So, your business involves Ruby on Rails and you need someone to do the job. Sometimes hiring a whole Ruby on Rails development team is like using a sledgehammer to crack a nut. There’s a number of tasks or small projects when an experienced freelancer is more than enough. Let me show you when, why, and how to hire your perfect Ruby on Rails freelancer for your project?
When is it best to hire a Ruby on Rails freelancer?
Hiring a freelancer is, in general, a good solution for smaller and simpler tasks. You don’t need a whole team of developers, and one specialist can do it independently. Such small tasks include minor changes as well as small projects, like building an MVP.
You should also consider hiring a freelancer when your in-house team needs support. Often they might need more workforce from time to time, but not for the whole life cycle of the project.
Sourcing Ruby on Rails freelancers from the market gives you additional flexibility, for example when one of your specialists drops out on a sick leave, or simply leaves your company, and you’re looking for a replacement.
What are the benefits of hiring freelancers?
One of the biggest benefits of hiring a freelancer is flexibility. Usually, you’ll hire such a specialist for a short contract. You hire them and spend money only when you need an additional workforce.
Moreover, today you can hire experts from whatever part of the world you want. You’ll easily find an experienced Ruby on Rails specialist, who charges less for the same quality. For example Central and Eastern Europe (Poland, Ukraine, or Czech).
Due to freelancing characteristics, freelancers often have broad experience in various projects. Furthermore, you can hire different freelancers for different jobs, requiring different sets of skills. Such specialists often enrich your project with unique know-how and approach. As a result, they help you find not so obvious solutions that will improve your product.
How to choose the best Ruby on Rails freelancer for your project?
There are plenty of factors you need to check when looking for a Ruby on Rails freelancer. The most important and difficult at the same time is to check how good a developer they’re. You could base your judgment on the portfolio or recommendations, but nothing can replace thorough knowledge interview and coding tasks.
After you make sure that your candidate really knows the ropes of Ruby on Rails software development, there are at least three more points to check:
Professional experience - what types of projects has he or she worked on? Big or small? Only with start-ups or with corporations too? How many projects have they done? What were their responsibilities? Does their experience cover only coding, or maybe they’ve also worked on application architecture? Maybe they’ve been tech leads in their teams? Do they have experience working with other tech stacks?
Culture match - business or corporate culture is an important issue. Although you usually hire a freelancer for a one-shot short task, it’s still better to work with someone who shares your values. Ask what’s important for them, how do they organize work, and check if they fit in your vision of software development. Are you working for a multinational corporation or a Silicon Valley start-up? How will they fit? What are their preferences about the workflow (e.g. waterfall v. agile) and have they ever worked with Scrum?
Industry match - last but not least, this one is especially important when you work with freelancers. Most of the time, you don’t have time to introduce your new talent into your industry. Software development is software development, but every industry has its own specific challenges and solutions. For example, scalability is crucial for e-commerce products, while for fintech you need to make sure your product is secure and compliant.
How to attract a Ruby on Rails freelancer?
Finding a proper Ruby on Rails freelancer is just the beginning. Often you’ll still need to show them that your company and your project are worth working for.
There are a couple of things that motivate software developers to work on a project. First of all, money is important, but it’s not the most salient factor. Most developers, including Ruby on Rails freelancers, are eager to work on interesting projects. Such projects should be challenging. They also provide growth opportunities. Self-development and learning new things are crucial factors that motivate developers.
Moreover, culture and industry are the realms where you should fit like two puzzle pieces. That’s a plus for you if your business operates in the same industry as the freelancer you want to hire. The corporate culture and rules governing your company also make the difference. Finally, your employer brand counts as well. However, working on your employer branding is a whole different story.
Where to find Ruby on Rails freelancers for your project?
I know that all that doesn’t sound like a piece of cake, but we still have one decision to make. Where will you look for your perfect RoR freelancer for hire? There are three ways to hire a Ruby on Rails freelancer :
- hire headhunters to hire a freelancer for you, but again, you need to find a headhunter who deeply understands specific traits of software development freelancing,
- you seek on your own on social media, job websites, etc.,
- try to find your match on freelancers marketplaces like Upwork or Fiverr, where you have little control and can only support your choice with the system of recommendations.
Does it have to be that hard hiring a Ruby on Rails freelancer?
As you can see there’s plenty of things to do before you can hire a freelancer for your company. Research, recruitment, selection, vetting. It all takes time and effort. However, there’s one more option for companies seeking RoR specialists. A trusted partner like Ideamotive. Being a hub for freelancers and their customers, we have a broad talent pool. Moreover, we have a comprehensive system that helps us match you with the perfect Ruby on Rails freelance developer for your project. You simply let us know what type of specialist you need, and within 48h we can provide you with a verified and vetted Ruby on Rails freelancer.
