So I’m thinking about hiring a programmer but I don’t know where to begin.
I’ve been talking to someone about creating a feature set similar to RPG Maker for our JRPG game ( Everything for Momo ) and they’ve sent me a test that looks pretty good. The issue is they’re charging 65€ an hour but they’ve only got one semi-complete app to their name. They’ve completed nothing else thus far but again the work they’ve sent using our assets looks promising.
I’m not sure how to go about this. They seem enthusiastic about the job but it also seems like they’re using their day job rate (65€ per hour) as a quote for game development when they have little else to show for game development. Is this standard?
This would be the first game for us as a team (pixel artists and writers alike) and I don’t want to end up leading us into a dead end. Any insight would be useful?
Based on nothing more than a quick conversion to local currency… yes. This assumes that the person is a genuine expert at what they do, and are an experienced professional who will provide you with quality results.
You say they have little else to show “for game development”. Does this mean that they have a good portfolio in other areas, or an extensive resume, or something, and it’s just not specific to games?
They’re usually also expected to provide their own hardware, licenses, office space, utilities, and so on and so forth. Their time isn’t the only cost to be covered.
But can you be an experienced professional in game development and not have any published credits to your name? The concern is that just because a person has a good portfolio in other areas isn’t necessarily relevant to game development.
Their portfolio has one simple app involving a whale going through water. Nothing to showcase 2D experience like is necessary for our project. The major question isn’t whether programmers deserve 65 an hour. The question is how much experience is a Unity programmer expected to have for that kind of rate?
It is up to you to decide. And I’m telling this, because if they didn’t convince you then it won’t work, you won’t trust them.
If they did, then go for it. If you didn’t properly interviewed them then just do it, ask for a skype talk and ask questions, ask questions which you know and you think would show that they know what they’re doing.
If they’re professional, they won’t say no for a half an hour to an hour talk to get to know each other. After all, you need to trust them since you will pay them by the hour. Especially since they don’t have too much to show off. But even if they do.
So if the price is right for you, just try to see if you can trust them.
Portfolio and released software is nice to have, but it’s not the only sign if someone can do the job. (And sometimes people aren’t the best developers despite the fact that they have released software under their belts)
Yes. It’s normal for companies to list their employees in their game credits, but it’s also normal for them to never list any of the contractors that tasks were outsourced to. It’s completely possible that he’s been contracting out and has simply never had a project he was allowed to acknowledge.
Why on earth are you hiring them if they can’t show you how they will be valuable to your project? Sounds like you need a course in business management 101. Don’t spend a cent unless you can demonstrate its bringing value to your business.
Because I had about 40 people contact me on Unity Connect. This individual quickly setup a test demo because they had nothing else in their past that they could show.
Keep in mind this is my first game development project and I am seeking community advice in order to be taken advantage of. I’m not a programmer by trade so I’m not sure what to look for. The 65 an hour was quoted afterwards and because I’m not used to hiring people based on their hourly rate, I needed community guidance about what might be fair.
Plain and simple, I’m nervous. So far the general consensus is just talk to someone and trust them or don’t. That’s relatively haphazard isn’t it?
Is $65 a fair rate is for a programmer with zero 2D development experience?
How much experience should be looked into before hiring someone?
How should experience be tied into a pay rate?
I am counting on the experience of members in this community to offer guidance and insight into questions based upon their past game development experience.
Just because someone can be valuable doesn’t mean they’re asking a fair rate for that value. Food is valuable. But $100 an ounce for bacon isn’t a fair rate not matter how gloriously delicious it is. He can clearly be valuable per the test demo he put together. I haven’t told him he’s overpriced nor have I contacted other potential people for the job because I do like him.
But I have zero experience with figuring out what a fair rate against the experience of a programmer. You’ve been here for years and it seems apt that I’m hoping you could delve into your experiences regarding making deals with potential clients and what works best for them and you. If you don’t have really anything to add regarding that, I respect that and will await someone who does.
We don’t know what value he can provide to you and how much that value worth to you. If you like his work with the test task and you like him and the price is right for you then hire him.
$65 for software development is neither too low nor too high on average. If he does know what he’s doing it can be a fair trade. If you think he needs to have portfolio then just drop him and move on to the next person (I don’t share this, because there could be a number of reason why he does not have shipped game and still can be a decent developer).
You will need to understand that we can’t decide for you and it would be very bad to do that.
We can share some opinions what we think about the subject in general, what we actually did and do, but please do not expect clear “yes” or “no” answer because that would be irresponsible from our side to do that.
“2D experience” is meaningless. Nothing you seem to be hiring for is really reliant on graphics because you’re doing little more than asking for help with dataset management. You don’t need a 2D specialist because, well, 2D isn’t really complicated, especially with Unity.
The person you’re talking about already gave you a working example of what you’re looking for. That alone should speak volumes.
Pay rate should be determined by how much you need their help, not by how much work they’ve done before.
If that is the only price you can find bacon at, then bacon costs $100 an ounce. Is bacon that valuable to you? Speaking of which, what has you interested in this $100 bacon? Or, what has you interested in this applicant over the other 39?
You say its their dayjob rate, seems fair, as an example I charge about 120 USD. Depends on how good they are.
edit: I have also been at some Unity related interviews because it would be fun to work with Unity also at day job, I have been to for example Tobii, thats not a rate they are used to
Quite possibly, though I would expect people to still have something to demonstrate their experience. That might be, for example, a CV that shows extensive simulation work. Games aren’t the only place to get experience relevant to making games.
[Edit] Also relevant to point out is that someone might not have to be a games expert to make what you want. There’s nothing to stop an experienced programmer from applying themselves in a new domain. Game programming certainly has its unique challenges, but (most of the time) it’s not magic. [End edit]
The reason nobody’s giving you a straight yes/no answer as to whether this particular hire is a good one or not is that we have no way of knowing. We only know what you’ve told us, and that’s second hand information.
We also don’t know what their other experience is, so we’ve no way to judge whether or not it’s relevant. Maybe they’ve plenty of experience that’s directly applicable to games, and the whale thing would be enough to convince me they can apply said experience effectively in Unity. On the other hand maybe they’ve years of… I don’t know… database query experience, and the whale thing represents the sum total of their relevant experience. And as for the “one simple app involving a whale going through water”, without seeing it we’ve no way to know whether it’s trivial or amazing. So I can’t make a reliable recommendation as to their level of skill and value to you.
