When hiring a developer, many people don’t know what questions they should be asking – if they knew, then they’d probably be doing the work themselves, right?
First and foremost – ask for examples of previous projects. The surefire way to weed out the novices is to look at their previous work. How much of it is there? Are they still being used and updated? An experienced web developer will have worked on dozens of projects.
Next, call their clients. Generally they don’t mind and it’s a great way to gauge how they treat their clients and the actual scope of their involvement on any given project.
Is your web developer using CSS3 and HTML5? These are the latest in web trends and, by now, everyone should be using them. Along those same lines is your developer creating responsive designs? Responsive means that the website displays correctly on all devices, from desktops to smartphones. The website should alter its display properties seamlessly when viewing on different devices.
Is the deposit refundable? If not, that might be an indication that the developer knows their product might not be satisfactory. Nothing short of a 100% satisfaction guarantee will do. If you don’t have a website, you should not have to pay.
What other languages does the developer code in? A quality developer will work with several languages. These include: PHP, Ruby, Perl, ASP, Python, etc…?
This should get anyone started and you should have a good idea of how experienced your developer actually is before writing a check.