Blitz3D Programmer Sought for $2000 contract
Blitz3D Forums/Blitz3D Programming/Blitz3D Programmer Sought for $2000 contract
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| Hi, I'm looking for a competant Blitz3D programmer to support me on a project. The programming involves custom meshes, custom terrain, intuitive file selection, fast database access, connectivity, media/DVD/TV, audio-visualisation and more. The programmer will have a good knowledge of win32/XP and have experience at optimizing Blitz3D. You will need to write DLLs and support code in C++ or some other DLL compilation tool (PureBasic is acceptable - subject to reliability tests). You will need to be available now (or very soon) to begin working on this project. The expected duration of the project is 2-3 months as most of the groundwork has been completed and some skeleton/prototype software has already been tested. Payment will be via rentacoder.com Interested parties kindly email me at robin_hossain@... for an NDA and further details. Sincerely, Robin Hossain |
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| sounds good but you will need more then justa blitz coder , going to need c++ for the dvd and databse stuff I think. I was going to email you but i know jack about c++ :P |
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| Matt (CKOB), Thanks for your comments. The post has been amended accordingly. Also, if there are excellent Blitz3D programmers lacking the C++ side, then an alternate reduced contract for the Blitz side only maybe formulated if an alternate C++ coder can be found for the other bits... although PureBasic maybe acceptable as I can use that myself and support. My C++ is very weak also. |
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| Good luck on that 2 to 3 months thing. I can't anyway. My time is already paid for. |
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| Richard (CodeD), I know 2-3 months sounds optimistic/unrealistic - but most of the foundation has been tested - the main thing that is required is good fast mesh generation routines taking mesh data from a large DB and usage of DVD and TV DLLs. After signing an NDA, the project could be broken into seperate components and a component requested at a lower price. The project could be stretched beyond 3 months if required, but the initial budget can't be right now. I suspect that a competent individual may take 2-3 weeks full time familiarising themselves with the project plus a further 10 weeks working full time coding the components. Working part-time e.g. 2 hours per day, the time would stretch and this might be acceptable if the coder was competant and good enough to meet the requirements well. |
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| i sent an email i hope you recieved it |
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| Let me get this straight. You're offering $2000 for three months worth of full-time work? You realize that's $1.20/hr? I made a better hourly wage than that in the summer of 1986 baling hay for a local farmer. Let me rephrase my outburst a little more constructively: is it possible you're undervaluing your prospective talent by a few orders of magnitude? |
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| You realize that's $1.20/hr? Considering he seems to be referring to USD, isn't that under average minimum wage in the US? That said, I agree with morduun. |
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| Well, since I obviously don't know the scope of your project I can only guess at how long this or that might take. I'm probably not up to your caliber though. Thanks though. ;) |
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| Morduun/Noel, I'm offering $2000 for a particular set of tasks on a contract delivery basis. It may take 3 months, it may take 1 month - it could even take 4-5 months. In anycase, I suspect an average/good programmer could deliver in 2-3 months and an excellent programmer to deliver in less than 2 months. And if that works out, there could be a lot more money. |
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| Robin: I sent you an email again I dont know if your getting them. I would be willing to work with you on this depending on the size of the project. |
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| No offense intended, and given the nature of online communities I'm sure you'll have some takers -- but in my professional experience an 'excellent programmer' can command $100 - $250/hr for their work, so unless you're talking a week's worth of work, tops, for an expert, with no other contractual terms available (percentage of back-end, specific criteria to be met for bonus, size of bonus, etc) I find your quote to be insultingly low. Ultimately it's up to the individual coder if their time is really worth so little, but I don't know of a single experienced coder who'd take you up on this one. Trying to salvage a bit of a positive criticism from my reaction -- perhaps you could post a spec that's a bit more specific so your prospectives can gauge for themselves the amount of work necessary. |
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| I have worked full time for a medium sized development house and grossed $1500-2000 a week, thats for 34 hours. I would suggest that your project is not worth more than 1.5 weeks work at the very top. $2000 for a Professional programmer is NOTHING. Im sure your aware. $2k for a newly qualified for a couple weeks is fine. Good luck in your quest, though I feel you arnt getting a pro for that money. Ion ArxSpace Development. |
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| Morduun /Ion Storm, The amount maybe low compared to "industry" average consultant awards - however individuals can make up their own minds as to whether they want to get involved after receiving the details. If a programmer thinks it worth their while and sees an opportunity for further development then great, if not, well of course thats fine. For someone already earning $2000 a week, I doubt that this would interest them - but for many others looking for an opportunity or others needing extra cash then this may be an opportunity - an opportunity for a little cash and a possible business opportunity down the line. Why deny them that choice ? Regarding industry rates for programmers on a contract basis - these rates are dropping daily. Why ? because of the increasingly global nature of programming - especially off-site specification based programming. The site that I mentioned - rentacoder.com is full of Professional coders with good track records who will work on this basis and for similar amounts - this is the upcoming trend now. They don't consider the amount offered 'insultingly low'. I've used the site for services rendered and its very competitive with people all over the world bidding for the same size contract - yes a 'measly' (as you see it) contract. These are professional C++ programmers & graphic artists with track records and references BUT because Blitz3D isn't mainstream - all offers came to do the work in C++ and to learn Blitz from scratch. I wanted it in Blitz so that I could have some hope of modifying it if I so chose... Finally, I didn't post the 'details' as they are confidential - those who wrote to me will be responded to today with an NDA and further details. People can then decide how long it will take them and if it is worth their while. |
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| Minimum wage in the state of New York is $5.15. This means that if you have accurately scoped your project, a person can make nearly five times what you propose to pay by working entry level at a department store for the same amount of time. That sounds pretty insulting to me. Realistically speaking: what person can possibly afford to live on their own for $8k/year -- or is that plus room and board? As I've already said, given the nature of online forums you're bound to find takers. It's only fair that said prospectives understand that you're very much undervaluing their skills. |
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| sorry, but LOL i myself freelance, and earn a lot more.. ive used rent-a-coder myself too but only for one thing, some quick untraceable cash. i dont consider it to be a serious dev site.. its full of "Can you copy this site?" requests now a serious bidding code site is http://www.topcoder.com/ and you get real work via there :) and real money is offered for what they want rent-a-coder is great, i dont doubt its useage. but its not the way forward.. mosta the users of the site are either like me looking for some quick untraceable cash for some new toy or students looking for something to do, its not a feasible place to earn a living from |
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| well the way I look at it im making $0.00 right now and jobs in my area(newyork) are all taking up this time of year so im stuck without money. If someone is in my situation something like this would help pay the bills, or give some college student some easy cash. |
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| jobs in my area(newyork) are all taking up this time of year Do what everyone else does: sell drugs! (Joke; to children: do not sell drugs, it is illegal, amoral, and an insult to your and everyone else's intelligence- get a real job and prove you're worth something [Haaaahahahahahaha- but that is actually true.]) |
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| i'd rather not. |
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| Let's see.... - Blitz3D programmer, custom meshes, custom terrain - intuitive file selection (Windows GUIs?) - fast database access - connectivity - media/DVD/TV - audio-visualisation - write DLLs and support code in C++ Yes, it's the usual job spec. The guy wants seven people for the price of one. And for under average minimum wage in the US? Some things never change. |
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| Well, Robin, I'm at least on your side! I compare programming to the movie industry. Take a look at some of our big stars today (Harrison Ford, Tom Hanks, Arnold Swasineggar (my apologies Governor if I've misspelled your name, no insult meant) Nowadays they each command over $20 million a flick, but when they first started out they only went for small parts with very little money. (Arnold got only $12,000 for his first pic, while Harrison was in a five minute walk-on for $5,000 I believe) I see sites such as Elance, RentaCoder, and Guru.com as vehicles for that programmer just out of college, or wherever he learned porogramming to make a break into the programming field. While some of the comments are true about what is said of RentaCoder (copy this site for me for $5, students getting professionals to do their homework, etc.) hopefully the site will grow out of this trend. As you said, Robin, a viable contract between two intelligent people should be dealt with between them. It is mutually decided amongst themselves whether the person accepting the contract is being cheated or not. A programming wanting to prove his worth, even though he realizes the money involved is below min wage would accept this challenge due to the fact of how difficult it is to break into programming. (like any other big-time media based business) |
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| The thing to remember with web-based recruiting is the fact that the programmer doesn't even have to be in America. They could be based in any other country where $2000 equates to a lot more money than they would get normally. Hell, if someone in the UK was offering £1000 (or whatever amount), I would be tempted because over here in NZ that comes out at $2500 - $3000. That is nice to have as an extra bit of income when you consider that as a professional programmer over here it takes me 1 month to make that much. The fact that it doesn't necessarily meet certain people's rates or expectations doesn't mean that someone out there won't want to work for that price. |
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| ckob/Amanda/KiwiSteve, Thanks for your support. Points worth noting are that the offer was a global offer - not just the US. Also, much of the groundwork and even test coding has been done - and this really was support for difficult elements as would have been clarified post NDA stage... |
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