User:ErrantX/2013 Developer role

This page is a draft proposal for a contracted developer to handle WMUK needs over the short term & to act as a base for building long term technology strategy.

Background

Recently a developer position was advertised; it appears no successful candidate was found. At the time criticism was made of the process in hiring a developer - some of the comments included:

• Broad scope of tasks (from project management through programming to sysadmin)
• Relatively low wage (the description was looking for an all-rounder with management experience, in London, at a rate around £10K below the going rate)
• Lack of definition of work (it was unclear what tasks would need to be performed)

Need

Wikimedia UK does need developer support; currently servers and services are being supported by volunteers (in fact; mainly one volunteer I believe). In addition there is no support for the UK MediaWiki developer community etc.

Proposal

This proposal suggests that for the 2013 budget period Wikimedia UK hires a developer for one day a week, with a contract agreement for "out of hours" support. This is fairly common for smaller firms needing technical support, but without the immediate need for a full time worker.

Although contract prices are generally higher than full-time employment rates, the overall budget should be significantly less than what was earmarked in 2012. It will be more than one-fifth of a full-time employee at ~£25,000; however, it should allow us to find the better qualified candidates that the previous proposal wanted.

I contract could be flexible to allow e.g. the developer to attend weekend events (the ability to volunteer to be at events would also be a plus!) but the contracted working day should normally be fixed each week.

Scope of work

The role would involve:

• Technical support for office staff
• Technical support for volunteer events
• Development/Maintenance of WMUK servers and services

The developer/manager could be a remote worker (and indeed that would be almost a certainty) providing support to the office in various ways. A budget line could be created for occasional travel to London for in-person meetings & support.

Non-urgent matters could be queued up via email or the office wiki for completion/discussion on the contracted day. Urgent matters under a certain hourly limit per week could be used by all staff/board - above the hourly limit by authorisation of the CE/Board.

Budget

I propose keeping the developer budget the same as last year (£30,000) or less. Here is an outline of a possible budget; with a more well defined requirements then hardware/software budgets could be factored in. It could also include a travel budget to allow the developer to attend hackathon's etc. as appropriate.

Line Item	Unit Price	Units	Total (£)
Developer, 1 day per week	£100 (£12.50/hr)*	52	5,200
Developer, hourly support	£15	100**	1500
Technical Budget	TBD	n/a	10,000
			£16,700

• Estimated unit cost - I recommend tendering for competitive offers
  • This is an estimation of the amount of out-of-hours support required based on my own experience, it is probably an overestimate

Process

I recommend a tendering process where Wikimedia UK defines its requirements - including experience and expected projects - and invites individuals to tender proposals.