Interesting. I'm surprised they don't have an escrow system set up. Maybe it's impractical for a labor market.
They do. It might be impractical if you just want a piece of source code that can't be demonstrated when compiled, but even then you can do a milestone payment system. Probably more to the story than was posted.
I have done a few projects with this programmer. I ALWYAS received a fully functioning module. Sometimes he had to make corrections, which he did within a few your and at NO EXTRA charge. Sending a part of the software to show you can program is stupid. The client wants a complete and functioning program that is for 100% what he asked. This programmer is a dream to work with. That's why I did several small projects with him. He was only not lucky to run in to an *** who's only aim was to get free software. There was nothing else. I paid 50-75$ for each module, so normal people expect that at these prices you will get payed correctly. It was a wrong assumption. The fact that the ET poster was only on ET for a very short time and disappeared again confirms that it was on purpose. I will try to find the name of this ET criminal and post it later. You can check yourself then the way it went.
You actually did what I was advocating. You had multiple modules, you paid for each when it was done, so the programmer knew you were honest didn't have to do all the work up front at risk, and you knew, after the first module, that he/she did quality work. Essentially a milestone system. Not perfect but does limit the risk to both parties.
This was the criminal an on ET: Cyn Donn He was a few months here and disappeared again, at least with that alias... He wrote 5 postings in total, all in the same thread. So clear what his intentions were.
I do consider it is a very good idea to use a micro service architecture (independent self-standing software components/modules). That way you can more easily outsource your development on other parties. You write tests against the API (I/O), where you test compliance against the specification. Conformance of input API, output API and API round trip latency. They (developer) can chose freely the programming language as micro services are language agnostic and one can mix different programming languages in one application.
I did not do it only in programming, but also in building the mathematical part of my system. It has a lot of advantages and gives better control over the entire project. Very helpful in case of problems and much more flexibility.
I think Mtrader's story shows a couple of "best practices" here: -- clearly define your needs for yourself and be able to precisely communicate those to others -- choose a programmer with experience and good reviews in the subject and programming language you require -- cut down the job into smaller parts -- start with one part and learn from the experience anything else to add? thanks
Considering the time it will take to get this done properly through multiple programmers you might as well learn Python yourself. Upwork is the worst place in the world to hire someone for a sensitive project like trading system development. It's an unspoken condition on that platform that the programmer will retain and use your intellectual property how he/she likes and that's why you're paying the low rate. If they know you'll be splitting it between programmers so the IP is effectively worthless to them they will not be interested or will want to charge you a much higher price. Mtrader has been able to do it because he knows how they think and managed to get away with it by being one step ahead. Most people won't be able to do this or it will become such a headache that you would've been better off learning Python yourself in the first place. If it me, I wouldn't waste anymore time and get the ball rolling asap with Quantopian or Quantiac. You'd be surprised how quickly you can learn something when you start making progress and you can see the light at the end of the tunnel.