Starting an open source project a few questions if i may

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So i have this awesome idea for an app.Not a new idea since proprietary software currently limited to windows and mac already exists.I like what the current software does but have ideas to improve it and want a native Linux version.Now if my coding skills were at an acceptable level i would likely scratch my itch and code something up.Since i feel like im still in nappies when it comes to reading/writing code, have very little patience,i thought well maybe i could just pay someone to take my idea to reality.

Having a mortgage, i figured i could probably afford to pay someone to work part time for around $60h 8hrs a week for around 6months.
Am i better getting someone to work an 8 hour day or a couple of hours each day?

Understanding many developers expect much more $$ per hour then willing to pay are outsourcing options like upwork viable? Having poor coding skills myself, how in the world am i in a position to even hire/find a decent coder? Pay a 3rd party to recruit?
Would i be better going to my local university and posting a job notification to less qualified students ?

So my thought process was to pay a developer to bring my ideas to a working beta then release the code as an open source project.Keep the developer around for a couple more months fixing bugs/polishing so on .

So say a couple of folk went hey thats not a bad program here is a pull request. Since not really in a position to determine good bad code, and not wanting to pay a developer indefinitely to review/approve others code, what suggestions would folk have in transitioning this over to a self governed community run project, so it can constantly be improved beyond my financial input.How does one take it from hey this is what feature/function i want thats why i got it built like this to letting the community take control?

Concerns = The program works but when released everyone says code is such shit it needs a total re write
Dreaming the unachievable dream.

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This is a really interesting question. We discussed how to find a developer in http://www.badvoltage.org/2015/03/19/1x38/, which may help, although we didn’t arrive at much of a good conclusion! I don’t think there’s one best way chosen from “8 hours days” vs “2 hour days”; that’s best discussed with the developer you choose to work with, I think. Your budget, which I’ve roughly estimated at $11,000 based on what you’ve said, seems a reasonable one, and I think you could happily approach agencies with a high-level app spec and that budget and have a useful discussion.

Transitioning the project once built into a viable open source project with a self-sustaining community is important, and @jonobacon will I suspect explain some ways that you want to consider how this will happen right from the beginning of the project, but it’s a secondary concern; have a working project first :slight_smile:

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I don’t really know about hiring developers but for the open-source part my thought would be to avoid “transitioning” if you can: manage your project openly from the start by setting-up a git repository for the code and use a bugtracker to organize the work and making them both public.
That gives you time to build a community while your project is actively developed and your paid developer can help on-board new maintainers (review pull-requests, etc.).
Off course you will need to find a developer who accept to work in this way :slight_smile:

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Just out of interest what is the idea?
(I’m not a C developer I’m just curious)