How to find developers

How on earth do you find good developers?

After a few weeks of players complaining your plugins aren't unique, or when you wake up one morning and you find out your enjin subscription just ended and thought, "I wish I used something better!"

This guide will go through which developers to hire and common questions/things people get wrong. After you set up your server, you probably will need developers. Finding them is tricky, as they are like fish at the bottom of the sea. MC Market and Fiverr are both good places to hire developers but wait! Those developers want money for short term projects. Your best bet would be to post a now hiring on a minecraft forum, or ask for developers in discords (be warned, that asking for staff may count as advertising!)

Not every developer will stay with you until the end of your server, as they usually leave once their job is done. This is probably becuase work for multiple servers. Developers that work for multiple servers are usually the best ones, as they constantly have servers hiring them.

Most developers wont work on all aspects of your server as they usually just one component, like bot development or web development. Plugin development is much more different as that requires a Java developer. Developers aren't apples they don't grow on trees (xD). They are a rare breed of human (they intake pizza and coffee and output code), once you find one you should keep them happy. 

Bot development

If your discord server has over 5-10 bots or it doesn't look appealing then go find a developer. These developers are most likely to be on large bot related servers or Fiverr or McMarket. Bot development should take less than a month to finish.

You should only ask for the things you need and may need not crazy features that look cool but don't do anything. These developers want to have lives so you should treat them as a human.
If you are in the market for a bot please bear in mind developers want money so you should be prepared for it. $5-$30 it should normally cost you. If they are asking for $30+ ask to see their previous work and think about what you're ordering.

Website development:

So you have website hosting that comes with your Plox Host plan? Or you have a server and want to have a website? There's a species of developers calleded web developers. They come in a variety of different stacks. Flux’s favourite is the MERN stack.(Mongo, express, react, node js) (Harold’s Fav stack is prob LAMP <- he's a boomer).

If you are looking for a forum site or have lots of money around $200+ then have a look into xenforo. Be warned Xenforo will be quite hard to set up. If you are looking for a free forum script, try mybb (Equally hard to setup). It has the same functionalities of xenforo, though xenforo gives you more options for customization and will have better server stability. (BE WARNED THAT FOR BOTH XENFORO AND MYBB, YOU NEED TO SELF HOST IT!) A great webhost would be plox.host webhosting. If you are saving on things then a basic enjin site will suffice. However be warned many players don't like enjin sites, and you should move off enjin as soon as possible.

If you want something different then find a PHP developer as they can implement something into most hosting services. If you have a VPS or a KVM (virtual private server where you can host multiple services in one place) you can host a web server like Apache2 or Nginx and run it yourself.

If you can't find a PHP developer then have a look for a JavaScript developer. JavaScript is not Java, as JS is a scripting language and Java will run in a JVM (That guide coming soon). Web development is usually split into front end and back end development. If you find one that does both then you found your Savior. For JavaScript the front end framework you should use is either React or vue.js, and the backend framework is normally express.js.

Plugin development

You don't need bot or web development. These are the rarest breed of developers and require the most attention. These plugins may take weeks or months to develop so any questions should be answered as soon as possible.

These developers have the most access to your server. If they send you a bad plugin it could ruin your server by deleting your files or by creating lag. Always hire a trusted developer from sites like Fiverr or McMarket. You should always store backups of your server in case something happens like this.

It's essential you have at least 1 plugin developer either short term or long term for your plugins. Servers with custom plugins are more engaging as most of the players haven't experienced the specific plugin before.

How do I hire one for free?

Post an announcement on your server looking for developers as they are more likely to be willing to get special in-game privileges then to have money. However this is a dangerous method but can be rewarding. (Remember that Plox Host helpers are always there to help you too!).

Written by Fluxedscript, Edited by Harold.