Crickets

The app we are making for this company I am helping to launch requires a way to synchronize data across the devices in a client heavy manner (so the device can work offline).  After scouring the internets, I couldn't find anyone offering a simple lightweight solution for this, even though it seems like something most apps would need.

Therefore, the best option was to write my own.  I chose to use PHP and Mysql because I happen to know them and because unlike Java/C# they are supported on the cheapass webhosting I have that costs almost nothing compared to AWS and Azure.

I didn't have the time or interest in relearning PHP, though, so I tried to pawn it off on the internets.  I wrote up a quick gig posting and posted it on craigslist, which included a stern warning that I would delete any responses that mentioned "search engine optimization" and was soon inundated with responses from hopeful PHP coders.  Some seemed to think that appearing to be part of a company made them more attractive.  A lot of the responses were form letters talking about "my website" when all I really needed was an API implemented over HTTP.  Fun fact:  internally, a certain large online retailer believes, to its core, that most of its programmers are too dumb to deal with HTTP directly.  I really, really wish I was kidding.

Now here is a key detail:  the service I need written is a single php page that hits a simple mysql database with two tables.  There's no "web page" -- just a couple of APIs with yes or no answers.  I wrote a spec and emailed it back to most of the coders.  I was a little worried one of them would realize what I was trying to do, steal my idea, build a service and sell it (which actually would have been great;  I could just pay them then).  But that's when the ironic thing happened.  Out of the 20 or so interested parties....I got one response.  And they wanted $500.  To write one script.  Probably a page and a half of php code.  More importantly:  no one else could even do it.


Lately, and after realizing I don't have time to go code everything, I have been training myself to handle more project management and people management, including getting other people to code for us.  It seems that I have a long way to go here, and I might be better off just writing most things myself.  This is a problem because I have a day job.

On the bright side, the simple act of writing up a spec for the work we need done made my business partner's day.  Compared to everything else I've been doing, it is amazing how little work it was and how much recognition I get for it.