what are the potential problems taking over another developers code?

[marsbar]

Hi, we are a design agency and we outsource most of our development. Recently, we have been given the opportunity to pitch for taking over an existing clients website. The site currently contains CRM data, a large cms which 16 of their branches have access to.

The site currently resides on the developers own hosting too.

What potential issues could arise from this takeover and what milestones are there to consider?

does anyone have any experience they can share?

btw, apparently the client owns the source code.

any pointers, much appreciated.

tia

[Aso]

Firstly, it depends how experienced you are with the code at hand.

The project sounds fairly large scale, and no matter how good you are it's always going to be a big step when you dive into a strangers code.

You should allow extra time for analysis and getting to grips with the fundamentals of the CMS. Ensure you understand it and are confident you can continue work on it. Do not at any point try to bluff your way through it - be honest and put your hands up if it's not working.

Ideally you would be able to examine the source prior to any fixed agreements, so that you can determine whether you're up to the job or not.

If the CMS is not your area (whether it's too complex, a particular language etc) then take the bold decision and pass it on.

[JustinStudios]

Well said aso186. I was given a project to work on a multi-million dollar website. No, I didn't get multi-millions of dollars, I just got paid to develop one page (the actual sending of credit cards to the company securely, processing the transaction, then getting it the status back page), and I must say after looking at the coding in it I was in shock. The developer had used crazy code all over the place to confuse anyone new as they wanted to keep their job, unfortunately they lost their job and had to pay for the site to be fixed. One thing she did was every time there was a hyperlink she'd put:

Code: Select all

<?php include("page114.php");?>page.php<?php include("page115.php");?>Text Link<?php include("page116.php");?>

She had all of her tags put into page includes to confuse other people and it was one of the reasons their loading time was so horrible. I complained to the people about the pathetic coding job they had and pointed out to them that I can understand why their site is so buggy.

[marsbar]

Hi there, thanks for your messages. I'm actually going to be outsourcing it.

I've got to put together a document, a set of bullet points of reasons why its not such a good idea.

any specifics / pointers much appreciated.