This could be my first break as a web contractor!

March 31, 2008 10:31 AM

Help me land my first web dev contract!

My background:
I've been doing internet applications and CMS related work, both as a back end programmer and front end integrator for the past six years until two weeks ago when I followed my wife to a new city where she has just been hired. I've been doing some Wordpress customization for a friend while looking for local employment.

The opportunity:
A friend has told me that one of his friends in a small industry needs a bunch of work done integrating about 50 pages into a CMS, consolidating layout and general CSS work. I've got the skills they need and the work, budget and time estimate they have provided all seem reasonable (for the time being as I haven't gotten an exact detail of the work required just yet).

My problem:
I've got plenty of experience doing the work that they want, but I have no real portfolio, and all the work I've done before has been for internal web applications or private commercial web applications which I no longer have access to. I've also never tendered an offer for a contract before and would like any general advice.

The two three questions:
1. Given the above info, how do I convince them that I am the man for their contract work?
2. What sort of things should I be asking or proposing in my initial email tendering my offer? I know their budget, I know their time estimate, and maybe a bit more, if that helps.
3. Is it crazy to offer a certain number of hours for corrections free of charge?

posted by Null Pointer and the Exceptions to work & money (5 comments total)

all the work I've done before has been for internal web applications or private commercial web applications which I no longer have access to

Anyone internal that you can ask to take some screen shots of your previous work? I think that is a must.
posted by doorsfan at 10:42 AM on March 31

The 29 people to post after me will tell you NEVER DO SPEC WORK.

I routinely did spec designs to land contracts when I was building a portfolio. Mock up a home page layout and design for them. It gives the client confidence that they know what they're getting from you, a confidence they don't have with other bidders. In your position, I think it's a great strategy.
posted by DarlingBri at 10:50 AM on March 31

DarlingBri, fair advice, but in my case tthe design is already established and partially in production. It's more a question of applying the design to the remaining batch of pages.

doorsfan: Good idea, I'll see what I can do on short notice.
posted by Null Pointer and the Exceptions at 11:04 AM on March 31

I don't think a portfolio is necessary or even desirable here, since you're just being hired for integration work. A 'creative' person might be scary to this client, since they already know what they want.

Screen shots aren't worth much, either, anyway. Even if you have demonstrable works you've done, they won't be very impressive to non-industry people, since they won't be THE SAME KIND OF THING. Working models of your prior work, even if you have to recreate what you did for others with fake information and lots of 'magic happens' demo jumps, will be useful later though, if you seek out work at a development firm.

For this job alone, though, if you feel the need to have something to back up your personal presentation, get some letters of reference. Other than that, just be confident and sound capable. As long as you sound competent, you'll get the job, since you've already got an "in" via your f-o-a-f.

I don't know what #3 question means. Corrections to mistakes you made earlier? I don't believe those should be billed at all, other than as part of the project initially. If you want some cushion-time/budget for unforeseen bugs near the end, just build a quality-assurance and testing section into your estimate.
posted by rokusan at 11:21 AM on March 31

I don't know what #3 question means. Corrections to mistakes you made earlier? I don't believe those should be billed at all, other than as part of the project initially.

I assume he's talking about support and bug-fixing. What you want to do is get a spec from them that covers EVERYTHING they want you to do. You are now responsible for delivering a product that meets that spec. Bug-fixing time should be provided under the estimate/fee you are giving for the original contract. New features should be charged for or under a new contract. There are ALWAYS disagreements about what is covered in the spec and whether X functionality is a defect or a new feature. Speaking as someone who witnessed a six month negotiation (from the client side) with a programmer that was essentially an argument about what was and what was not in the original spec, it is in your favor to have a spec 100% clear as possible before starting work.

So yeah, it is crazy to offer fixes free of charge -- this should be built into your original estimate. It's doubly crazy to offer new features free of charge -- make sure you know what you're getting into when you take on the work. Working with small biz clients who don't understand how expensive software development is can easily turn into a nightmare -- be careful.

As for the other questions:

1. Given the above info, how do I convince them that I am the man for their contract work?

um, you can do it for the price they're wiling to pay? IME, good contractors are hard to find. If they don't have a programmer on staff, they're not going to be able to evaluate your worthiness anyways. Ideally you'd have some references, but I've worked with companies who just peered over a resume and felt like it was enough.

I'm looking to break into doing a little supplemental contracting for fun, and am in largely the same position as you; most of my work doesn't really 'belong' to me, so I can't release it. I'm planning on putting together some open source plugins, etc, that people can download to look at the source, or get a sense of what my capabilities are. Bonus: you're contributing to OSS (in theory), and, more importantly, side projects are fun!

2. What sort of things should I be asking or proposing in my initial email tendering my offer? I know their budget, I know their time estimate, and maybe a bit more, if that helps.

Do they have a spec or RFP? What are you expected to deliver? How do you know when the project is complete? What server do they plan to run the code on? Do they have on staff programmers? On staff designers who can provide new graphic elements if necessary? If applicable, how will you get assets you need to build out any templates and in what format can they provide them? Basically, I'd want to know that *they* know what they're doing, they know what they expect to get from you, and how much of a pain in the ass they might be to deal with.
posted by fishfucker at 12:29 PM on March 31 [1 favorite]