Ask HN: Seeking Freelance Mobile App Developer to Build Simple App | Hacker News Reader

Ask HN: Seeking Freelance Mobile App Developer to Build Simple App

Hi,

I was inspired by this post on HN some time ago: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5420588

...And after reading it started the startup I'm currently committed to working on, Sub Sonic Software.

I'm looking for a freelance dev to build a simple cross platform mobile app for the 4 major smartphone OS'.

I have a page on my website about it here: http://subsonicsoftware.com/Developers.html

The actual job posting is here: https://www.odesk.com/jobs/Simple-Cross-Platform-Mobile-App-Development_~~dcb76a048ecaf226

I'd like to hear from more people who might want to take on the job, so I'm posting here, too.

Thanks,

-c

View on HN

Talk to a dev and let them determine how 'simple' your idea is to implement. 'It's simple, I just want a bridge for cars and trains and pedestrians, between these two points separated by a half mile of ocean. I'll pay you when the first car reaches the other side.'

Surely, you must be joking. Do you really expect someone to work on this - not just one app, but four - without payment, and a hard budget of $1,200?

I'm sorry to sound condescending, but truthfully, what you're asking of any legitimate developer is condescending in and of itself.

"Payment upon all 4 app variants' successful submission to all 4 platforms' app stores using our accounts."

So if your idea is rejected by the Apple App Store then there's no payment?

That payment clause alone will be a deal breaker for any decent developer.

If you take that restriction out you MIGHT get someone to help, even with the restrictive budget.

If the app isn't accepted initially, it would just have to be refined until it _is_ finally accepted. That's just stated that way so that I don't get a dev who makes a low quality app that can't get approved to the app store & so I don't get stranded paying for an app I can't sell.

The problem is that acceptance/rejection by an app marketplace -- and this is notoriously the case with Apple's App Store -- is not something that is either consistently based on quality or based solely on criteria which are known with certainty by anyone outside of the firm operating the marketplace prior to the decision to accept or reject (and, potentially, not even after that decision is made.)

You're essentially asking the developer to bear the risk of uncertainty from all of the app stores, and making the entire project payment potentially forfeit based on any one marketplace's arbitrary action. There may be developers that are willing to take that risk, but I suspect its going to narrow the pool that are willing to even consider your project at any given price point.

> That's just stated that way so that I don't get a dev who makes a low quality app that can't get approved to the app store & so I don't get stranded paying for an app I can't sell.

Sure, its reasonable you'd want to avoid that, but on the other side, developers are going to want to avoid writing an app that they can't get paid for due to forces beyond their control.

It's not possible to build the app you're proposing for the iPhone.

I was afraid of some kind of technical restriction that would get in the way.

What would be a simple, $300-to-code alternative way to schedule the phone's ringer, preferably based on existing calendar appointments?

Otherwise I'd have to nix that platform & lessen the price of the job by $300.

Ok, thank you everyone for your feedback. I'll be redoing the job with your input in mind.

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