Wow, hard question.

Ranks right up there with "How to buy a used car in a foreign country when you don't speak the language."

Your going to have a hard time finding a single clean answer that your happy with.

The programmer is going to expect to be paid for the time that they work. They will build what you ask for. If you ask for something that is not what you want they will still build it and charge you for it.

So you need to know what you want. Then you need to be able to communicate that in a language progammers understand. Some programmers speak "Human" but you'll find a lot don't.

(me included.)

We get used to telling machines what to do so expect you to be able to tell us what we want to know in a language specific enough to for us to write the code to tell the machines what to do.

Then once the programmer is finished your going to be the one checking the quality of the coding. Thats a hard thing to ask if you don't know what they wrote.

It might actually save you time money and frustration to hire, not the programmer directly but a project manager who is able to translate what you want into programmer speak.

This generally involves listening to what you want built then asking you questions in the areas that the translator knows the programmer will want more specific details about.

Hope this helps a little. expect a learning curve. budget for it.

Tim,

You've asked a lot of great questions, many of which will have a different answer depending upon who you ask.

That pretty much sums it up

So, I've been a developer for the past 5 years, focusing mainly on custom web based applications. I've worked on nearly everything, from quick javascript calculators to proprietary document repositories for health care companies. So, here is my take on your questions.

Determine the cost of having a desktop application that accesses web services developed.
Cost is going to vary from person to company, and location will play a factor. Contract Programmers for some companies make $90+/yearly. Corporate life wasn't for me though, and so I found a small web firm that wouldn't take a project on for less than $5k. Now that I'm on my own, I tend to figure out what the budget for the project is, and see what we can get accomplished for that. Sometimes it is better to scale a project back, and release something that isn't as fully featured as you would have liked, and then add those features once you see a market for it. I remember working for a small Girl Scouts troop that did this with an online event management application.

Explain how to deal with programmers without insulting their intelligence or asking them to work for unreasonably low amounts.
We're humans too! Most of us! ... I think! Personally I wouldn't worry about this. If you do insult their intelligence, were they really worth hiring? As for gauging the pay... well that goes back to question one. Look at programming as a service instead of a product. You're buying time, and their brain, and everything their brain holds. Remember that programming isn't something that every person out there can do, so that adds value. What is the least amount of money you would work for per hour? If it is less than $20, you might be better off looking overseas, or going with a project rate instead of hourly. It's easy to say I'll give you $3k to finish this project, doesn't matter how long it takes you... 3 days, 3 weeks, etc. That can be a motivator for some developers

Guide me through talking to a programmer without giving away proprietary marketing ideas.
You need to build a relationship with whomever you're going to be working with. If you feel like the person you're working for is going to rip you off, don't work with them! Run! It isn't worth it. I don't sign NDAs, because I'm selling my time and thoughts to folks. Lets say you tell me an idea, I sign an NDA, and the deal doesn't go through. But, somebody else comes over and has a similar (or exact) idea. I can't help them because of the NDA. That's money out of my pocket. I don't know about you, but I like money in my pockets, and all my options open. The only forms I've ever signed were for HIPAA forms for health care privacy. The project was helping to sort, store, and organize patient files/documents/appointments on a centralized intranet.

Show me the ropes of how to avoid getting ripped off by an unethical or poor programmer who takes too much time to create a program.
If you feel there is a chance that the developer won't follow through, or can't deliver, then it is better to cut ties. I tend to prefer the Project Payment plan, where you set a price for the project. Pay half up front, and the other half when complete, or when certain milestones are completed. This covers your risk of losing everything. Gauging time though can be pretty rough. There can/(probably will) be setbacks along the development life cycle. If you don't plan for these, then you're setting yourself and the developer up to fail. You should always outline your project as clearly as possible, and then sign off on it. IE- no updates/addons/removals/etc without adjusting the timeline. I've seen projects fail because the clients kept changing their minds about features that were discussed before the project started. The scale of the project is going to determine the time-frame it can be completed in. And the number of people working on it, etc.

Help me know if I'm getting quality coding or a piece of junk.
Hey, is the sky Blue or White with Blue spots? Or Green? There are some simple steps to judge a person's coding ability. Variable Names, and Comments. I write code that anybody can pick up, and read. Yup, read. Now, it won't be as exciting as the latest Clive Custler book, but man those variables sure get into dangerous and exciting foreach loops sometimes .... right? ... anyone? Not all coding languages lend themselves to this though, so be mindful of what language you're choosing. Comments are a must though. If you look through the code you've purchased and don't see comments, then you need a refund. What happens if that developer is hit by a bus tomorrow? You're going to need a new one. Getting that new one up to speed quickly is important, and code without commenting does not facilitate that. The new developer will have to read through the entire program to see how things work. Might be 75 lines of code. Big deal. But it might be 9000. I've known developers that don't do this.... it makes me want to put on my grape stomp'n boots.

Anyway Tim, I hope this gives you a better understanding of how to work with developers. Good luck with your project!

Oh, and sorry for the book! Didn't realize it was so long until I hit preview.