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I've been trying to find a freelancer on various sites to development some modules etc. on an existing J1.5 site.

I've tried the usual sites such as Odesk.com (and off course here on Joomla.org) and all I get is nothing. Its seems its hard to find a freelancer that actually has done it before / has reference cases?!?

I've changed the budget etc but lots of claims and no references or views on how to create/develop the modules etc. Whenever I did get a reference site its almost the basic template but with different colors.

its kinda So my question is, what sites are good and reliable for finding Joomla developers, with references and ratings?

I can't speak for Wordpress or Drupal communities, but I've noticed Joomla tends to be made up largely of amateur web developers.

I can't speak for everyone, but from my own experience, those of us that are proficient in PHP and following proper web standards are often so busy, we don't need to look on freelancer.com and similar sites. I've never even had to advertise my services, word of mouth has always been enough.

Oddly, I've noticed this trend too, but from the other side. I built a portfolio, but shockingly few clients request to see past works.

As for finding a freelancer who has already done what you want, how can you expect someone to have already built what you want as a custom extension? If that were likely, wouldn't something already be in the JED?

Unless you meant you can't find someone who has experience writing Joomla extensions, in which case, you're quite justified in demanding experience. My first few extensions were written very poorly.

Just joined in to muse. If I were you, I'd look around for local web development companies, and specifically ask for Joomla development experience. Those online boards are often filled with amateur developers who do not know/follow web standards, accessibility standards, or the API and best practices of Joomla :S

Thanks, helpfull post. I meant the second point, I do not expect someone to have build what I am looking for but 'some' experience with extensions is my requirement

The thing is, I have looked for local companies (I'm in Europe). I have found some and asked for quotes and I just don't get a reply eventhough I can see in the webstats that they have been checking out the site.

And whenever they do reply, they charge consulting like fees. Apparently they either work for the largest companies or they are the 'amateur' developers as you described.

Are you busy?

I think you only need create new topic with requirement, description about what you want at this forum: viewforum.php?f=177
There are always developers have extensive experience ready to help you.

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I don't know if posting URLs for job boards is prohibited as a form of advertising but there's a website called joomlancers where you can hire freelancers working with Joomla all the time.

This website has been up for a while and the credibility of the users over there is high!

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Thx for the suggestions. Let's see if I can find the support I am looking for

Good advice on screening out developers who don't follow Joomla best practices or web standards, any advice for how a non-developer would pick a developer that meets these standards? Not sure exactly what I would ask to make that determination. Thx.

Ketch12, in general, asking a new question in someone else's thread is considered rude. You should ask your question in a new thread as it isn't the same as JJJo's problem.

However, I will answer in this case, just because it may help JJJo anyway.

A few decent questions:
- Explain MVC and why it is important to Joomla. (Then make sure they didn't copy and paste their answer from Wiki or the Joomla docs :P )
- What extensions have you written in the past?
- Can you lead me to links to past client's pages that are using your extensions? (This is preferable to their own demo page, because it indicates the client was satisfied enough to keep the extension)
- In your opinion, how important is it to validate under w3 standards? (The only answer here is it should pass with no errors or warnings - if someone doesn't know what it is, or doesn't bother with it, they're probably no good. Test their samples as well, see if it passes under http://validator.w3.org)

I'd ask further technical questions as well, but you aren't going to be able to test their answers if you don't have the knowledge either.

Best of luck to the both of you

JJJo - sorry, didn't mean to take over your thread, I'm still learning my forum etiquette.

rand486 - thanks for the answer and for pointing me in the right direction on the new thread.