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Ask HN: Place for developers & designers to barter small units of work?

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Ask HN: Place for developers & designers to barter small units of work?

#1

Post by jayliew »

E.g. I'll build you a site if you'll design my logo & vice versa? (roughly equivalent in effort for each person, say X hours of coding for X hours of design - or however the two parties agree to is fair)

The key here is that you're exchanging something relatively easy for you to produce in exchange for something that's relatively difficult for you to do but relatively easy for someone else to do. Not a big upfront commitment, i.e. a job or contract.

It's generally hard to be an expert at it all: back-end, front-end, design & UX. Is there a place for people to barter their services? If there isn't, maybe there should be ;)

Related (also posted on Quora): http://www.quora.com/Is-there-a-place-where-back-front-end-developers-designers-trade-work

Re: Ask HN: Place for developers & designers to barter small units of work?

#2

Post by akkartik »

Neat idea. All these things, however, require feedback. Even if you don't have the skills you often need to drive the trajectory of things we try out. Given that, perhaps we should instead barter 'pairing time'. "If we can work on my project for a day today, then I'll help you with your project for a day."

You can modulate the 'promiscuity' of this idea, from pairing with random people you meet on some site, to having a handful of people you pair repeatedly with. The latter seems to kill two birds with one stone: you get something done on your site now, and also make progress finding and trying out potential co-founders.

Re: Ask HN: Place for developers & designers to barter small units of work?

#3

Post by swanson »

I wish there was a good way to find designers that are trying to build a portfolio or just like making stuff for the hell of it. I hack around on weekend projects for fun all the time, but I don't have much desire to start a business or try to make it big -- it would be nice if there was a good way to find like-minded designers that would throw together a logo or color scheme.

Re: Ask HN: Place for developers & designers to barter small units of work?

#4

Post by kennet »

swanson wrote: post #3

I wish there was a good way to find designers that are trying to build a portfolio or just like making stuff for the hell of it. I hack around on weekend projects for fun all the time, but I don't have much desire to start a business or try to make it big -- it would be nice if there was a good way to find like-minded designers that would throw together a logo or color scheme.

I'm trying to prevent myself from being baited into making a website out of all this--i'm booked, but it is definitely something that the HN community should band together and provide. It sounds _very useful_.

Re: Ask HN: Place for developers & designers to barter small units of work?

#5

Post by _ouxp »

It's a great idea for a founder who isn't a U.S. citizen or national.

Sadly:

The IRS requires barter value to be reported as income: http://www.irs.gov/taxtopics/tc420.html

and barter exchanges have to send out 1099s: http://www.irs.gov/businesses/small/article/0,,id=113437,00....

Re: Ask HN: Place for developers & designers to barter small units of work?

#6

Post by proexploit »

I've posted a couple topics before trying to get something like this going as I've had a lot of fun working with some other guys on HN. I don't know of a site like this but my thought is it's better done informally. Maybe a google group that's invite-only (not exclusive, but able to restrict membership as an alternative for feedback)?

While we're on the subject: I'm a designer / front-end guy always open to bartering. Logos aren't my think but Design/UX/HTML/CSS/HAML/SASS is what I'm good at. I've got a ton of different side projects in tons of different languages I'm learning to hack away on.

Re: Ask HN: Place for developers & designers to barter small units of work?

#7

Post by alexkiwi »

kennet wrote: post #4
swanson wrote: post #3

I wish there was a good way to find designers that are trying to build a portfolio or just like making stuff for the hell of it. I hack around on weekend projects for fun all the time, but I don't have much desire to start a business or try to make it big -- it would be nice if there was a good way to find like-minded designers that would throw together a logo or color scheme.

I'm trying to prevent myself from being baited into making a website out of all this--i'm booked, but it is definitely something that the HN community should band together and provide. It sounds _very useful_.

Don't worry. It already exists, found an awesome developer through the service. http://www.builditwith.me/

Re: Ask HN: Place for developers & designers to barter small units of work?

#8

Post by alexkiwi »

swanson wrote: post #3

I wish there was a good way to find designers that are trying to build a portfolio or just like making stuff for the hell of it. I hack around on weekend projects for fun all the time, but I don't have much desire to start a business or try to make it big -- it would be nice if there was a good way to find like-minded designers that would throw together a logo or color scheme.

I'm interested. Check out my portfolio at http://kiwigrove.com always down to hack

Re: Ask HN: Place for developers & designers to barter small units of work?

#9

Post by proexploit »

swanson wrote: post #3

I wish there was a good way to find designers that are trying to build a portfolio or just like making stuff for the hell of it. I hack around on weekend projects for fun all the time, but I don't have much desire to start a business or try to make it big -- it would be nice if there was a good way to find like-minded designers that would throw together a logo or color scheme.

I'm always available for anything that's gonna take less than an hour and seems fun. For longer stuff, I'm probably available too as long as it's something enjoyable and not busy work. More freedom for me = better results for you.

Re: Ask HN: Place for developers & designers to barter small units of work?

#10

Post by ohashi »

_ouxp wrote: post #5

It's a great idea for a founder who isn't a U.S. citizen or national. Sadly: The IRS requires barter value to be reported as income: http://www.irs.gov/taxtopics/tc420.html and barter exchanges have to send out 1099s: http://www.irs.gov/businesses/small/article/0,,id=113437,00....

So it's just a favor and you owe me one, I want my one now.
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