Rent-a-Geek

August 6, 2004 3:36 PM

rent-a-geek: Is there a site/service out there where I can hire someone to do some micro-jobs for me related to running a server? Something like Google Answers but instead of paying someone $10 to find out the history of hemophilia in New Zealand, I would pay someone $10 to fix my WebDav installation, or get mysql working, or some task that would take a Smart Person about 10 minutes of poking around. It's not that I can't figure this stuff out eventually but I am short on time. Such a site would have to have some sort of reputation management, I suppose.

(Geesh, I sound like I'm writing a business plan)
posted by mecran01 to work & money (8 comments total)

There is actually rent-a-geek, which might be close to your description.
posted by milovoo at 3:42 PM on August 6, 2004

I'll do it, email me
posted by ac at 4:00 PM on August 6, 2004

Hot Dispatch
posted by SlappyPeterson at 4:07 PM on August 6, 2004

I'll do it, too, if the server in question is unix-ish.
posted by cmonkey at 5:10 PM on August 6, 2004

I would pay someone $10 to fix my WebDav installation, or get mysql working, or some task that would take a Smart Person about 10 minutes of poking around.

Are you fully self-hosted? Aside from the above ideas, this is of course usually what the support desk of the hosting company should be available for (assuming this isn't a self-hosted box), with the advantage of knowing all about the peculiarities of their own config.

Such a site would have to have some sort of reputation management, I suppose.

Hopefully. The person had better be pretty trustworthy since you're talking about tasks that require login access to your server. If you just need answers without the poking-around access, Google Answers isn't such a bad idea. For that matter, a clear, specific question posted to the right usenet group can frequently net a solution within minutes. You could offer that $10 as an Amazon gift cert or PayPal deposit for the first right answer.
posted by nakedcodemonkey at 5:57 PM on August 6, 2004

www.rentacoder.com
posted by banished at 6:26 PM on August 6, 2004

I'd suggest you find a friend or partner. I have a friend I do this for, and it's a great arrangement. You need to REALLY trust this person though, as they have access to all your info.
posted by wackybrit at 12:10 PM on August 7, 2004

Ooops, I forgot to thank everyone for their suggestions. Thanks!
posted by mecran01 at 7:49 PM on August 17, 2004