I am in need of an accomplished web app designer for an app that will
be heavily dependent on users' inputting data and efficiently
retrieving it (think match.com). I am inclined to a java/linux
operation. Any help as to where I can find a reasonable consultant
(alas I am poor (for now) but in need of competent sounding board to
educate me. Thanks. PS I am in LA but am amenable to any good sources.

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Request for Question Clarification by snapanswer-ga on 25 Mar 2003 16:29 PST

Are you looking for web developer job posting sites where you can post
an ad for a developer?

If you decide to use "The Triad" (Apache web server, PHP application
server, MySQL database server) you may find that there are dating
site, "hot or not", and "hot or not" scripts that you could customize
to fit your needs.

If you indicate that links to this type of information would serve as
an acceptable answer, I will post it here.

There are many different sources for finding web developers from
around the world on the Internet, some that will work at surprisingly
low prices (by American standards). The best one that I can think of
is Elance (http://www.elance.com). I have used elance a number of
times to find programmers for small projects and have had very good
luck with them. There are many programmers there from India and
Eastern European countries that will work for $10-$20 an hour and of
course there are many more programmers from America and other places
that might cost a bit more. If you are concerned about the quality of
their work, Elance provides a feedback system so you can easily see
how each programming company has been rated by previous clients. You
can either post your project and have companies bid on it, or you can
contact companies directly.

Some similar sites include: 

http://www.freelancersdirect.com/
http://www.projectspring.com/freelance/index.html
http://www.contractedwork.com
http://www.freelancewebprojects.com/
http://www.scriptlance.com/
http://www.programmingbids.com/
http://www.thecentralmall.com/index.html
http://www.scriptalliance.com/

Also, be aware that as a previous commenter mentioned, there are many,
many scripts that you can either get for free or for very cheap and
have them modified to meet your needs. You may want to look for a
script first that is close to what you need (you'll find many at
http://www.scriptsearch.com)and then find a programmer to modify it
rather than pay them by the hour to make one from scratch.

Hope this helps and good luck with your project!
-shiva777