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Name: Codementor
One-Liner Pitch: Get instant one-on-one help from expert developers.
The hardest part about programming is running into a problem that seems unsolvable, until 20 hours later, you've cracked the code, whether through scouring Stack Overflow questions or applying brute force in a non-stop, snack-powered session. That's what makes Codementor so promising.
Codementor is an online marketplace for connecting instantly with an expert developer who can review your code real-time and talk you through the issue via voice or video chat. It's focused on helping developers get out of those last-minute ruts through one-on-one, on-demand sessions.
Expert developers set their rates in 15-minute increments, and Codementor clients log in and find the right expert to help solve the problem. Codementor takes a 10% to 20% fee, depending on the client and type of session scheduled. Bulk credits, for example, can be purchased at the 10% platform fee rate. Expert rates tend to fall at $15 to $30 per 15 minutes, but I spotted a number of experts charging in the $50 to $60 range for 15 minutes and one developer charging a low $5 rate. The minimum is typically around $10 per 15 minutes.
The site currently has more than 1,200 vetted experts on the platform, including O'Reilly book authors, creators of popular open source libraries, highly skilled freelancers, and developers at top firms, including Google and Amazon. Experts go through an application process and are ranked based on user ratings, likelihood of response, average response time, and areas of expertise.
Instead of focusing on building a marketplace around people who don't know how to code and those who do, Codementor is building a connecting place for peers, experienced developers who are all building together, whether in year one or 20 of coding.
"For many of the more experienced developers who use Codementor, it’s all about saving time," says Weiting Liu, cofounder and CEO of Codementor. "The only way to get better quickly at your job is to have better developers giving you ideas and getting opinions of more experienced developers conveniently -- as easy as if they were sitting right besides you."
Liu says that most Codementor users use the platform to work on solutions for active, soon-to-be-live projects, not merely for learning to code.
"People use Codementor to help them get important stuff done and launch projects faster while learning how to do those projects with the help of mentors," he says.
While the platform's on-demand aspect is popular for urgent issues, technical advice, pair programming and code review, Liu says users can also work with a dedicated Codementor regularly to learn how to code, launch a project, or start a company.
"Codementor is a direct reflection of what’s popular out there right now," says Liu. "Our most common categories are JavaScript, Ruby on Rails, iOS, Python, PHP, WordPress, and front-end frameworks, such as AngularJS. There have been more and more requests about front-end frameworks, as they are quite cutting edge and are fairly new."
To build on user demand, Codementor focuses its mentor recruitment on popular and upcoming languages and frameworks.
Codementor is not a replacement for Stack Overflow, says Liu. It is intended to be a complement.
"Not all issues are 'questions' that can be Googled," he says. "'Can you help me design my architecture based on our unique criteria?' 'Can you pair program with me?'"
For the unsolved, unGoogle-able questions out there, Liu's platform is a step in the right direction. Users seem to agree and are coming back -- 70% of sessions done in July were by repeat users, Liu told Mashable.
A team of seven, Codementor is based out of the San Francisco Bay Area, with some of its teammates based in Taiwan. The team was part of the 2013 TechStars Seattle class and has raised $600K from investors.
"My inspiration and our mission," Liu says, "is all about empowering creators in today’s generation to build something people want with the latest technologies."