In this business there are so many disciplines and it's hard (not recommended even) to become an expert in all of them. Sometimes I wonder whether too many try to do everything on their own when it may be better to partner up?

 

For example, some people on here have strong Photoshop skills and designs apps which everyone likes. If they teamed up with the right coder they could make a fortune.

 

I know of some very good coders who aren't as strong on making things look nice and could use a hand on that side.

 

Another example - people who are turning down work because they have too many projects when other guys are having quiet spells. It's a shame.

 

I can't help thinking with this large community at WDF opportunities are being missed simply because we don't get together more.

 

Maybe we could have a list of people who are open to the idea of collaboration (it doesn't have to be carved in stone, I know there are pitfalls to this too so people need to be cautious who they work with). If it's something you would be open to mention it below? Include what your strengths are and what type of person you think you would benefit most from collaborating with.

Yes i think people should collaborate more.

I think the reason they don't is fear of the unknown. Unless you know someone very well, it's a scary prospect handing over half the work. People also get in to the 'It's my baby' mindset and sometimes it's hard to distance yourself from a project in that way.

 

The difficulty in collaborating with others is in finding someone who shares the same core values as yourself.

I agree - but I could never collaborate with a project I'm getting paid for, with someone I've not met. There would definitely need to be several conversations over many a pint before I think I'd feel comfortable doing it.

 

Just for fun projects or unpaid stuff I'm doing off my own back would be different.

 

I totally agree though we need more collaboration.

I hear ya.

 

Just wanted to mention along similar lines sometimes we get projects that don't float our boat but might be good for somebody else so with could maybe have arrangements where we recommend each other.

 

For example, yesterday I declined a job that was to redesign a drupal website (the front-end design part only, not the code) which was some kind of sports related app.

 

It would have been good if I could have emailed the chap with someone I could recommend rather than just passing it up. Seemed like a waste but drupal isn't really my thing.

I have a select bunch of people i have on stand by if for some reason i'm un-able to take on a job for some reason. These are people that i trust to deliver a good product, whose work i have seen and whose methods i agree with. I pass their details on to the client rather than take on the work and contract it out.

I have a select bunch of people i have on stand by if for some reason i'm un-able to take on a job for some reason. These are people that i trust to deliver a good product, whose work i have seen and whose methods i agree with. I pass their details on to the client rather than take on the work and contract it out.

 

From WDF?

From various places but yeah WDF and #wdf.

I have passed on things to people on here. In fact Mike I actually passed a friend along to you the other week, though I have no idea whether he did contact you, nor whether he's a "good" client.

 

I'm happy to do that to be honest, working full time makes me too busy to take on work but I do get approached sometimes, so I probably will pass them along to people on here and possibly elsewhere.

 

It's very casual though, depends who I thought of at the time.

Despite other forum folks having strong skills, trust is the all-important factor. I personally wouldn't share work with someone I couldn't trust 99% to be available to speak to/ email/ whatever, and of course deliver on time.

 

Referring work is different - if it's only a client that has to deal with someone and not me *and* a client, I'm less fussy. The client can make their own judgements about who they work with. Of course I'd never recommend someone who doesn't at least have a good reputation.

trust is the all-important factor.

 

I agree. That's undoubtably the main reason stopping more collabs.

 

Even if you were to just recommend someone you would want to know you are recommending someone good and reliable otherwise your own reputation could still be at stake.

I have passed on things to people on here. In fact Mike I actually passed a friend along to you the other week, though I have no idea whether he did contact you, nor whether he's a "good" client.

 

Yeah cheers for that Mike, i only got the time to reply to him this morning but thanks for thinking of me dude.

I like to do things myself and this often ends with me way out of my comfort zone learning new things and taking up loads of time. When I don't have the time, don't fancy the challenge or want to make sure its top quality I pass it on to people I worked with at uni. This is defiantly a plus of going to uni; you have 3 years of working with other students and very quickly you can tell who is talented and who is hard working. Instead of passing on work in the future it's very possible we'll move to combining into one design agency.

I think its a great idea. Maybe a useful addition to wdf? Like a collabration section, and each user has a profile, and people who have worked with x person can leave some kind of review - helping others put trust into them, if they are well rated etc?

 

Its a good idea, but would need panning out properly.

I think its a great idea. Maybe a useful addition to wdf? Like a collabration section, and each user has a profile, and people who have worked with x person can leave some kind of review - helping others put trust into them, if they are well rated etc?

 

Its a good idea, but would need panning out properly.

 

 

Yeah, you're right.

 

This has inspired me to get on with something - I'll post back shortly with more details.

Yeah, you're right.

 

This has inspired me to get on with something - I'll post back shortly with more details.

 

Go for it Oak.

Go for it Oak.

 

 

Hmm, just looking into it at the moment. It may be too much work for just me. Speaking of collabs if a strong coder like renaissance wants to get involved and a rock solid UX designer then get in touch!

 

 

freemly.com

Yeah, you're right.

 

This has inspired me to get on with something - I'll post back shortly with more details.

 

 

Good luck

 

edit:

If you really wanted to persue this, it could actually be quite a big thing. I imagine it sort of like themeforest etc, but rather than templates - people skills!

Edited April 18, 201214 yr by jamesosix

Good luck

 

Thanks

I would be up for collaborating with a designer!

 

Great idea I think.

Cheers RJG, well I'm on with it and although it's well in it's early stages if people want to sign up and give feedback that would be great.

 

http://www.freemly.com

 

I will be working on it over the next week in between my other projects.

 

Thanks for the support, appreciated. I think there has been a need for something like this for quite a while

Edited April 18, 201214 yr by oakleaves

Just tried signing up but get:

ERROR: This site prevents robots from registering and you don't appear to be human. If you're a real person, please contact the administrator of this site.

 

I wish I was a robot!

 

Just thought you should know mate

 

edit:

Would you be adding SEO as a category? I know its kinda its own category, but I imagine many people get asked about it, who dont like saying no and yet have no experience of seo, or very limited.

 

Just a thought.

Edited April 18, 201214 yr by jamesosix

Just tried signing up but get:

ERROR: This site prevents robots from registering and you don't appear to be human. If you're a real person, please contact the administrator of this site.

 

I wish I was a robot!

 

Just thought you should know mate

 

edit:

Would you be adding SEO as a category? I know its kinda its own category, but I imagine many people get asked about it, who dont like saying no and yet have no experience of seo, or very limited.

 

Just a thought.

 

This is exactly the kind of feedback I need, thanks.

 

Yeah the categories are by no means complete will defo add SEO and a whole load more.

 

Try signing up again. If you get any more issues let me know (I already know of one or two more bugs at present so please feel free to add your feedback via the orange button at the bottom).

 

Long way off yet, just working on the functionality really. Later I'll also focus on making it look good.

Edited April 18, 201214 yr by oakleaves

This piques my interest.

 

As a beginner trying to get a first site live, I'm slowly becoming a jack of all trades, master of none. It's small bits of code that are tripping me up. I'd like to have time to develop in one particular area but I'm constantly jumping around.

 

But yeah, I can see how it would be difficult to colab on a paid project without knowing the person well.

But yeah, I can see how it would be difficult to colab on a paid project without knowing the person well.

 

Well this service aims to bring people together, maybe they might collab on smaller/less critical projects initially then, as with all relationships, trust will build up over time.

 

Everyone seems to see the potential benefits of collaboration it's just getting over that first hurdle and this site aims to try and help people do just that. At least, that's the goal anyway!

 

I'm slowly becoming a jack of all trades, master of none

 

That's what can happen by and large when we work alone. Sometimes we are skilled enough to complete the entire project well but web design seems to be branching off more and more into specialist fields and it's becomming increasing difficult in my opinion (if not impossible) to excel in all areas of web design.

Edited April 18, 201214 yr by oakleaves

This is interesting, very good idea. +1

This is interesting, very good idea. +1

 

 

Thanks - I wasn't sure how everybody felt and to be honest I wasn't planning to make this website at all today!! But with the comments I'm getting I'm already getting a buzz from it so will put all my effort into it now.

Hmm, just looking into it at the moment. It may be too much work for just me. Speaking of collabs if a strong coder like renaissance wants to get involved and a rock solid UX designer then get in touch!

 

 

freemly.com

 

Well hi there.

 

Great idea, drop me a line with what you've got planned.

Well hi there.

 

Great idea, drop me a line with what you've got planned.

 

Great, you'll be hearing from me

I am interested too. I'm not sure exactly what your plan is - but is a website to collaborate on not the perfect excuse to collaborate?

 

In other words I'd be happy to lend a hand. Not sure right now how much time I can give, I have birthdays and other stuff going on this week but next week looks quiet.

I am interested too. I'm not sure exactly what your plan is - but is a website to collaborate on not the perfect excuse to collaborate?

 

In other words I'd be happy to lend a hand. Not sure right now how much time I can give, I have birthdays and other stuff going on this week but next week looks quiet.

 

That's cool. Give's me and Renaissance chance to work on the bugs and functionality. In the meantime if you give thought to what you think might make it better / what sort of functionality will be wanted by users and when you get chance next week we can look at adding these, as well as making it look top notch.

 

I have set up a basecamp for it and will invite you both now via email..

Ill be keeping an eye on this, sounds like it could be interesting. Specially if there is an SEO section. Anything you need help with, then just let me known onviously, my help is limited to SEO :-)

Ill be keeping an eye on this, sounds like it could be interesting. Specially if there is an SEO section. Anything you need help with, then just let me known onviously, my help is limited to SEO :-)

 

Cool, will probs look at SEO after we work on the look of it. That's good, would be very useful.

Interesting stuff Oak, i'll get myself over there now. Of course same goes that if you need any help with anything then you know where to find me.

Interesting stuff Oak, i'll get myself over there now. Of course same goes that if you need any help with anything then you know where to find me.

 

Definitely, I'll probs fire a few things over once renaissance and I get the ball rolling with the bug fixes and feature requests

nice on oaksy, I have been thinking about a similar concept for a while, mainly because I have no coding skills beyond html/css and am eager to work on more elaborate projects.

 

Just joined freemly, where did the name come from?

 

One thing I immediately noticed as different/odd was that after my confirmation email I was redirected to your login page, and here my location was echo'ed to where I need to type my username...?

 

Like the idea and glad to join, might get interesting.

 

P.H.

Well, I'm fairly new to web development but looking for experience, so if anyone has anything quite simple they would like working on, I'd be happy to do it free of charge just to develop my skills.

Just joined freemly, where did the name come from?

 

It was during a brainstorming session for another project. I was thinking along the lines of freelance / friendly / kinda thing and I wanted a quirky memorable name. Had the domain for a while but it seemed to fit for this too.

 

 

One thing I immediately noticed as different/odd was that after my confirmation email I was redirected to your login page, and here my location was echo'ed to where I need to type my username...?

 

Thanks for the heads up, we'll be dealing with these things over the next week - if you notice anything more or have any further suggestions for bugs / features / improvements then please use the orange feedback tab on the site.

 

One thing I would like to add as that peoples details are only viewable by themselves and friends by default. To make it so that other people can see you need to change that in your account settings.

I wouldn't mind helping but it would be for a month or two, dissertation season

Shout if you need anything.

Shout if you need anything.

I'd love a sandwich.

 

And a cup of tea while you're up