Hiring Developers, Freelancers, and Agencies
Vetting frameworks, red flags, trial sprints, and the decisions behind every good engineering hire.
55 posts · page 2 of 3
- Hiring Developers, Freelancers, and Agencies
Engineering Retention: Why People Leave and How to Stop It
Engineers leave for predictable reasons. The companies that retain well diagnose the reasons honestly and address them. The ones that lose engineers regularly explain departures with stories that miss the actual cause.
12 min read
- Hiring Developers, Freelancers, and Agencies
Engineer LinkedIn Profiles That Actually Convert Recruiters
Most engineer LinkedIn profiles look the same. The few that stand out follow a small set of patterns that recruiters respond to. Here is what works.
11 min read
- Hiring Developers, Freelancers, and Agencies
Contract vs Full Time: The Tradeoff Map
Contract for clarity of scope and rate. Full time for ownership and equity. Each works for the work that fits it. The mistake is using either for the wrong job. Here is the map.
12 min read
- Hiring Developers, Freelancers, and Agencies
Compensation Frameworks That Scale Past Twenty Engineers
The first twenty engineers can be paid by negotiation. The twenty first cannot. Without a framework the pay system becomes politics. Here is the structure that scales without becoming bureaucratic.
12 min read
- Hiring Developers, Freelancers, and Agencies
Communication Patterns That Predict Project Success
The technical skill of a developer matters. The communication patterns matter more. The way an engineer writes their updates, scopes their work, and surfaces problems predicts the project outcome better than their resume.
12 min read
- Hiring Developers, Freelancers, and Agencies
Building a Hiring Brand as a Bootstrap Startup
Bootstrap startups cannot outspend on compensation. They can outclass on signal. The hiring brand is what tells the right engineers you exist. Here is how to build one without a marketing budget.
12 min read
- Hiring Developers, Freelancers, and Agencies
Agencies That Win Founder Trust: What They Do Differently
Most software agencies lose founder trust in week two. The few that keep it for years share a small set of habits. Here is what those habits look like, and why they are rare.
12 min read
- Hiring Developers, Freelancers, and Agencies
10 Questions Every Non Technical Founder Must Ask Before Hiring a Developer
The ten questions that separate a hire who will ship your product from a hire who will burn six months of runway. Built for founders who do not code and refuse to be sold to.
13 min read
- Hiring Developers, Freelancers, and Agencies
The Hiring Funnel for Engineering Roles: From Applied to Signed
The complete engineering hiring funnel -- stages, conversion rates, timelines, and the specific failures that cause good candidates to drop out before signing.
12 min read
- Hiring Developers, Freelancers, and Agencies
Why Most Tech Recruiting Firms Send You The Wrong People
Working notes on why most tech recruiting firms send you the wrong people. Written for founders, engineers, and operators who want a clear read on hiring developers, freelancers, and agencies from someone who has shipped the work.
11 min read
- Hiring Developers, Freelancers, and Agencies
The Recruiter Engineer Relationship: How to Make It Work
Most recruiters and engineers talk past each other. The ones who build lasting relationships share a small set of habits on both sides. Here is what those habits look like and why they are worth building.
12 min read
- Hiring Developers, Freelancers, and Agencies
The Annual Engineering Review That Engineers Actually Find Useful
What the annual engineering review looks like when it is honest, specific, and actually useful to the engineer sitting across from you.
12 min read
- Hiring Developers, Freelancers, and Agencies
The Senior Developer Test: Architecture, Tradeoffs, Communication
Most titles on a resume lie. The senior developer test is three questions about architecture, tradeoffs, and communication that separate engineers who can lead a build from engineers who can only follow one.
12 min read
- Hiring Developers, Freelancers, and Agencies
Why I Stopped Asking Whiteboard Coding Questions
Whiteboard coding interviews were designed for a specific kind of hiring problem inside large engineering organizations. They solve almost nothing for founders and small teams, and they filter out a lot of the right people.
11 min read
- Hiring Developers, Freelancers, and Agencies
The First Thirty Days: Setting a New Developer Up for Success
How to structure the first thirty days with a new developer or contractor so they become productive fast and build the right habits from the start.
12 min read
- Hiring Developers, Freelancers, and Agencies
The \"Project Done in Public\" Signal: A Hiring Manager's Cheat Code
What a developer who builds in public is actually telling you, and why that signal outweighs a polished resume every time. A practical guide to reading public work when you are evaluating engineering talent.
12 min read
- Hiring Developers, Freelancers, and Agencies
The Bench Test: A Practical Way to Evaluate Engineering Talent
The bench test is a paid, real-work trial that reveals more about an engineer in two weeks than six interview rounds. Here is how to run one that works.
12 min read
- Hiring Developers, Freelancers, and Agencies
Why Most Job Descriptions for Developers Are Wrong
Working notes on why most job descriptions for developers are wrong. Written for founders, engineers, and operators who want a clear read on hiring developers, freelancers, and agencies from someone who has shipped the work.
11 min read
- Hiring Developers, Freelancers, and Agencies
The Founder Developer Communication Loop: A Weekly Cadence
A weekly communication structure for founders working with developers that prevents surprise, misaligned priorities, and the slow accumulation of unspoken frustration.
12 min read
- Hiring Developers, Freelancers, and Agencies
The Two Person Team: A Founder's Hiring Sweet Spot
Working notes on the two person team: a founder's hiring sweet spot. Written for founders, engineers, and operators who want a clear read on hiring developers, freelancers, and agencies from someone who has shipped the work.
12 min read
- Hiring Developers, Freelancers, and Agencies
Why You Should Never Hire a Solo Developer for a Critical Project
A single developer can build a great product. They cannot maintain availability, share knowledge, or absorb the risk that one person carries. For anything critical, the cost of solo is paid in the worst possible quarter.
11 min read
- Hiring Developers, Freelancers, and Agencies
The Three Strikes Rule: When to Let a Developer Go
Keeping the wrong developer too long is one of the most expensive decisions a founder makes. The three strikes rule gives you a framework for making that call before it costs you a quarter of runway.
11 min read
- Hiring Developers, Freelancers, and Agencies
The Onboarding Pack Every New Developer Deserves
The documents, access credentials, and context a new developer needs on day one to be useful by day five. A practical checklist for founders who want the relationship to start right.
11 min read
- Hiring Developers, Freelancers, and Agencies
The Equity Question: Should You Give Developers Stock?
When equity makes sense for a developer hire, when it does not, and the vesting structures that protect both sides. A plain read for founders who are deciding right now.
12 min read
More than blog posts.
The Labs folder has the experiments themselves. The Systems folder has the stack and architecture. The Journey folder has the timeline. Pick whichever pulls you.