Finding webdesign pros w/ social-nework site-building experience?

What qualifications to look for and where to look?

[rockit science]

I'm in the begining stages of developing a social-networking website business. I have what I believe to be a very good concept for a site with unique features, but find it difficult to determine who is qualified to tackle the design or the marketing. Seems that EVERYONE (or their cousin) is a web designer, but once I engage them in an interview for the job, it becomes painfully apparent that there's many "wannabes" and "posers" who might know just enough to bluff their way into taking someone's money and producing a site rife with problems. I ask questions such as "How much bandwidth and server space will a site similar to (popular_social_site.com) with 200,000 members posting profiles with 40-100 large photos, a forums section, messaging, tagging and commenting require?" I find few who seem to have knowledge and experience and I can't trust their "ballpark" estimates, which seem to vary widely depending upon who I listen to. I can sense their lack of confidence in their replies.

So how does one sift thru the zillions of "consultants" and "designers" to find the real deal. I'm embarking on a venture that I intend to build into a successful world-class heavyweight in the social-net scene and want to do it right. Is there some sort of ratings or awards or other professional designation that exists in the industry to help novice buyers of web-building services choose among the hordes of "pros" who hang their shingle on the search engines and the Yellow Page?

[rogerd]

Welcome to WebmasterWorld, Rockit!

What you are asking for is a tall order - social networking is new enough and specialized enough that there aren't likely to be many site builders out there with a lot of experience. While forum software has been around for ages, and large development communities exist around the more popular packages (like phpBB, vBulletin, Invision, etc.), no such standards exist for social networking software.

I think you will probably have to find a developer/designer that has proven experience in custom apps, because even if you find software that does most of what you want you'll almost certainly have to customize it.

There was a discussion of phpFox [webmasterworld.com] here recently, which underscores the need to be ready to tweak (and maybe just fix).

Be sure your developer has a long and successful track record - hook up with a seasoned pro, and you'll handle the unexpected issues that crop up a lot more easily.

[Purposeinc]

Howdy and Welcome!

I recently got some help at RentACoder.com
(Moderator? o.k. to post that URL?)

You post the job and coders all over the world bid on them. They have a list of the history of that coder, how many projects they did, and the ratings people gave them.

I immediately canceled out anyone with anything but the highest ratings. I then canceled out everyone who had low number of completed projects on the site. I then canceled out everyone who appeared to speak my language poorly. I then chose from the list one guy from Canada, who had bid in the mid price range, and he quickly got the job done.

The price by the way is wholesale, meaning you are dealing directly with the coders in most cases, as opposed to companies making sites.

Mine was a very small project and I think I would advise that initially to make a very small commitment with someone, and then if he proved his skills in making say the home page, then go ahead with larger and larger projects.

My two and one half cents,
dk

[sodani]

I have to say, I would never trust someone from a freelance site to take on such a large project unless you're acting as a tech director and telling them exactly what to do. Usually their motivation doesn't line up with yours, and you realize that only way later.

@rockit science - it doesn't seem exactly clear what project functions you're looking for, but generally robust sites are created and managed by a team of people including an information architect, creative/design/copy team, a project manager and a software development team. Although all these functions are important, the most important is probably the tech director, who manages the development of the site and often has oversite on the servers, which are usually handled by a systems administrator. The all-around person who can build, design and manage a large-scale social network doesn't exist IMO. Also, when hiring, it's a good idea to find people who have community experience.

If you can't employ all these people, I would say the other option is to start small, use open-source software (I like drupal) and find an all-around person who does community websites.

[AjiNIMC]

[webmasterworld.com...] do read this, it might help.

[successlieswithme]

sodani, i dont accept with you 100%,

iam a php freelancer for last 3years, i work at rentacoder.com but now iam handling projects directly with clients, since they like my work and they are mailing me directly when they have work.

and, it may be true that, you have to direct them, since i know many buyers who even cant understand some technology related words also,
first they says, i want a carbon copy of myspace.com then their wishlist grows like china wall,
if they see a good option in another site, they asks for it, even if that was 100% impossible to implement on this site,

so both buyer and coder should discuss everything before they start working on...

coming to topic:

i dont recommend using phpfox at all ( iam using phpfox on a website where i have 1000+ members in one months),
its buggy and lacks features.

i recommend handshakes...but many people dont like it....now it has got new themes also, so better give that a try,

i have used handshakes for almost 6months, but no one joined...its a great script but people felt its complex and closed the browser window even without signing-up.

if you are from US, i can recommend that..if u r from india (or any other countries with less internet speed) go for phpfox,
but i personally feel its only 10% of your site work finished, when you buy phpfox
if you want, i can list atleast 30 stupid things in right-away if you wish, iam saying with great confidence because i spend morethan 5hours a day on it,
iam spending almost all of my time on it now, because its buggy and i feel i can make millions with my site.

so if you want to use phpfox, better hire an experienced coder to correct all these.

even if u buy handshakes, i think, u need to hire a programmer for atleast 1month....

iam sorry, if my post is a bit complex.... iam not a good writer.

good luck with your site :)