A 3-Step-Guide on How to Hire a Software Developer
In this guide, learn how to define your role, where to look, and how to attract and evaluate top candidates.
Let us handle the hard parts of hiring so you can focus on your core business. With our personal approach and thorough vetting process, we carefully source and vet developers from our network to find the right person for the job. Here’s how it works:
A software architect from our team will listen to your requirements and help translate them into effective job descriptions to attract the right candidates.
Using our proprietary platform and targeted outreach, we invite qualified, experienced software developers to apply for your positions.
As software developers ourselves, we follow a rigorous yet human process to determine who has what it takes to succeed on your project.
Candidates create a detailed profile in our platform and answer a set of questions specific to your role.
We spend 30 minutes on a video call speaking with promising candidates to understand their background and experience and to assess their English communication skills, personality, and actual availability.
Ultimately, candidates must pass a live coding exercise that is customized to cover the most important skills for your project. We record the 1-hour interview - where they must solve real-world challenges - so you can review it.
Once a candidate passes our vetting process, we present them to you. You choose who to interview and work directly with the developers you select.
Answers to questions about how Scalable Path engages with clients.
Scalable Path is a marketplace that connects a network of expert software developers with top companies and startups. Our job is to ensure that we find the most suitable technical talent to give our clients’ projects the highest chance of success.
Our team of experienced technical professionals will take time to learn about your project and understand your hiring needs to guide you through the process of finding qualified, high-caliber candidates to integrate seamlessly into your team.
We understand that hiring can feel overwhelming, especially through staffing platforms that are distant and impersonal. Our team uses a personal, high-touch approach to create the best possible hiring experience for our clients. We do this because we’re devoted to building strong, cohesive teams and long-term relationships with our clients.
The Scalable Path network consists of technical experts in software development and design.
Our minimum engagement is 150 hours or $7,500 USD (approximately one developer for 1 month). If a project is smaller than that, it typically doesn't make sense to go through our sourcing and vetting process.
The vast majority of our projects run smoothly, but when you’re dealing with humans occasionally things happen. Our goal is to make sure you come out of the experience satisfied. We offer a trial period to make sure things go well with your developer, and if issues arise later on, we are here to mediate the situation, seek a fair resolution for all parties, and replace the developer if needed.
Yes, every developer we select for our clients is fluent in English. We conduct a thorough English language skills assessment and a video interview to ensure that all developers in our network have strong written and spoken English, are able to understand verbal instructions, and can participate effectively in a standup meeting.
Each applicant goes through an initial screening interview where we evaluate the candidate's experience, personality, availability, and English communication skills. If the candidate passes, our technical experts conduct a 1-hour technical screen-sharing interview where they complete a real-world coding exercise relevant to the project they are applying for. Only the best get presented to our clients, so you can feel confident that each developer you work with will be at the top of their field and strongly relevant to your needs.
Our network is made up of global talent with freelancers located in over 170 countries. We commonly work with software developers from Latin America and Eastern Europe so that we can keep our rates low while ensuring teams and clients remain in the same time zones.
To get started, you can complete our client questionnaire and one of our software architects will be in touch to discuss your requirements and understand your needs. We believe in a high-touch approach, so every project starts with a conversation to make sure we’re aligned. We will then work with you to finalize your Job Description in our platform so we can begin sourcing and vetting potential candidates.
It typically takes about a week to find and select the right candidates for the role. In the best-case scenario, there will be a contractor available immediately who has already been vetted and/or performed well for another Scalable Path client. In other cases, we will have to go through our full process which takes time to do right. Most clients see presented candidates within 5-6 business days.
The final stage of the hiring process is an in-depth interview between you (the client) and the developers you’ve chosen to meet with from our shortlist of vetted candidates. The bulk of this interview should be a technical discussion on topics specific to the business challenges and technology that the developer will use for your project. To read more on how to set up and what to cover during this interview, see our guide Client Help Center Page: How to Conduct Interviews with Candidates.
In the best case scenario, where a pre-vetted candidate is available immediately, the only limiting factor is how soon you can interview them and want them to get started. Depending on the individual situation, sometimes candidates will need to wait a week or two before they can fully allocate themselves to your project if they are ramping down other responsibilities.
We take your intellectual property issues very seriously. Scalable Path is happy to get a mutual non-disclosure agreement in place with you before discussing the details of your project. We have strict confidentiality agreements in place with our contractors, and IP is never owned by any freelancer.
We offer a risk-free 2 week trial period where if you're not satisfied, you are not required to pay anything.
Although we have Scalable Path freelancers located all over the world, we commonly work with remote developers from Latin America and Eastern Europe. This keeps our rates low while ensuring teams and clients are in overlapping time zones, which is optimal for collaboration. Rates vary per developer but typically range between $50-$75 USD/hour. There are no hidden or extra fees; you only pay for the hours worked by the candidates you select.
Scalable Path provides fully compliant payroll services for every freelancer you hire through our network, wherever they live. We take care of all the important details like payments, contracts, and taxes on your behalf, so you can focus on growing your business. You will be billed at the end of each month for work performed that month. To track this, you can log into your account and review the hours submitted by freelancers on your project. Payment is due on receipt of the invoice.
We accept payment via check, bank transfer, credit card and PayPal.
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