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Email in my profile. I run a small agency with a few web & mobile devs. We are in between the projects right now, and generally specialise in early stage startu

Email in my profile. I run a small agency with a few web & mobile devs. We are in between the projects right now, and generally specialise in early stage startups. Most of my team is based in eastern Europe so they are a bit more affordable than US / UK prices, but skilled ones are never cheap. But to answer your questions: > How do you go about it without getting burned? The only way we found is via personal recommendations. You might be lucky with your first contact with a random, but could as well be unlucky. > Do you go to a dev shop, or make a team of individual ones? Either works, but I think going for a dev shop is a bit better because you know the team already knows how to work together, so there is a lot less initial friction.

Lionga 2y ago
> Either works, but I think going for a dev shop is a bit better because you know the team already knows how to work together, so there is a lot less initial friction. People working in a dev shop don't give a shit and are generally not skilled enough to work by themselves as a freelancer. Plus the agency always doubles the prices. Never go with a dev shop you get worse people for higher prices and in the end nobody there gives a crap.
- ponyous 2y ago
  It depends, I had my team in mind, where we truly enjoy working together and there are just a few of us. But you are right, large dev shops are often horrible places. If you want to hire everyone yourself you probably need some tech skills and ideally a network.
  - muzani 2y ago
    I once hired a dev shop with one manager and one employee, lol. I don't really know why, but I decided to give it a shot. So I gave them the absolute simplest task of creating a login screen. Could someone screw up a login screen for $50? The specs were clearly on PDF, with font weights and padding given. My god, they really set the bar on not giving a shit. After several failed attempts to follow the specifications, I just gave them the $50 and a terrible review on Upwork. They responded with a terrible review as well. There's nothing really preventing some charismatic stranger on the internet from claiming his team is not like the other teams. No offense, but some evidence is always helpful.
    - 1oooqooq 2y ago
      $50 on upwork is far from "hiring a dev shop"

Lionga 2y ago

> Either works, but I think going for a dev shop is a bit better because you know the team already knows how to work together, so there is a lot less initial friction. People working in a dev shop don't give a shit and are generally not skilled enough to work by themselves as a freelancer. Plus the agency always doubles the prices. Never go with a dev shop you get worse people for higher prices and in the end nobody there gives a crap.

ponyous 2y ago
It depends, I had my team in mind, where we truly enjoy working together and there are just a few of us. But you are right, large dev shops are often horrible places. If you want to hire everyone yourself you probably need some tech skills and ideally a network.
- muzani 2y ago
  I once hired a dev shop with one manager and one employee, lol. I don't really know why, but I decided to give it a shot. So I gave them the absolute simplest task of creating a login screen. Could someone screw up a login screen for $50? The specs were clearly on PDF, with font weights and padding given. My god, they really set the bar on not giving a shit. After several failed attempts to follow the specifications, I just gave them the $50 and a terrible review on Upwork. They responded with a terrible review as well. There's nothing really preventing some charismatic stranger on the internet from claiming his team is not like the other teams. No offense, but some evidence is always helpful.
  - 1oooqooq 2y ago
    $50 on upwork is far from "hiring a dev shop"