We love what we do here at BuildAJoomlaWebsite. We're passionate about helping people learn and discover what they can do for themselves, even if that's discovering a brand new career!
At times, however, you might have a specific need that's a bit beyond our tutorials, or you might decide that your project really requires some outside help because you'd like to be managing your Joomla website instead of struggling through developing and customizing it.
There are many great Joomla designers and Joomla developers out there waiting to work on your project, but where do you find them?
We were asked this question so many times that we thought a good post about finding Joomla freelancers was due. We don't necessarily endorse any of these sites or companies, but we do offer them as potential resources for finding help on your Joomla project.
Unless otherwise noted, all of the sites here present some kind of rating system, usually a 5 star scale, and show job history with each profile.
oDesk
There are 36,481 Contractors for Joomla on oDesk as of this post.
One of the best features of Odesk is the search capability. Once you type in your search term, Joomla for instance, you can then filter by category, feedback score, hourly rate, minimum hours billed, tests, location and a lot more. There is also a filter for English level, but this is self-assessed and not always completely accurate.
Payments, both sending and receiving, are fairly easy to deal with on oDesk, but remember that these sites do take percentages. You will pay a bit more and receive a bit less because of this.
Communication with contractors on oDesk can be a bit spotty, so be very careful in your initial contact to avoid problems.
Elance.com
There are 24,265 results for Joomla on Elance as of this post.
The search feature on Elance is quite good with the ability to filter and sort on many different criteria, such as work type, tested skills, location, feedback, reviews, hourly rate and groups. The location search can also be very specific with Country, State, City, Zip Code and proximity as options.
Elance provides a "Level" number. According to the website, "Level represents activity and experience on Elance. Contractors start at Level 1 and achieve higher levels through their work. A higher 'Level' indicates greater earnings, ratings and other achievements on Elance." Each profile page shows an "Overview" for each worker or company, as well as a percentage of repeat clients.
In addition to verifying payment sources, Elance also provides verification for phone numbers and locations of workers.
Freelancer.com
No specific results for Joomla, but the site reports 3,962,676 freelancers working. There are many pages of workers returned from a search on the term Joomla. The search function at Freelancer.com is a bit clunky. It can be hard to go through all of the results from a search, and there doesn't appear to be an advanced search feature or good filter.
Each freelancer is shown with a Reputation score and an earnings number. With the activity shown for each freelancer, there is also a percentage (out of 100%) for Completion Rate, On Budget, On Time, and Repeat Hire Rate.
Page layout is good here, and navigation is very Web 2.0. There's also a feature where you can host a website design contest and get many designs to choose from and then pay for the one you like. This is similar to 99designs.
Guru.com
There are 6,588 results for Joomla on Guru as of this post.
Guru.com is a bit smaller and less formal in tone from the other freelance websites. They're based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and use freelancers themselves.
Guru's search feature is good, with several key filters, such as skill, location and industry. They also have a budget filter for searches as freelancers can offer both a minimum hourly wage as well as a minimum budget rate. This can be very helpful if you are more comfortable working on a project budget basis.
Profile pages in Guru.com are not quite as user friendly, with a tabbed layout and lots of data to sort through.
Joomlancers.com
The best thing about Joomlancers, at least for our purposes, is that it is mostly dedicated to Joomla resources.
The front page of Joomlancers is quite nice as it presents a quick overview of the most recent projects, top providers, most recent reviews, and most recent awards. This is a great place for a quick start at finding help.
The navigation on Joomlancers isn't incredible, but the fact that the pool is so condensed eases that a lot. Joomlancers relys a great deal on messaging between Providers and Buyers, and bids are placed for jobs posted.
Although it is dedicated to Joomla in name and spirit, there are several other categories where you can find help on projects outside of Joomla, including Drupal and Wordpress.
Fiverr.com
If you've never perused fiverr, you should. Just make sure you're doing so when you have a few hours to kill. It's truly amazing what some people will do for five dollars, sometimes even scary.
Fiverr.com will, however, provide you with a good resource for quick Joomla installations, bug fixes and small template tweaks. There are also providers on fiverr that will do bigger jobs, but it will cost you more than a fiver.
Make sure to check Gig Rating for reliability and how many orders are in a seller's queue to see how long you will have to wait for your work to be done.
Linkedin.com Joomla User Group
There is an active community of Joomla users on Linkedin, and at times there are jobs posted there. While you might be better off searching for a full time web developer in this way, there are most definitely contractors that frequent Linkedin. If they're active in this group, chances are that they know what they're doing.
Local Joomla User Groups (JUGs)
According to joomla.com, "Local Joomla User Groups (JUG) are a great way to meet new people, get help with a project, or share your own knowledge with other Joomla users."
This would be a great place to find help for a more involved project that had a bigger budget or a more fleshed out business plan perhaps. The people you might meet at these user groups are probably professionals working in the industry, and possibly there specifically looking for some freelance work. You also have the benefit of meeting face to face this way.
Joomla.org Resources Directory
Joomla.org also has a Resource Directory in the Community and Support section of the website. You can search by category or location, and the services are broken down into specific categories, such as consulting, freelancing, graphic design and even project management.
Check The Joomla Resource Directory
Google it!
This often overlooked tool is so pervasive that we forget to start there sometimes. While it can be overwhelming, it can also lead to a more directed search when using the right keywords.
For instance, searching on "joomla developer san diego" returns over 2.4 million results, but the top several are very promising. Terms such as joomla extension developer, joomla template developer, and joomla website creator are all great terms to start with. Adding in your specific location can also help, but isn't at all necessary.
So as you can see, there are a lot of similarities between some of these resources, and you will even find that many of the busiest Joomla developers and designers are listed in multiple sites. If you do some homework and check your prospects very carefully, it is possible to get good help for an affordable price. And just like a really good mechanic or doctor, once you find your favorite Joomla developer, you may not want to let them go.