better equipped to hire technical talent when the time comes.

vaksel 18y ago
You are approaching this as a hacker, you know your stuff. Chances are you can build a _____ clone in a weekend. While in that same time the non-hacker who is trying to learn, will achieve at most a hello world application. Lets face it, the web moves very fast, if you take an extra month to roll out, you increase the chances that another competitor will get into your space and will eat up all the market share, way before you even get your product launched. Ideas are not unique, if you have an idea chances are a hundred other people are already working on that same idea. So between hiring someone and having a product out in 3 months, and doing it yourself and learning and having it out in a year(if that)...I'd go with 3 months, each and every time. Nothing is stopping you from learning that same code while your app is being built by someone else. Should you know how to read code? Absolutely, but it takes that much less effort to learn how to read code, compared to writing it and figuring out the hundreds of different technologies. Lets face it, most of the stuff on the internet is not that innovative. Usually its just a mashup of existing tech/ideas...if that. So you really aren't giving away any state secrets to the people you outsource to. And as long as the company is in USA you have plenty of legal ammunition to prevent them from stealing your ideas. And maybe outsourcing your business is nuts, but at least when you outsource you have the option of actually getting your business off the ground. Instead of destining it to failure because you really didn't know what you were doing. As far as having a clue when something goes wrong, once again you are approaching this as a hacker. You know what to look for when code crashes. An amateur would be much more happier to call/email his development company and have them fix the problem, instead of reading through thousands lines of code to see what could it be, that went wrong. You do have something with technical talent, but you can always bullshit your way through that, by either hiring a recruitment company or having a few hackers recommend you some people.
- phil_KartMe 18y ago
  completely agree. you can make progress quickly and cheaply, and start learning about the customers and technology, by outsourcing. in my view, it will be nice to have a scaling or slow code problem--for many web apps, that proves that there is demand and its worth investing more time an d$. using a rented coder has worked in the past--digg was started with help from elance. http://digg.com/programming/Digg_com_created_for_only_200_00 http://digg.com/programming/Digg_com_created_for_only_200_00 elance, guru, and odesk offer cheap options to start small.

vaksel 18y ago

You are approaching this as a hacker, you know your stuff. Chances are you can build a _____ clone in a weekend. While in that same time the non-hacker who is trying to learn, will achieve at most a hello world application. Lets face it, the web moves very fast, if you take an extra month to roll out, you increase the chances that another competitor will get into your space and will eat up all the market share, way before you even get your product launched. Ideas are not unique, if you have an idea chances are a hundred other people are already working on that same idea. So between hiring someone and having a product out in 3 months, and doing it yourself and learning and having it out in a year(if that)...I'd go with 3 months, each and every time. Nothing is stopping you from learning that same code while your app is being built by someone else. Should you know how to read code? Absolutely, but it takes that much less effort to learn how to read code, compared to writing it and figuring out the hundreds of different technologies. Lets face it, most of the stuff on the internet is not that innovative. Usually its just a mashup of existing tech/ideas...if that. So you really aren't giving away any state secrets to the people you outsource to. And as long as the company is in USA you have plenty of legal ammunition to prevent them from stealing your ideas. And maybe outsourcing your business is nuts, but at least when you outsource you have the option of actually getting your business off the ground. Instead of destining it to failure because you really didn't know what you were doing. As far as having a clue when something goes wrong, once again you are approaching this as a hacker. You know what to look for when code crashes. An amateur would be much more happier to call/email his development company and have them fix the problem, instead of reading through thousands lines of code to see what could it be, that went wrong. You do have something with technical talent, but you can always bullshit your way through that, by either hiring a recruitment company or having a few hackers recommend you some people.

phil_KartMe 18y ago
completely agree. you can make progress quickly and cheaply, and start learning about the customers and technology, by outsourcing. in my view, it will be nice to have a scaling or slow code problem--for many web apps, that proves that there is demand and its worth investing more time an d$. using a rented coder has worked in the past--digg was started with help from elance. http://digg.com/programming/Digg_com_created_for_only_200_00 http://digg.com/programming/Digg_com_created_for_only_200_00 elance, guru, and odesk offer cheap options to start small.