Question about MT4 programmers

I have dealt with about 6 different MT4 programmers over the last few years that coded EA's for me. After providing the specs to the programmers, I requested them to recommend additional features to improve the EA. They either refused or gave 1 suggestion. Does anyone know of any good MT4 programmers that will make suggestions to improve EA's?

According to my personal experience as a programmer for many different clients it is not always easy for the programmer to provide advice on a strategy that is provided by a client.
For instance as a trader I trade not very short term strategies, like one trade a day max and sometimes a trade a week only.
Very often customers will request very short term strategies like scalping. In such a case I can give some pure technical advice like the risk of execution by the broker, or what parameters or filters could be added but I cannot give advice on how to improve the strategy itself because it is not something I would trade.
Sometimes I find the strategy requested specialy interesting and I am ready to invest my own time to investigate the strategy in more details.

So to summarize, I don't think you can expect a programmer to be able to give you advice on everything otherwise it means that he gives advice on things he doesn't know well and that is definitely not good. He can give you advice on the way it should be programmed and if he trades himself he could give advice if your strategy is in the same "category" than what he is using.

lets look at this from a programmers point of view. Hypothetical situation here since you haven't actually talked to me about programming an EA for you. You come to me and ask for an EA to be programmed. You have certain rules that must be followed in order for the system to be effective. Then you ask for additional recommendations on making it better. I recommend additional items, you agree but in testing it doesn't work as well as you want. You ask for more changes, but when I ask for more money you don't want to pay it because my recommendations did not work as well as you wanted. Now I have a dissatisfied customer to deal with.

Those who refused to recommend additional items to you were right in doing so. Most likely they have dealt with the same situation before. You should have everything down to the letter before approaching a programmer.

You should know the entry and exit rules, money management, stop placement, how much testing is expected, you should even know when the ea should run before asking anyone to work with you. Once you know all of this, then you can expect an accurate bid and there is no doubt what is expected before the project can be considered complete.

Agreed with both magnum and jlpi. Most people who requested programming of their strategy have not even manually tested it for profittability for certain period of time then start telling the coder that this is good and i am willing to pay. And then then the testing, it was not making profit ask the programmer to make suggestions but the programmer dont give one, they thought, yeah because now he got the money. Another problem is they have this indicator in ex4 and they want thier trade to base on this indicator. And so many more if i am going to enumerate. Guys, programmers are human too, they have feelings you know. IMHO

I understand the point of view from you guys, however, the programmers are the experts here. There are many different analogies I could use, and this one might not be the best. But if I want a house built and I go to a builder with a set of plans and I say "here are the blueprints, build me this house, but give me a list of options that will make the house better". The builder then gives me a list of options to choose from. I can choose x, y, or z. If I choose "x", and if I don't like it after it's built, then that's too bad, even if the builder said he recommended "x". I feel programmers should do business the same way. If I send specs with how I want some indicators to generate automated signals but I don't know many money management features that will limit my losses, I would expect the programmer to say "here is a list of features that may do what you are looking for", as it would be very difficult, if not possible, to test a money management feature manually. If it doesn't work as expected, then I would be willing to accept that, and pay additional to try another method. You guys programs many EA's and know numerous features, but your clients don't know all the different ones available. IMHO, this would be a better way for programmers to make more money, just as long as it's understood that if it doesn't work, the client would have to pay to try another option.

Hi eagle4x,

I think that your analogy is good (as I am currently also building a house) and it will use it.
If you want an house build you first go to an architect to get the plans.
Once you have the plans you go to the builder to build the house.
The builder can suggest you several ways to implement the plans (doing with different materials or several options on details) but won't change the overall plan because if he would do so he would be responsible if a problem occurs as he wouldn't have followed the plan.

When you ask to code an EA you have the role of the person ordering the house but also the role of the architect as it is your strategy.
The programmer as a builder can suggest different way of implementing things (like TP and SL hidden or not, indicator on the close on with the current value, how to implement partial profit taking...) but not the global strategy.
The programmer can list what are options but the decision is yours. Like if you would ask me about money management I could tell you what are the 3 most common ways but at the end it is up to you to decide of course.
So if it is what you expect then I think that is possible.
But the coder will not make a non-profitable strategy become profitable.

which link are you talking about?
I have not seen anybody putting any link in this thread?

He removed it already. So im deleting mine too.

I always recommend stuff that people could use and benefit from even in a simple EA.