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Finding Tech Talent (As A Non Techie) (15)

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Currently looking for a generalist full-stack tech person to handle landers, tracking, servers, api stuff, convert wireframes to HTML etc. Basically a right-hand man tech guy that can manage all the technical aspects of our operations. A generalist that can handle all the day to day stuff and collaborate with freelancer specialists for anything more advanced that comes up.

Not sure if I want to hire a few freelancers, "split-test" and see which one I like the best then try and pick them up for full time. Or if its better to go through job boards and hire for full time right off the bat. Although split testing sounds good my concern with going through one of the freelance sites for a full-time remote position is that people from those sites might be more likely to continue working freelance with other clients on the side (even though they say they are only working for me full-time).

Anyone have any tips, tricks, hiring strategies, favorite job boards/ countries ect. they like to use for finding solid tech talent? Any advice on this topic is appreciated!

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When I hired VAs I already posted clear instructions in the job offer how they shall reply

That way I could weed out people who can't follow instructions right from the start.

When I then had a few interesting candidates I gave all of them the same task so that I could compare their communications and how they did the work.

I paid them for the task already.

I was hiring from onlinejobs.ph

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Hey,
You should define the languages and framework you need for both back and front-end. That will help to filter.
For tech, I usually recruit on Upwork in Eastern Europe (Ukraine is killing it) and Russia. India/Pakistan is cheaper but the quality is usually lower so as a non-tech I would avoid this region.

Make it very clear on the job description of the first small project that it is a test for a long-term position with questions such as: are you ready to work fulltime / what is your expectation for monthly salary?

• Focus on new freelancers on the platform. Most of them are there while looking for a job. You will have a higher chance of hiring them full-time (vs a freelancer with 200 reviews who has obviously chosen to work only freelance)
• Pay slightly below average for the first task, so that you attract those that value the long-term option

Actually, if the guy is doing the work he is paid for, why would that be a problem to have him do a few extra asides from time to time?

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Have you considered outsourcing all of this to an agency? Not sure if it's an option that would work for you, but there is something like: https://istacklabs.com/

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Just have heard this can be a common issue when trying to hire full time off the freelancing sites. People saying their working full time for you while doing tons of gigs on the side still. But imagine this can be mitigated by going for the newer people on the platforms like you mentioned.

Looks great for more advanced projects but want an internal hire for the general day to day stuff. Will be trying a few different job boards tailored to tech that look good.

Kind of realizing its just going to take maybe a month or 2 to find someone really perfect. Munch different then the general VA stuff I'm used to hiring for which get hundreds of applications in the first couple days.

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Indeed! Hiring advanced personnel is a tedious task. On top of that, these tech people/coders can be weird in a way, so they tend to get bored and fluctuate a lot. But it can be done of course, just make sure you evaluate the candidates properly.

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https://www.toptal.com/

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@clubdrock

I've gotten some good developers to take the busy-work of my development workload off of onlinejobs.ph. Like 1/5th of the rate that I would have paid an entry level developer in the USA.

I do think that it can take some trial and error using job boards to find a good fit, because its more than just technical capability that you need - you need a working fit.

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another super successful aff recommended to try this site out as well. will check it out!



it seems that they want you to continually pay salary through their platform. can you contact the talent on there and hire direct or do they prevent this?

Not totally against paying through them as an intermediary but getting rid of middlemen when possible is always ideal.

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I've never used this service but I'm pretty sure you can talk directly with the talent, once you hire them through the platform... otherwise you wouldn't be able to effectively communicate your tasks and requirements to the person.

The question is, whether the freelancers would be willing to bypass the platform and what the possible sanctions would be.

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You can talk to the talent directly and bypass TopTal altogether if you want.

I don't do this.

Toptal provides a valuable service where they curate and evaluate the talent. If they provided me and the talent service by connecting us, why shouldn't they be compensated?

Trying to bypass the middleman is telling the talent that I'm a cheap guy.

Anyways, not trying to pass judgment because I was the exact same way in the past.

These days I want to create a scenario where everyone wins.

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Interesting perspective. I guess the way I look at things in this industry is to constantly optimize every variable possible. For example, why buy Taboola traffic long term through a DSP with a 10% - 15% markup on traffic when you can go direct to Taboola. Better yet after finding Taboola's top performing placements why not try to set up a direct deal with some of the best publishers and really scaling hard. Anyways that said, I do fully agree with you that keeping certain win-win scenarios intact is important but when it comes to long term/full-time employees I want that fully "in-house".

I'm sure they would think I'm less cheap after putting that extra 15% middleman fee in their pocket as a bonus for good performance.

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I guess it also depends on how you approach the particular case. Trying to cut out toptal straight away by making "direct" offers, is not the best idea and would probably look weird to the talent too.. after all, you don't know each other yet. However, doing the same after working with the talent for a while and being satisfied with their work, that's a whole different story and quite logical next step in case you're looking for a longterm hire.

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Fully agree! I guess my initial question about toptal lacked context. To clarify I'm not against giving them $$ for their services at all. Was really just wondering if it's possible to eventually bring long-term hires off the platform after some months (which appears to be an option).

For an update, I started working with a recruitment agency this week. They will basically do all the grunt work, searching through the various job boards based on the skills I'm looking for, do all the initial filtering and pre-screening interviews, and send me a shortlist of the top 5-10 candidates to interview. Seems like a great value proposition to me as I was spending hours signing up to various job platforms and digging through profiles (decision fatigue to the max). Will keep this thread updated with how it goes!

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Yup, typical "headhunting agency"... they can work well in certain areas and many companies of all sizes are using their services. There is just one thing I dont like about them... once they have some talent in the DB, they will keep on offering them new/better positions in case they find a client looking for a person with the same chars. But well, that's the way it works, and if you can offer the right incentives, it shouldn't bother you much

Good luck man, let us know how it turned out

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