Re: [gentoo-user] {OT} hire a programmer or company?

[Grant <emailgrant@gmail.com>]

>> I'm debating whether I should hire an expert programmer for $X/hour,
>> or a company of expert programmers for $2X/hour.  It makes sense from
>> a financial perspective to hire programmers directly, but I wonder if
>> there are benefits to hiring a really good company.
>>
>> I'm sorry this is OT, but I bet you guys have some seriously good
>> insight on this.
>>
>> Thanks,
>> Grant
>>
>
> For starters, you could give us a bit more insight into the kind of
> project we are talking about. What's the expected development effort,
> what are the services you pay for (binaries, source code, testing,
> maintenance, ...)?

The project is made up of various and ongoing scripting tasks for a
relatively complex website.

> Regarding programmer vs. company, I'd say it depends on what you expect
> and pay for. If you just want it coded, then the lone programmer is
> probably as good as the company (since programming itself doesn't really
> scale well with the number of devs).

That's a really good point.

> Extensive testing, on the other hand, is something a team should do.
> Sure, the lone programmer can write you some unit tests and conduct a
> system test, but testing itself is a profession of its own and should be
> done by a second person with the relevant training.
>
> But in the end, these issues a minor. It really boils down to whom you
> trust more. Ask for references, look at their previous work, talk to
> them, etc.

Can you tell me what sort of positive and negative things to watch out for?

> All things being equal, paying 1*x instead of 2*x gives you the chance
> to pay another 1*x to a second developer if things don't work out with
> the first one. ;-)

Once I need more than one developer (which could come sooner rather
than later due to the availability of these guys) am I likely to
struggle managing them?  I've read a bit about "Agile" software
development and I plan to read a lot more.  Is that the way to go?

Would hiring a company make management a non-issue from my perspective?

- Grant

> Regards,
> Florian Philipp