How do I find a co-developer for a project?

[Tom Fagerland]

This is quite possibly in the wrong category, in which case I apologise.

I'm sort of a failed software developer in that I know how to develop (specifically J2EE) but I absolutely suck at it. I will spend hours on the simplest tasks, and it is very clear that I have no talent.
Which is fine!

I do however have an idea for a web service/app that while not a rediscovery of fire, could be a fun side project and possible business some day. But of course, if I were to create this service myself it would never happen.
So I need a cohort with more talent than I. The problem here is that none of my friends are developers, and accosting people on the street to enquire as to whether they would be interested in working for free for an unspecified amount of time is not likely to help.

As far as I can tell, rapid prototyping would be likely to take somewhere under 100 work hours including the design stage, and I would be perfectly willing to split the end result (in whatever form) 50/50 with the developer.

Hourly payment is however not an option I can afford, so "equity" is my best and only form of gratitude.

I do of course have more details, but I'm not really looking for a person here, so much as I am looking for a direction/website/1-800-number or even magical spell to find this mystical beast, the software developer willing to spend his time on someone elses idea. :|

[Niheel]

You have two options on any project like this.

1) Find a partner/employee from the begining. If you're only offering equity then, you'll have to do a lot of salesmanship to convince someone the project is worth it.
Get out to programming events in your area. That is the only way you'll meet talented developers.

There is also a service like "http://www.techcofounder.com/" that will match you up with a technical co founder.

2) Go ahead and start building your app, no matter how bad of a developer you are you can get a working prototype up and start testing your assumptions to see if you even have a valid business case. Use the tools that you know how to use and dont' waste too much time trying to learn new tools just to get the prototype up unless it's 100% necessary.

The working prototype will also help you sell your idea to other people like developers and future investors. The data and information you'll collect in making it will go a long ways in helping validate your business assumptions.

Good Luck, :)

[Tom Fagerland]

Good answer! Techcofounder.com looks good, gonna snoop around there for a while, and work on my project specs to get them into readable format.