[alexhoang]

I see a lot of "luck" in the comments. I have 6 years of outsourcing experience and I agree it's part luck, but there are great ways to spot out great talent on outsourcing platforms such as oDesk. I usually set aside a few thousand (not $100k like kator mentioned, but around $2-10k), and post a project on all three of the major platforms; oDesk, Freelancer, and Elance. This project will only be a small portion of the whole project to gauge how the developer works and if that is in line of how I work, can be different for you. I found more success on oDesk than the other two, but I wouldn't limit to just one source for talent.

Things I avoid:

- Groups where I have to talk to a Project Manager. Especially where the Project Manager is the translator to the team because this can cause a lot of misinterpretation and mis-communication.

- Non-English developers. This doesn't mean the developer has to be fully fluent in English, but if they can't convey their ideas via text/email where they have as much time as they need then it's hard vice versa.

- Yes-(wo)man. A Yes-man is a freelancer that just says yes on everything you say instead of coming up with other solutions. This is common when you deal with Project Managers.

Things I love:

- Talking to engineers and letting them know they can freely give any input.

- Engineers that provide feedback. I had two engineers say they can do the project in the way I wanted it, but also mentioned that they could do it a better way that's faster, safer, and less expensive. I hired them for a few more projects after that and they kept saying the same thing. I ended up partnering with them with equal shares on future projects.

If you need any more help, feel free to message me