I don't know how to find a person/company to develop an app
February 3, 2023 11:06 AM Subscribe
I'm exploring an idea of an app for work that is beyond my ability to create, but also seems much simpler than the kinds of things companies build. How do I find a right-sized app developer?
I need something (I think) that would take an existing RSS or JSON feed from an existing events calendar and an existing news feed, rebundle the image/headline/date/time for each event with a link to the event listing on the site / link to the full story on the site, and create a simple app where when you open it it's just a scrolling, vaguely Instagrammish feed of event listings / news stories + push notifications for last-minute changes or things we really want to draw attention to.
I don't have any app-making powers or in-house capacity to build or maintain such at thing.
I'm not Scrooge McDucking my way across a vault of coins, but this is something that I would have a budget to create and set up.
Key concerns include:
- maintenance over time -- a service that keeps the app up to date and compatible and pushes updates to the Apple / Google stores
- no interest in overstuffed enterprise solutions -- we've already gone the route of a big-company "app that does everything" approach, and have found what we need is something that scales right down to an events/headlines list.
I'm not a developer and I'm not sure what the right words are or the right approach is to find "modest" app-building services. It's easy to find giant companies that want to sell me massive SAAS app platforms that I customize, but I kind of want the inverse of that.
Where can I look / what search terms should I use?
I need something (I think) that would take an existing RSS or JSON feed from an existing events calendar and an existing news feed, rebundle the image/headline/date/time for each event with a link to the event listing on the site / link to the full story on the site, and create a simple app where when you open it it's just a scrolling, vaguely Instagrammish feed of event listings / news stories + push notifications for last-minute changes or things we really want to draw attention to.
I don't have any app-making powers or in-house capacity to build or maintain such at thing.
I'm not Scrooge McDucking my way across a vault of coins, but this is something that I would have a budget to create and set up.
Key concerns include:
- maintenance over time -- a service that keeps the app up to date and compatible and pushes updates to the Apple / Google stores
- no interest in overstuffed enterprise solutions -- we've already gone the route of a big-company "app that does everything" approach, and have found what we need is something that scales right down to an events/headlines list.
I'm not a developer and I'm not sure what the right words are or the right approach is to find "modest" app-building services. It's easy to find giant companies that want to sell me massive SAAS app platforms that I customize, but I kind of want the inverse of that.
Where can I look / what search terms should I use?
Your first step would be to think about exactly what you want and to describe that for the (potential) developer. You could add sketches of the user interface ("mockups" or "wireframes"). Voila, you now have a functional specification or a requirements document.
With this document in hand, you could ask for estimates and proposals from SW devs on eg. Upwork, Fiverr or r/slavelabour or from small SW dev companies. If you keep getting estimates that are above your budget, you need to trim something down in your spec/reqs document.
posted by gakiko at 11:46 AM on February 3, 2023
With this document in hand, you could ask for estimates and proposals from SW devs on eg. Upwork, Fiverr or r/slavelabour or from small SW dev companies. If you keep getting estimates that are above your budget, you need to trim something down in your spec/reqs document.
posted by gakiko at 11:46 AM on February 3, 2023
Alternatively, you can try to use a "no-code" tool yourself, like Bubble, or, on preview, retool.com mentioned above.
posted by gakiko at 11:48 AM on February 3, 2023
posted by gakiko at 11:48 AM on February 3, 2023
I’ve previously gone to tech meetups and been given three or so minutes before the main presentation to basically say “I need to hire someone to build this thing [short description] come see me after the presentation if you’re interested to learn more and yes I’m paying”
…then chatted with a bunch of folks, selected one, and hired them on a freelance basis. Worked out fine, but of course there’s no provision for ongoing maintenance.
posted by aramaic at 11:50 AM on February 3, 2023 [3 favorites]
…then chatted with a bunch of folks, selected one, and hired them on a freelance basis. Worked out fine, but of course there’s no provision for ongoing maintenance.
posted by aramaic at 11:50 AM on February 3, 2023 [3 favorites]
MeFi Jobs. But do a spec first.
posted by matildaben at 6:24 PM on February 3, 2023 [1 favorite]
posted by matildaben at 6:24 PM on February 3, 2023 [1 favorite]
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posted by sandwich at 11:42 AM on February 3, 2023