How to Hire a Developer for a Drupal Project

Allan Hoffman
CEO and Founder, web100
Drupaldelphia (DrupalCamp Philadelphia)
July 31, 2009
How to Hire a Developer for a Drupal Project

Overview
What we will cover:
Benefits of learning about Drupal
Deciding what type of developer/company is right for your project
Researching developers/companies
Contacting and assessing developers, and sending out specs (the more detail, the better)
Interviewing developers
Seeking references
Getting involved in the Drupal community

How and Where to Learn about Drupal
Test-drive a Drupal website (the admin interface, that is)
Read Using Drupal
Watch Lullabot videos
Attend a Drupal meetup or event
Hire a tutor to answer questions
Acquia
Install Drupal and experiment with it
DAMP (from Acquia)
TopNotchThemes

Learning Resources

What to Learn: Terms
Node
CCK (c0ntent types)
Views
Theming
Modules
Core
Contrib
Taxonomy
Clean URLs
MySQL
LAMP
PHP

Study Great Drupal Websites
Popular Science (popsci.com)
Fast Company
Emmys.com
Spin Magazine
Spread Firefox
Zicasso
Konigi
HarvardScience (harvardscience.harvard.edu)
ConsumerSearch.com

Produce Detailed Specs

Types of Firms/Developers
Independent/freelance developers specializing in Drupal
Web development companies/shops known for Drupal work
Companies/shops working with Drupal, among many other technologies
Full-service firms/agencies (user experience, marketing, design, development)
Developers learning about Drupal

Ways to Scare Off Potential Developers
Say: “We’re not really sure what we’re looking for with this project.”
Say: “I’ve got no idea how much we need to spend on this.”
Say: “I see on oDesk you can hire PHP pros for $10 an hour.”

Sell Yourself
Sell your team and your company to developers:
Detailed specs
Knowledge of Drupal
Fun to work with
Know what you want
Seek a company that’s enthusiastic about your project.

Researching Potential Developers/Firms
Local Drupal and web development groups
DrupalCon: Look for sponsors and attendees.
Drupal.org listings
Acquia partners
Recommendations
One of the best ways: Review the websites created by developers/firms. Which firms have produced websites you like, or websites with functionality similar to yours.

Questions to Ask
What questions do you have about the project?
What are the challenges of the project?
How will you approach Feature X [choose a feature on your site]?
Will the site require custom modules?
Will you have a project manager working on this, or will we be expected to act as project managers?
What do you do to ensure SEO?
What happens if we get a spike in traffic?
Will you install the site on a server and get it up and running?

More Questions
Who at your firm will be working on this? What’s their typical schedules?
Can I speak with them?
What are some best-practices for Drupal development in use at your firm?
How many hours per month of site maintenance do you think this project will require?
What sort of contributions has your company made to Drupal?
What do you think are the key ingredients to making a project successful?
Is there training or support included?
Will you recommend a server/host? Do you have a preference?

References
Ask for the company’s three most recent clients.
Ask references:
How would you rate the team’s communication skills?
Was it easy to reach team members?
What did you like about working with the developer, and what didn’t you like?
Were they responsive to your comments and requests?
Was the project on budget and deadline?

Contact Info
If you would like to contact me, please visit:
www.web100.com/contact
www.allanhoffman.com
Thank you!