[moron4hire]

Developers: learn Photoshop and CSS. The designers you'll find this way will not be worth anything more as designers than operators of Photoshop and CSS.

Designers: learn programming. The programmers you'll find this way will not be worth anything more than a really inefficient way to test your designs through a compiler.

There is real value to having a skilled designer and a skilled developer, but those people are rare and you aren't going to find them reliably if you don't know anything about their fields. At best, you might randomly stumble on one. Considering that communication is far more important of a skill than most other skills, the only way to find the right people is to first get to know them as people, not as objects to plug in to a whole in your project. I talk more about this on my blog (http://moron4hire.tumblr.com/post/48619863000/hiring-is-dati...)

Both of you will be far better served by the experience. You might have an idea now that seems like it has a burning need to be developed and you don't have the time to learn on your own, but it's just not true; that's the manic tendencies inside of you talking. If you give in now, you'll be in this exact, same position in N months when the next burning-a-whole-in-your-brain project idea comes along.

By all means, continue with your project as you learn. It will probably suck, but you'll come out of the other side with more skills, ready to make the next project even better.

[imjared]

While I agree with the thinking here, simply learning Photoshop and CSS doesn't make you a designer and learning programming doesn't make you a programmer. I'm a front-end dev who's more than competent in Photoshop and can write really modular, daresay good CSS but if I had to decide between using a designer or making my own design, nine times out of ten, I'm going to use someone who is, by trade, a designer and has an eye for crafting a beautiful UI, choosing colors, and for laying out type.

I'm slowly but surely getting better at design things but I choose to focus my energy on development rather than prettifying pixels (I say that with absolutely no intent of malice).

I agree that broadening my skills to include design would be helpful. I'd also be really great off if I learned how to treat my own ailments and fix my own car. I can't do it all though, so when I have the need, I partner with designers. I look through portfolios, gauge talent and ability, and hope for the best.

[mbesto]

While I agree with the thinking here, simply learning Photoshop and CSS doesn't make you a designer and learning programming doesn't make you a programmer.

I don't think he said that nor suggested it. The point is being able to empathize with your "other half" (dating term!). Empathy is important and critical for the success of both the technical and interface design of any web product.

[imjared]

Ah, my misunderstanding then!

[moron4hire]

The sentiment of your post is contained within mine.

[soemarko]

I agree with you wholeheartedly, sir. Here's my all-time favorite quote from Ira Glass, to give perspective from the other side.

> "Nobody tells this to people who are beginners, I wish someone told me. All of us who do creative work, we get into it because we have good taste. But there is this gap. For the first couple years you make stuff, it’s just not that good. It’s trying to be good, it has potential, but it’s not. But your taste, the thing that got you into the game, is still killer. And your taste is why your work disappoints you.

> A lot of people never get past this phase, they quit. We know our work doesn’t have this special thing that we want it to have. We all go through this. And if you are just starting out or you are still in this phase, you gotta know its normal and the most important thing you can do is do a lot of work. It’s normal to take awhile. You’ve just gotta fight your way through."

[seivan]

Just subbmitted: Application for tracking IOU's. I'll handle iOS design & dev, web JS (done) and REST API (done). You do web front (CSS).

Basically, my CSS and HTML sucks massive schlong. But I've gotten the front-end working prettly neatly (Batman.JS with CofeeScript) with the RESTFUL (in true meaning) API.

I want to focus on an iOS version + some additional social provider authentication while you do the front-end in terms of HTML and CSS.

It's a client-side front-end. But the templates are in HTML (HTML 5 with data attributes that is)

Sometimes it isn't about skill-set, but about Time To Launch(™)

[jasonshen]

Just curious: What do you mean IOU's? Like money between friends? Favors? Something else?

[seivan]

For now the API only supports US$.

But I have added support (on the DB side of things) to make it agnostic in the future.

Say for separate IOU's index listing for different currencies and items. From books and games to World of Warcraft gold.

Heh, actually a funny story... At first I allowed realtime currency conversion, but a friend pointed out how stupid it was. I didn't really think it was stupid until he laughed out loud and explained.

I do get now... but back then it seemed only natural that the user picks a single currency to list all the money that the user owes or is owed.

Thanks for showing interest. It's just a side project, not a profitable startup in any means - scratching me and my friends list for splitting and keeping track of tabs. It does separate item splits, even splits and single one off payments/loans (essentially the same thing). It's all client side so you get feedback directly on how much you got paid for or paid for.