[wp-pro] From a Viewpoint of a prospective client on this list

[Carla Alvarez]

Alan,

I'm glad you were able to find someone, but I'd like to point out a couple
of things to you.

First you mentioned in your email below that you were advised that the
shortest and most cost effective route to your desired result would be to go
with Joomla or Drupal, which you agreed with.

I went back and looked at your original request, and you clearly specified
that 1. Your first preference was someone in Australia, 2. You wanted
someone that had a list of existing sites that they had already developed
with a membership and subscription feature using Wordpress.

We've already established that easiest way to get what you want would have
been on something other than Wordpress, so I don't think the issue you were
facing was that there weren't developers on this list that could help you.  

It was that there weren't developers on this list that made a practice of
using a platform that was not the best fit for that type of site.

As for myself, if someone states specific requirements and I don't meet
them, then I don't reply.  It's a waste of my time and theirs.

If a site has an informational focus with some user features, I go with
Joomla.

If everything centers around the user, I'll probably go with Drupal.

If a site is a blog, I go with Wordpress.

Yes, Wordpress can be customized to be a CMS, but I go with the closest
solution to the desired end result and that is what my portfolio represents.


Carla Alvarez
Legacy Marketing Services
www.legacymarketingservices.com

-----Original Message-----
From: Alan Johnston [mailto:info at netfast.com.au] 
Sent: Tuesday, July 29, 2008 8:11 PM
To: wp-pro at lists.automattic.com
Subject: [wp-pro] From a Viewpoint of a prospective client on this list

This is directed to anyone looking for a WP developer from this list. 

This isn’t written to offend anyone it is just an observation of the
participants in my Service Provider request/search, who made contact with me
when I posted to find a developer on here. And from my searches through the
archives.

I just feel I need to write this observation to help other people looking
for a prospective WP developer.

I do go on here I know, just go to the end summary for a condensed version. 

My search for a WP developer has been long and hard. Starting probably 4-6
months earlier. Took me awhile to work out this list even existed. I
approached 4 developers directly from the official WP list of providers on
their site. Not sure where that list is now on WP's main site but ....

2 never got back to me, 1 was too busy for new work (fair enough) and one
sounded perfect, we started our negotiations but all went dead from him.
Then I just got excuses that "I was sick ..." etc. So I thought oh well not
interested lets move on. Even though this same person kept coming back to me
saying still interested. But everytime we started communication contact
stalled so I did move on.

So then I did find this list and thought wholoa answer to my prayers.

I had no idea how much my project would cost but stated around $6500 plus.
Not a huge project but compared to some of the job spec requests I have seen
on this list for the last 3 months more than big enough and lucrative enough
to get some interest and some negotiations happening to see if I was in the
right ball park with my project cost estimation, from all the "experienced"
WP developers I expected to be on here. 

I had 5 people contact me.

One was a so called "expert" that had done heaps of customised WP projects
and emailed me direct and said it would cost $999. Now what I needed done
there was no way he could get it done for this. It was impossible and he
couldn’t provide any work so knew I was wasting my time with him.

2nd and 3rd contact was just general contact. One wanted to join with me
because they wanted something similar and the other was just spam.

4th was a guy I cant remember his details now who advised me that I would
probably get what I needed from another CMS like joomla or Drupal etc for
cheaper as this was WP and thus a blog product more than a full solution for
what I needed. Yep I agreed with him and thanked him for his advice. He was
right in some respects but I knew what I was after could be adapted to
Wordpress and this was my preferred option because the existing site was a
WP website so needed all the content from the existing site so was prepared
to pay for it. But he was giving me unbiased advice and I appreciated that.

5th contact I cant remember now. Obviously didn’t go anywhere though. 

Also funny enough as I was getting frustrated by lack of enthusiasm for a
developer on here I saw that the person I was dealing with before I
discovered this list was also participating on here and so thought lets try
with him one last time. All sounded good he was "interested" again but again
lack of initiative and contact from him halted the process. I refuse to
chase someone to come and work for me. Thats not how I work. Been through
this before. If lack of effort presale it is guaranteed to show up during
work or after sale. So moved on.

Anyway long/er story short I have a WP developer from elance who is doing my
site. $9500USD it is costing which is fine and coming along nicely. Total
professional relationship. So all good from my point of view but it has been
a looonnnng process.

SUMMARY:
So to end the rant my findings in summary are:

Maybe I was just unlucky but ...

For small jobs, installs, modified themes, plugin help etc then this "could"
be the place for you.

For a full customised solution - I suspect that not many of the real
experienced WP developers attend here. I maybe wrong. Go ahead and post here
but I suggest at the sametime also look at somewhere like elance or other
freelance sites. You will have more luck.


kind regards
 
Alan Johnston

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