What do Freelance Themers want to see in a Help Wanted post?

Hi Michael,
the correct link would help ;) https://groups.drupal.org/node/437773
For everything else, I'm not yet in the position to give a good answer.
Best,
Andi

Hi,
I am a designer/themer/frontend-developer, so will try to give input. First of all, I think you do a good job of structuring your post and giving helpful information. It does miss some points though, that i would request to know before feeling comfortable making an offer.

Additional information needed (my personal PoV):

• Is the site already created and filled with content?
• Is all the necessary functionality to display content established (Views, Panels, Blocks, etc)?
• Do i work on your environment or set up my own?
• Do we use Git or any kind of version control?
• Can I use a preprocessor like Sass/Less on the subtheme?
• is there any single task you could think of that I have to do that cannot be done by touching/creating archives in the sub-theme folder? -> Important checkpoint for both of us, that scope is clear and understood
• Number of content types, expected pages?
• Time frame?
• Budget range. I cannot compete with some east-asian companies on price, so I will not bother contacting if you expect something like e.g. $300 to cover that work.
• Payment modalities
• Who signs off on work? You? Your client?

Things that irritate me:

• IE6+ -> If you need a responsive web design, this requirement make some things difficult to impossible. Ie8+ or IE9+ would be more inline with modern designs
• Don't mix the client theme with "additional work", make two posts instead
• I cannot figure out easily if you are an established, registered business. Giving me information about your business location makes you more trustworthy in my eyes.

Hope that helps.

I'd also agree with pretty much everyone on the IE6 issues. For a traditional consumer facing site like this I don't see the justification.

A couple other considerations that you might want to look into:

• What is the logic and reasoning behind dictating the theme framework? Traditionally you don't ask a plumber what kind of wrench he uses, but instead focus on the final result. Ditto on the slideshow, FAQ.. etc. Keep your options open.
• Have you simply considered implementing an off the shelf theme that's already built and gives you everything you want. For example I've steered a ton of clients to this guy... Custom theming that really works and covers all the bases even on something simple in my estimation will start in the 5k range.
• Flat rate bidding without an extremely detailed RFP and complete design would be a deal breaker for me.
• Looks like you also didn't address some other fundamental questions... Content Strategy and Review, SEO, Analytics.

I agree with all the points previously mentioned here but would like to emphasize that asking for a flat rate when no comps, no discovery, no project scope/SOW has been defined is simply unreasonable and reveals a massive lack of experience and understanding of process. Those of us who have been doing this for a decade or more know that providing a flat rate is the fastest way to lose money on a job. And the surest way to destroy a relationship with a client.

Enno's questions in (#comment-1056168) are critical to discovery & determination of how much work is actually required. You'd be surprised but nearly 100% of the time I'm met with people who think they have a simple theming job but in fact have 30-60+ hours of development work before one can even get to theming. It happens all the time. Because what some people think is theming actually winds up being content type creation(fields and node display configuration) and views development. This work is often required just to be able to create content to have to place in the theme regions that need to be styled. Well, THIS IS NOT THEMING!!! It's site-building which falls under the realm of development. And it's this kind of thing that takes learned skill, experience, time and effort to accomplish. All of which must be acknowledged and accounted for in a Statement of work/project requirements specification document. It is also work that deserves proper attribution in billing statements and invoices. This is a major issue that I run into all the time with clients. It's not only a huge mistake for the consultant to provide a flat rate estimate/bid but that it's irrational for the client to expect to receive such a thing.

The process that actually lays a proper foundation for success at this point in a project's lifespan is for the client to give an honest assessment and declaration of their budget range for a given amount of work "required". The consultant is more equipped then to determine exactly how much work can be done within that budget and can also see how best to prioritize their time and effort toward this refined task list. The consultant can and should be a part of the discovery process to help determine as closely as possible what work is actually required and not just simply rely on what the client thinks the requirements may be. But again, the client must provide a reasonable declaration of available budget so that the consultant can determine how much of the work being "required" can actually be done within the given budget. If the two sides aren't able to be honest in this regard the project will inevitably fail.

The hard questions one must ask before embarking upon any project are:

• Do I care more about cost or quality?
• How can I balance my expectations to achieve both maximum cost efficiency and superior quality.
• How can I reset my thinking about this project so that my expectations are realistic in order to avoid creating negative pressure based in irrational thinking on the project which inevitably sabotages the project's success.

When I look at your list of requirements I see several items that you would likely rethink once I tell you how much they are going to cost. Most likely once I explain it to you, you're going to decide that things like "IE6 support" are much too costly to require. Not to mention irrational to even desire making it a requirement. It's ok though. You need to put some information in your ad that identifies what you think needs to be done. This is reasonable. However, my suggestion for appearing more attractive to legitimate professionals is simply, try not to dictate or demand too much. Try to make your current set of "requirements" more like suggestions or items in a list that is malleable; evolving. So when writing an ad trying to hire a qualified professional try to avoid dictating a fixed list of requirements that the consultant reads as you being unwilling to spend the time that project scope discovery actually requires. A true professional understands that this is a critical part of the process toward successful completion of the project and will refuse to skip past it just to get their next gig.

Unfortunately in this industry normal people tend to believe that they know as much as we do about how our job should be done. I attribute this to the fact that normal people play with web technology on a regular basis much more than they do with bulldozers, jackhammers, scalpels or rocket engines. The problem is that they know just enough to be dangerous and not enough to defer to the professional. But a little humility goes a long way. It's a simple show of respect to admit that you require the help of a qualified professional precisely because you don't know how to do their job. In other words, when you go to a doctor, you tell him what's wrong and where it hurts. You don't additionally tell him what you think it is and how to go about fixing it. Or maybe you do. But you shouldn't. Anyway my point is that you've come here asking for help from qualified professionals and you shouldn't dictate to them how they should or shouldn't do their job. You should trust that the developer has your best interest in mind and will provide the best quality product and service based on industry standards. And believe me most any person that has a reputation of any import on Drupal.org is going to behave this way by default. Outside of Drupal.org, you're on your own.

That said, if you're actually searching for the best quality people to work with then what you should be looking for in a consultant/developer is whether they project a sense of self-respect and pride in their work. Not how cheap they price their estimate and how many times they can agree with you and say yes, yes, yes to you to get you to hire them. Trust me you want a developer that knows how to think for themselves and who isn't a hack that could care less what kind of code they deliver to you since they know you wont be able to tell good code from bad code or good process from bad process.

I'm basically trying to say it's ok to have your buzzwords in your ad to show that you have a sense of what is required in order for you to have an awesome modern website. But be willing to let the consultant/developer do the driving. Assuming you've selected your new hire by their character and not the lowest price on the menu, you will likely find that you are in good hands. Because the last thing you want is to pay for something you have to repay for later in repairs or rebuild because it was done the way you wanted it, instead of the way you needed it.

Sorry I went long but I truly wish this dynamic would change in our industry. It is just so common and leads to so much failure.