How to Hire a Developer

Hiring remote developers can be a time-consuming endeavor that requires knowledge and experience with software development in order to find the right fit. 

There are a number of different ways to go about hiring a remote developer. First and foremost, it depends on what exactly you are looking for in terms of talent as well as the size and complexity of your project

• Traditional Hiring (Job Boards)
• Freelance Platforms
• App Development Agencies (Contracting development)
• Software Development Partners (Best of both worlds, we’ll explain later)

For quick and easy projects, you might be better off finding a freelance developer through Upwork. With temporary jobs like this, you won’t need to worry too much about their skills. You’ll be able to gauge their quality by the reviews they get on the platform. 

However, if you are looking to build out a web and/or mobile application, you’ll have to do your due diligence and put in a lot more effort to ensure that the developer you are hiring is not only technically proficient but has enough theoretical knowledge to truly lead your project from idea to launch

In this case, we recommend that you create a job listing. 

A few job boards we recommend are:

• Indeed
• LinkedIn Jobs
• WeWorkRemotely
• FlexJobs

These are the top sites currently, and there are plenty more. We’ve gone through the trouble of analyzing the site traffic for many job boards and found these to be the most popular. 

Once you post your job listing you will immediately start receiving applications from candidates. At this point, it is your responsibility to filter them out and find the developer that is right for you. We have a complete guide on how to hire remote developers here, thank us later!

Why Hire Developers

If you are looking to build a software product, you’ll need a developer.

More importantly, if you are a startup that’s building their first product, you’ll need someone who really can make the right decisions regarding:

• Software architecture
• Your tech stack
• Technical requirements and documentation
• Technical challenges and bugs

Hiring remote developers has a number of benefits worth mentioning such as cost reduction and flexibility. Remote developers are also generally happier employees because they have more autonomy than a developer who is forced to come into the office every day. 

While you might have to learn how to work with remote developers, it’s certainly worth the effort. And there are plenty of tools that you can use to make your life easier. Check out some of the tools we believe are the best at remote work and collaboration.

What to Look For in a Developer

At a high level, developers should:

• Be professional and have refined soft-skills 
• Have solid theoretical knowledge of software development
• Have solid technical skills in the relevant tech stack
• Enjoy learning and be able to pick up new technologies quickly
• Stay up-to-date and informed with their development community
• Be capable of writing clean code
• Be confident and unafraid of test-driven development

Learn more about what a good developer looks like and 5 core skills they should have.

How much do Developers cost in the U.S?

The average salary for a Senior Developer is $119,651 per year in the United State, according to Ziprecruiter.com data.

Here’s a chart that visualizes the salary ranges within the United States for a Senior Software Developer.

How much do Developers cost in South America? 

Due to economic differences between the United States and South America as a whole, the cost of offshoring software development is significantly lower than hiring full-time with U.S talent. For Software Developers in South America, the average salary is currently around $100,000 whereas a mid-level developer costs around $76,000. 

How much do Developers cost in Ukraine / Eastern Europe?

Eastern Europe shares very similar rates to South America, again due to the economic differences. When looking at salaries in Eastern Europe, data shows that a Senior Developer costs around $100,000 on average. 

Hourly rates for Developers

Another way to look at developer costs is through hourly rates. While salaries are good to understand for hiring developers for full-time and long-term, you might just need a developer for a period of 3-6 months or 6-12 months. In these types of situations, it’s best to calculate your costs based on the hourly rates of a developer. 

Below is a table that lists the various hourly rates of developers in different locations based on their job title. 

Freelance Developers vs Trio Developers

Choosing between freelance developers and a Trio developer might seem a bit fuzzy at first. On the surface, hiring a freelance developer might seem like a quick and easy way to find your rockstar. But this isn’t always the case. 

The freelance market is over-saturated with people calling themselves developers. Sure, they might be able to code their way out of a paper bag, but can they build a whole system front to back that can scale as your company grows? It’s unlikely. 

Let’s take a look at some of the differences between freelance developers and Trio developers. 

Freelance Developers

• Hard to find good talent
• No commitment
• Low trust
• Looking for new opportunities (might jump ship)
• Shaky communication, availability, and collaboration skills
• Is not part of your company culture
• Risk of messy code and processes
• No best practices
• Hard to manage

Trio Developers

• Guaranteed talent
• Committed to your project
• Values communication, availability, and collaboration
• Integrates into your company culture
• Clea code and solid processes
• Follows best practices
• Easy to manage

Hire Full-Time Developer vs Trio Developers 

Hiring full-time developers is a great option when considering the size and complexity of your project. Naturally, you will want someone who can dedicate themselves to working on your project full-time with passion and care. 

Finding the right developer can be time-consuming as previously mentioned and comes with a ton of unseen costs. Hiring developers through Trio makes finding a developer or building a team of developers a breeze. 

Take a look at some of the differences between hiring a full-time developer vs hiring a full-time developer using Trio.

Full-Time Developers

• No guaranteed relationship
• Employee overhead costs
• Long hiring cycles
• Training costs
• Very costly (providing benefits, withholding income taxes, or paying unemployment taxes/Social Security greatly outweighs the higher flat-rate)

Trio Developers

• Developers are dedicated and work full-time
• No employee overhead
• Diverse work experiences and Skills 
• Short hiring cycles (we find great talent fast)
• Developers are already experienced
• Cost-effective

Why Hire Developers With Trio

Trio developers are pre-vetted, interviewed, and then trained further to become true software professionals, capable of adapting to situations that are both within and outside of the scope of their general expertise. 

At Trio, we hold our developers to a higher standard. Much like how elite special forces units recruit only the best from main branches of the military, we recruit developers who either show amazing potential or demonstrate exceptional skill. We then take their talents and sharpen them even further.

Another benefit of hiring a Trio developer is that you won’t incur the costs of hiring, which can add up to be around 30% of a developer’s salary on average, as well as overhead costs associated with full-time employment. 

By working with Trio, you can enjoy a highly experienced full-time developer for a fraction of the cost, along with the added project management assistance. 

To learn more, hit us up and tell us about your project so that we can get you started.