Thread: Should I learn programming or pay someone?

My mom knows someone that can do it for like 500 bucks. We might also be able to get it for way cheaper if we pay someone in IRan to do it. I'm persian so I can communicate with the people there and we might know people so it would be cheaper.

I'm thinking I'll learn basic programming and then leave the hard stuff to those people. My site will be a site that allows people to post videos, buy, sell, and it will have a forum. It's pretty intricate but not as intricate as amazon for instance. Maybe as much as limos.com or something...

My concern is that if this business doesn't go well I may need a new site for a new business so I'd have to always rely on someone else. And also since I'm working with animation and video games it's useful to know scripting anyway to add in better features..Any help greatly appreciated =)

if you can find a person who can do that for 500 bucks or cheaper (lol) I don't see any reasons to learn how to code then. I just started a project and I'll pay almost 5k for it. not including the design. I think you get what you pay for.

Originally Posted by fellipe

I think you get what you pay for.

Couldn't agree more.

It seems that your website/business need ongoing improvement in future after you set it up. So it's better to partner or hire someone to work for you and keep on improving the website.

ya i'm setting up the general sections easily with hostgator then I'm paying only like 100 bucks to someone in iran to make the harder more technical stuff that requires coding. I will continue to pay him incrementally as he does more if he needs me too. Pretty sweet. =)

I am in a similar boat with an idea but no programing skills. I guess the real question is how would I know if my partner or outsourced coder was any good? I am not opposed to learning code I just do not want to waste time.

I advocate that you learn yourself; here is why.

There is no shortcut to the event. If you don't pay homage to process, you will, in one way or another, suffer a less than rewarding event.

If you learn to program yourself, you will be able to adapt to change and requests from your clients quicker. If you pay someone else to build your widget, you are handing them the keys to your success and "hope" they don't drive the damn bus off the road.

Will it take time to learn programming? Yes. Yes it will. I started learning programming concepts and techniques over 7 years ago and I am still learning. It is a commitment to lifestyle of continual learning. You will always be learning, adapting and changing.

Maybe it's because I like control .... but never, never give someone else control over your wealth vehicle.

If you build your widget, you know everything there is to know about it inside and out, and that will pay dividends to you during the process in ways you can't see or understand now.

Take any successful product or web startup .... how many of them are ran by people who paid someone else to build it?

Bill Gates? No. (Microsoft)
Steve Jobs? No. (Apple)
Mark Zuckerberg? No. (facebook)
Biz Stone? No. (Twitter)
Drew Houston? No. (DropBox)

If a programmer can see the potential in an idea, he/she isn't going to build it for you (especially for $500.00 dollars), he/she will build it for themselves. Also, I don't care what economy you are in or hire in, $500.00 is not going to get you a pot to piss in (in terms of software). If you found someone that says they'll build your idea for $500.00 I'd run my ass the other direction with a quickness.

You're looking for get rich easy, and that my friend is a false prophet - it does not exist. To get massive wealth you need to perform massive action, not have someone else perform massive action for $500.00 (because it isn't going to happen).

My intent isn't to be mean or condescending; rather to violently shake you to your senses, before you waste $500.00 that could undoubtedly be appropriated in more efficient ways.

Take that $500.00 and go buy some books on web programming technologies and get to work!

Thanks,

Ryan

I don't entirely agree with Ryans advice. If you are building a fairly small or uncomplicated application then I would agree...pick up a few books and start learning.

However, if you are building something larger scale or with some complication then you have to keep in mind you cannot learn how to program well in a short period of time. Real skill in anything takes time to develop. I can tell you that applications I built 10 years ago are a joke compared to the ones I develop now.

The other thing to keep in mind is that a developer is just that. He is not a graphic designer or copywriter etc...so no matter what way you go you will need to bring in additional resources if you are looking for top shelf results.

The only other advice I would give you is you get what you pay for (in general). A $500 site wont be much.

Best of Luck,
Elliot

It depends on what you're trying to build. Most types of websites can be outsourced as long as you're not trying to build the next Facebook or Dropbox. Even if you are trying to build something that's a little more innovative, you can look for a programmer and give him a percentage of the profits.

If you got a quote of $500, I'll assume that you're trying to build something small. I would say outsourcing is the way to go, just make sure you shop around and make sure you get the best price.

here is the start of the basic website so far..i don't know how to add the actual forum or video submission stuff or shopping cart etc so this guy in iran will do it for about 100 bucks no matter how intricate. I bet if I asked for a facebook he'd do it too. lol. 100 bucks.

I'm thinking of getting the forum and the main things on the site going to generate traffic so I can start asking people on the site what they want cuz askdatabase.com has been crappy so far. =(

You don't need to learn even "basic" programming for a site like the one you're describing because it doesn't seem all that intricate and all of the software that you need already exists. You need to research the software that you need to run a site like that and hire someone who can install and integrate the appropriate software on a server for you. Wikipedia is a great place to learn what you need to study, (forum software, jquery, shopping cart software) and I would learn *some* php and mysql, but you don't need to be an expert. Actually, what you might want to study (google) is called "the lamp platform" - linux, apache, mysql, and php. Vbulletin is the most common forum software and there are many plugins and extensions that do the things you've described.

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I personally had to bring on a partner in my business (at 20%) because I have no idea when it comes to programming. I have taken the time to read and learn but it just isn't coming to me. I don't think that it is a bad thing to have a partner (someone who knows what they are doing) to help better your product/service and who is able to develop your idea (with creative input). I gave up some control but I think my product will be 10x's better because I did. If I hadn't, with my programming skills, the site would look like crap and would not function the way that I would want. Just my opinion. THanks!

I'll definitely try to learn those basic programming skills if I can find time. I'm also learning animation so I can add cool animations to the site to make it interesting, advertise my site with it, and promote my movies on my site using the traffic that I'll generate.

THe only thing I don't like is losing control over the production of the site by having someone else do it. But it's ok I'll be in contact with them on skype and I can always find someone else. one thing someone warned me about is that the person who makes the site can always hack into the site and get private information if they made it so I have to be careful.

I'll be posting pictures of the drawn out webpages I'm creating right now soon. The part where you post your movies is going to be like a pandora page where the movies scroll across the page and are based on genre and if you want to download the movie you have to pay the person. Just like the page where you buy and sell 3d models. My only concern is that I'm not niching enough and trying to do too many things like forum, posting movies, and seling models. There are sites out there that specialize in just these areas.

Also my approach is to not finish my market reserach and just get the site up and running first. I can always tweak it later. I mean its not like i'm selling a product and I'm purchasing 4000 wholesale widgets that I'll be stuck with. I figure I'll make the site just to get traffic going initially and be able to get feedback and change it as I go along. I don't like overly planning and being too careful when there isn't much at stake. But would it be too hard for the programmer to tweak it later ..so would it be better to just finalize my plans and then have it made?

just added my first super short animated clip on the theater section just to test it out.haha

ps i downloaded a bunch of phpbb files to try to add to wordpress but i couldn't so it seems a lot harder than i thought and you need to know what you're doing..i have like 40 phpbb scripts to add like to make a shopping cart, forum, etc..i don't know if thats enough to make it with on my own

This is more of a financial question. Unless you have enough capital/creativity to hire 3 programmers for the time it takes to be profitable (in case the 2 others can't do it - you have backups), it might make sense to learn it yourself or get enough capital to make this possible