Airpair is a service that recalls "pair programming" techniques, where two developers share one workstation. This service hooks up someone searching for code help with someone with the requisite skills. In pair programming, the driver, or "Sherlock," writes code, while the observer or navigator ("Watson") reviews each line as it's written.
Someone searching for a developer would enter his/her name, email address, then choose what kind of service desired, whether it's someone to look over the code, someone to brainstorm with, someone who can give advice on choosing techniques, or even someone to simply pair program with.
Seekers would type a short essay (150 words) about themselves, their companies and projects, fill in which language, technologies and frameworks with which help is needed, and then brief the potential developer on what challenges are expected. This would allow developers to match their levels of skill to the seekers' needs.
Developers can sign up to be on call — they would select from five areas of specialization, link to a sample of their work either on github, stackoverflow or their own blogs, then list which days they're available.
Jonathan Kresner, the founder of Airpair, wrote on the site that he wishes he had this kind of service when working for his first two startups. Although he considers himself an experienced programmer, he needed help from mobile and database experts. Not everyone has the network to reach out for programming help and receive it, TechCrunch says, but Airpair would "formalize and create a marketplace around" asking for help with code.
For now, experts dictate their own prices, which usually range between $30 and $90 an hour. When an individual is looking for a developer, an algorithm matches them, and the asker can choose between experts at a variety of price points.
Bryan Hughes, an entrepreneur, was paired with a developer called Peter Lyons. Hughes said of his experience with Airpair: "This service is exactly what I was looking for. However, I have no idea how many folks like me are out there. Peter was great. I had been researching options for a week and had distilled things down to a few pain points and specific questions. His answers were concrete. It was gratifying to hear that the parts I felt were "wrong" to me were the parts he had good alternative suggestions for."
Kresner is looking for a co-founder, as well as interested entrepreneurs and developers, for his as-yet-tiny startup. He plans to eventually monetize Airpair by taking an extra fee for finding a developer.
(Edited by Lois Heyman)
