Coders Response to Service Requests
 

I am curious as to the reason(s) why some Coders do not respond to Service Requests.

Well, there are many reasons for sometimes coders not responding, : Too busy, dont know how to do it, dont trust the person asking for it to be done, ect..many reasons

~Curt

Usually stacked with work already, think the pay is too low, or feel requestee doesn't seem like the type of person I'd want to do business with.

I very rarely do custom work, mostly because I don't have the time (or the need).

I respond to alot of requests - However the majority of requests posted provide next to no details of what they actually need done. If you watch you'll see the requests from people that thoroughly document their posts get picked up really quickly. The ones that are just little one liner "I need a custom hack." posts are usually bumped 4-5 times and have been left unfilled for months. Also, from a personal standpoint, I try to avoid anything that is written sloppily or in poor english - Especially when it's a design request as most design requests require alot of detailed communication.

I just simply don't have the time right now, when I'm free I try to answer service requests though. :)

right now i've lost the desire to do any service requests/vb coding being half way between 3.0 and 3.5. i'll help with the basics but beyond that too much work

I only do custom work for my current clients I've done work for in the past, its hard to trust people online.

im too busy with personal things and personal projects. also the pay is way too low on this ppl, want things installed for $5 or want a hack that should cost $75 at least for $20. these are the people who have no conception of coding and most likely 0 to none web coding knowledge. sometimes i regret vbulletin so easy to use:P

Indeed - I selected I'm too busy, The pay is too low and The requests are not specific enough as my reasons for not responding...

Like AN-net, you can tell who and who not to help by their grammar as one thing, and the amount of posts they have here - People who can't string a sentence together and have less than 50 posts I won't even stop to try and understand their post, unless I know them ;)

Satan

I'm pretty much of an idiot so I don't have to worry about anyone coming to me for anything. ;)

Quoted for future laughing ;)

And you're not an idiot... Just, er, slow :D:p

Satan

everyone is like "i need to hire someone to code but no one is answering my request. how about boofo?*laughing*hes old. yeah really old, can he even code? i think he released a few things, lets offer $10 and maybe someone will do it."

Ditto to the whole thing.

i can say that 75% of the requests are made by people that doesn't know what is the job to be done, and usually apply a title like : easy job, quick job, simple job ...

i've answered a lot of requests in the last year, and i can say that most were not even aware that we had to actually Evaluate/Develop/Code/Test/Install the jobs they requested...

i even receive requests by PM even if i did not write anywhere that i was available... looks like they think we will do the job just because we are coders... ;)

I've not done any since Feb and have no plans to do anything till 3.5 goes gold and I've actually taken the time to look over the updated code. Plus life has been pretty hectic and I've been advised to take things easy for at least the next 3 months coz I've been really ill and in hospital for 4 months this year.

It's annoying though when people say 'easy job - I just want it to blah blah blah' but what they don't think about is that this needs about 6 or 8 hours by the time you have wrote it, tested it, re-wrote it, tested it again, written install instructions, packaged it, mailed it, and then waited for the dreaded IM to go with 'help it don't work' coz they missed a step and to top it all they only want to pay $10 - $20 for it.

Simple installs at $5 or $10 are always handy but last time I looked these had got few and far between.

I am constantly getting PMs to do work for them, or a link pointing to there request. I just ignore them now.

I often seem to get them now, some simple ones I have responded to, others I don't (for time reasons given previously). There are also a small group of people who I have done work for in the past, who request additional stuff. I usually respond to them if I can fit the request in. :)

Ive gotten a couple of requests from PMs recently, one of them didn't bother to check back. But the other guy was actually very cool and understanding of how a coder does his job. He also provided detailed instructions from the start, which made me able to visualise how I was going to do the job. This made actually DOING it hella easier, and I completed the work within a week and got a paypal e-cheque as soon as I delivered the work. We trust eachother, so I knew he would pay up and he knows I will fix any problems he may encounter in the future.

So I lucked out :)
I don't normally respond to SR's because of the reasons everyone else stated.

i just assume by the time i got there it would've been done, sometimes i'll do soemthing if someone IM's me, other times i'll want to but get too busy :(

I agree with nexialys. :up:

"Easy Job", "Quick Job", "Simple Job" ...
Anything with the above is completely ignored.

Unrealistic Expectations

• Overnight Delivery
  • Most experienced coders have other customers
  • Good coders will test/debug their own code - this alone may take several days depending on request - the more tests conducted the less risk you have
• Low Offer
  • Serious coders will never never accept a low offer - these offers are always ignored by experienced coders

same here on nexialys, most of them doesn't pay good enough, but whatever there are ppl that pay good, so far I am happy with my current customer, so my choice for now is "busy", even for my hacks on vb3.5 because I'm coding vb3.0 hacks which I don't really feel like but what ? you signed the contract ^^

Just plain too busy with working on my open projects let alone stopping all of those to look at doing something new.

Plus I prefer working on items availible for more people than just 1. Most custom jobs mean that they own you :)

oh i forgot to mention i hate SR's that don't quote a price.

bump because i thought i offered a good amount for my service request and nobody has responded to it. :( has the service request forum died or am i just impatient?

I hate thread diggers

oh she's a threaddigger
way over town
that digs on meeeeeeeeee...

sorry couldn't resist that. carry on then. :)

Usually there is a zero or two missing!
I charge between ?10-?20 an hour. I don't mind there not being a price aslong as there are some specifics.

Also this happens every time:
If you make a request and provide detailed specification and it is complete and does everything on that original specification provided. It is finished. You can't say 'Oh but I really want this which I forgot about.' I'm not telepathic and I'm not going to modify a service request till the cows come home. Once it meets the specification it's finished. Sure more money means you can change the specification ;)

Not respond to service requests? I respond to all requests. Whether or not I respond with an accepting reply is a different story. :p

I find that most people asking me to code for them have a very unrealistic expectation of the time and the costs involved. I've seriously had a guy email me wanting me to custom-code a portal and an article management system in six hours for $50. Needless to say, declined. ;)

how much do you guys and gals usually expect for a payment for custom work? right now its all guesswork on the part of the requester, having a baseline to work with would be useful.

Most service requests are far too vague, most are way under priced as well. Since you cannot ask questions in the service requests forum I just ignore any vague ones.

I don't do big jobs as I don't have the time. I have a minimum charge of $40 for up to an hours work on small jobs, it's just not worth the effort for anything less.

Looking at your request princessfrozen you simply aren't offering enough.

Ah...so what would be a good amount to offer for that, given that a lot of the work has already been done?

Same reason here. I usually do hack installs and when someone just says "I need a chat application" I ignore it.

Also the grammar... Dear God is it awful sometimes.

Add a zero ^^

I guess it also depends upon the revenue of your site and if you dont mind the coder maintaining all copyrights. I mean for $85 I would consider it if you had no problem with me releasing it at either a lower price or for free.

Ah now see this is useful information. Perhaps there should be some sort of standardized request format so this stuff can be communicated up front. For example, I am all for releasing hacks to the public or the coder reselling. However, I wasn't aware that was a factor in the pricing of requests.

Hmmm so added to the list of what the service request area needs (IMHO)...standardized formatting of service requests, coder ratings, a completed check box that makes the thread disappear from the forum....

Im not a coder but what I THINK is because a lot of them ask for TOO much for the minimal pay......Never satisfied.......and cant explain well

Im not a coder :p but i can do a thing or two. and i know im NEVER doing any custom pay....

and also the fact that a lot makes you do the work and never pays.....no one has time to waiste....and coders does as much work as any person in an office job

my 2 cents :)

Design-wise, I usually don't bother with projects under $400. It takes time to gather information about a project and communicate everything and make sure everything is clear on both parties, and I feel that my time is best spent working on larger-yield projects. Spending two hours talking about a project and then one hour of actually working on the project in exchange for an hour's work is simply not worthwhile.

When it comes to coding, I usually don't take on small projects. Historically, it's always been relatively large projects that take a month or two.

I have a rather unique stance on service requests most days. I do ones that interest me or that I know I can do with no fuss or muss. And, my pay scale is the strangest you'll see around here. I typically do the work, then give you my paypal address and tell you to throw whatever you think it's worth at the paypal. If the client pays too little, I know not to accept work from them again.

I've only been stiffed once, and I still have my faith in the general fairness of the people that I work for around here.

But, I don't generally do requests anymore because I'm just too swamped between my day job and the day at the paper.

I have never asked for any paid work to be done, though people have suggested I should several times.

My feeling is that it it seems a bit rude for the person wanting the work done to suggest the price. Surely it is better for the coder to give an estimate.

All this $5 stuff, well that's a joke to be honest unless it really is about 5 minutes' work. There are a few things I might consider offering out at some point soon, I wouldn't dream of saying $5. I'd want to pick a trustworthy coder and ask them to give me a quote or estimate.

I do this occasionally.