Who do you consult for advice on developing web apps?
I'd like to offer a new web app to my clients. It will require building some stuff, but I'm not coder, and this probably isn't the kind of thing you can do with no-code. I'd like to just consult with a developer about building this without hiring someone (from, say, Upwork) who develops in a specific platform and tries to sell me on why that's the absolute perfect way to go. How do I find someone who can give me unbiased opinion on the best next steps?
I feel you, Jordan.
As somebody else said, the best way is to find a coder who is gaining nothing from giving you the advice. The other option would be to align interests so that they would benefit from giving you sound advice (and lose from a bad one).
That is of course if they are qualified to give you the advice in the first place. A good test for believability is the following:
You need to talk with a product-minded developer: a person who knows how to navigate the problem space, not only the solution space.
Unfortunately, most freelancers and agencies are better at selling hands and not brains because they charge by the hour (input) and not by results—they make more money by taking longer and delegating to junior developers.
I've always embraced my generalism as a software engineer so I never found myself in your position. But I understand the pain after having worked with "biased" developers myself.
Do you have anybody in your network who's both a coder and had a couple of successes working on similar products as the one you want to build for your client? I'd start from there.
Happy to help with that, Jordan! Wanna have a quick chat?
The only way to get a completely unbiased opinion would be if the person you're talking to stands to gain nothing from giving you the advice, maybe try someone in a similar position to yourself.
IMO though, you can't really go too wrong with React/Nextjs for front end and Firebase for backend/auth. Super scalable and easy to work with. Only real issue is that it can be difficult to integrate full text search without paying to use an external library, just an additional cost.
Best of luck!
Biased opinion is inevitable somehow, as developer Id lean towards the technology stack/platform am familiar the most. I typically ask these developers, ok good I buy your reasoning, but what is the one reason we shouldn't use this stack/technology?
Hmm... folks are really hung up on this "biased" thing. It's not like I need a Supreme Court justice? I'm just looking for someone who can be a bit agnostic about the best way to build something instead of just recommending a specific stack they want to sell me on.
I was not a coder. I fell flat on my face by consulting with the wrong coders, freelancers. I decided to learn coding. It took me ~6 months to get comfortable with code; and I've lived happily ever after.