This complete guide details everything you need to know about offshoring and finding the right Ruby on Rails developers for your team.
Offshoring a developer from another country can be overwhelming and stressful. Don't worry we are here to ease some of your stress by giving you all the information you need to find the talent that will help take your business to the next level.
Let’s get straight to the point.
Why Should You Hire a Ruby on Rails Developer For Your Business?
Ruby on Rails is one of the fastest-growing and most efficient frameworks you can use for your platform. It has many use cases and is cost-effective for startups and small businesses.
Companies like Airbnb, Github, and Dribble have built their platforms on Ruby. If you are a startup or an SME here are a few reasons why you should opt for Ruby on Rails.
- Cost-effective
- Fast-track development
- Scalable solutions
- Flexible framework
- Strong community support
Challenges Startups and SMEs Face When Hiring Locally
As a new business or even a business that is fairly set up managing costs can be a real challenge.
There are core business functions to look after while taking care of overhead and internal costs. Amongst all of this hiring a specialized developer is no small feat. As a business owner you want to develop the best platform but at what cost?
At present, in the UK the average salary of a Ruby on Rails developer is anywhere between € 50K - €90K/yr. The same is true for a developer in the USA, which is $130k - 150k/yr.
In contrast, a developer with the same experience level and skill set can be hired
In India for:
- $14,400 to $21,600
- €13,200 to €19,800
In Mexico for:
- $25,000 to $40,000
- €22,900 to €36,700
In Ukraine for:
- $30,000 to $45,000
- €27,500 to €41,200
The options are endless if you look close enough.
Say cost is not a factor for your business and you have surplus resources to spend on good talent. There are some additional challenges when it comes to hiring developers locally. One being finding the right specialized talent.
84% of businesses in the UK are experiencing a skill gap issue when it comes to hiring tech talent.
Due to this 4 out of 5 businesses are struggling to hire proper talent for their businesses.
Reasons for this shortage have been due to the fast pace emergence of new and advanced technology, increased global tech competition, and a lack of technical education or training available.
Things aren’t any better in the US.
By 2025, according to a market research company IDC, there will be a 4 million developer shortage.
So How Can Offshoring Help Your Business?
There is a lot of fear around offshoring talent from other countries. Having this fear is valid because incorporating people into your organization is a huge decision.
The people who work in your business shape the work that you put out but also add to the culture and the credibility of your organization. It matters greatly who you decide to hire for your business.
Having said that while offshoring is complex and overwhelming. It can also be an opportunity to incorporate specialized global talent into your team. If you access the right resources, offshoring can be seamless.
What you gain when you offshore :
- Access to Global Talent
- Seamless Gateway to Expanding Your Business
- Freedom to Shift Your Focus on Core Business Functions
- Significant Cost savings
Offshoring 101
1. Find the Right Offshoring Partner
This can make or break your project. The majority of the EOR companies currently in the market only help you with your compliance and payroll needs.
While this makes it easy to hire global talent without the hassle of understanding local laws and taxes it take into account the hassle of hiring a team of developers in a country where you have little to no experience hiring talent. Hiring an EOR company just means additional work for your team.
There are local agencies that can help you hire a team of developers. The good ones are few and far between. Some offshoring agencies promise the world during the hiring stage but provide very little in their output. Watch out for junior devs advertised as mid-level or senior devs. What's on the resume may not always be the truth.
These junior developers may get the tasks done on time but they lack the depth and experience needed to look at the bigger picture and to understand what exactly is required for your business to excel.
Checklist to prevent to avoid hiring the wrong partner:
Which is why at Versatile we provide end-to-end hiring solutions. That means we source the best talent, onboard them, and help you manage the compliance and payroll.
All you have to do is focus on working with your new team of top developers. Our talent have industry specific experience working with a team and taking charge of projects without any supervision or external incentive.
Our developers take pride in their code and care about the end result just as much as you do.
2. Finding Holistic Talent
Offshoring is predominately marketed as a cheap alternative to hiring in your home country. While this can be a great opportunity for businesses to lower their costs there is a line to how cheap you should go.
At the end of the day you don't want to hire any cheap developer who seems good at the moment but in the long run will cost you more money.
Even while offshoring hire for quality and not cost.
Look for well rounded talent who think beyond just the tech. Who have some understanding of how your business operates and can fill in the gaps of the project as and when needed.
3. Clearly Communicating Your Vision
Miscommunication will be your biggest barrier in offshoring. You are working with a remote team, a new culture and way of working. There are bound to be some barriers. You can tackle this by setting your expectations for this endeavor right from the get go.
Ask them the following questions:
What is it that you are looking for in the developer?
What expectations and requirements do you have from them?
The consequences of said expectations not being met both from the talent and your hiring partner.
The sooner you communicate this the better it is for your relationship with your developers.
4. Payroll and Compliance Needs
Ensure that your EOR provider is able to provide compliance for the countries you are interested in offshoring to. You need to find out whether they have local entities and a network in the location you are interested in expanding to.
Get a breakdown on how much it is going to cost you to have your employee payroll on their platform. Do they have necessary provisions to integrate your existing employee's payroll if need be? Check for any hidden fee structures that come up during the demo conversation.
Remember it may seem tedious at first but these questions will save you a lot of unnecessary hassle later on.
5. Being Open to Change
Offshoring opens you to a whole pool of global specialized talent that can potentially save you cost as well help fastrack your business activities. While these perks are great it also comes with a little more effort.
When you are working with new talent from other countries you will learn it will take you some time to build a smooth and functioning relationship. One that runs without your supervision.
Intially it might take you some time to get used to it. But the effort is worth it.
Dos and Don’t of Hiring the Right Developer
Dos
1. Check the Developer’s Competency with Coding Tests
Here are some optimum types of tests you can try out :
- Build a CRUD Application for a task management system - Stands for create, delete, read, and update which checks for a developer’s skills in building an application well.
- Build a RESTful JSON API for the same system - this is done to check for API development skills
- Debugging Tests - provide broken rails application and ask them to fix the bugs.
- Communication Skill Assessment - ask the developer to explain the process behind building the application to test for critical thinking and communication skills.
2. Check to See If They Adhere to the Rails Convention
The convention over configuration is the framework that is followed by RoR developers which consists of guidelines that fastrack the application building process.
These conventions save time for developers during their application-building process. Guage their knowledge of some of the following conventions.
- File and Class Naming
- Database Table Naming
- MVC structure
- Migrations
3. See If They Have Experience Scaling Applications
A good RoR developer will have experience in both building and scaling the application. They take into account the potential increase in users and build the application accordingly.
Developers also need to be able to take on performance optimization issues that arise from time to time.
4. Assess Backend Knowledge
A good developer is one who has holistic backend experience. They can take on most backend responsibilities without waiting for anyone else to get the job done.
- Backend Management - managing the data, taking care of the server, integrating components for seamless development
- API Development - using API development tools, setting up for implementation, creating relevant documentation, deployment of the API
- Testing - unit testing models, testing controllers, end-to-end application testing
- Data Security - keep the application updated, database password encryption, use parameterized queries
Tip : Look through their portfolio to see if they have worked on similar projects
Don’ts
1. Don’t Just Look at the Experience on Paper
Many Ruby on Rails developers may look good on paper but they lack the right kind of experience or expertise needed to take care of complex technical tasks.
This is where critical thinking skills and planning ahead come in. Look for a dev who explains their process and builds the application looking at the future. Don’t draw conclusions based on their resume. Many developers may say they have a lot of experience but the reality is far from it.
2. Don’t Ignore Testing and Best Practice Protocols
Many developers out there will skip testing or take shortcuts to meet deadlines. While this may not affect the developer it could cause unnecessary problems for you. Ignoring best practices is the best way to create an unstable application.
3. Avoid Developers Who aren’t Knowledgeable About the New Developments in Rails
Rails is an everchanging technology that requires devs to keep up to date on the latest conventions and best practices. In order to build and maintain a strong application you need to stay up to date on all rails-related news.
4. Don’t Ignore the Soft Skills
We’ve been talking about the technical skills that are a must and should not be ignored but the essential skills that make or break a project is the person you work with.
Interview Questions to Ask Your Rails Developer
1. Technical Questions
- Instruct the developer to use a devise gem to create user authentication.
- Provide an app that has incorrect code and ask them to debug it and fix the issue.
- How do you ensure the scalability of web applications?
- How do you keep yourself updated with the latest changes in RoR?
- Ask them to walk you through how they build their last application on Ruby. What tools did they use?
2. Theoretical Questions
- How is Ruby on Rails different from other frameworks out there? What has your experience been using it?
- What is MVC architecture in Ruby on Rails and how is it used?
- Explain the importance of a Rails asset pipeline
- What is the difference between `has_one` and `belongs_to`?
- What is the difference between a skinny controller and a skinny model?
- How to get multiple inheritance in Ruby?
3. Culture Fit Questions
- What best practices do you follow as a RoR developer?
- In the past when you worked on a Ruby on Rails project did you experience a complex task that you were unable to figure out? How did you solve it in the end?
- What do you do when a project has suddenly been postponed and you need to get things ready on a tight deadline?
- What is your preferred working style and environment?
- Have you managed complex projects on your own in a team environment? How did it go?
Use Case of Ruby on Rails in Different Industries
If you run a business that is not in the tech space you may be wondering the extent of this framework's usage. How will it be implemented to what extent can it be used and if it is even relevant for your business?
Here are some common use cases of Ruby on Rails :
- Website Development
- Chatbots
- SaaS Applications
- Marketplaces
- Social Media Sites
Some of the Ruby on Rails Services We Offer
- Custom Web Application Development
- API Development
- Ruby on Rails Migration
- Maintenance and Support
- Security and Testing
- CMS Development
- Scalability Planning
- Security Updates
Ready to Start Hiring?
Here's how we can help you offshore at Versatile:
1. Give Us Your Hiring Needs on Our Consultation Call
- Culture fit - organizational values, working style
- Software and skills required
- Industry-specific experience
- Duration of the project
2. We’ll Filter From Our Vetted Pool And Shortlist The Top 2-3 Candidates
- No screening resumes
- No time-consuming interviews
- Just shortlist talent that matches your hiring needs.
- In no time watch your ideal team get assembled.
3. Once The Talent Is Onboarded, We Will Handle the Compliance and Payroll For You
- Seamlessly track payroll through our automated system.
- No stressing about compliance and tax laws. We'll take care of it all.
- Expand your reach with a team of top global talent
That's all you need to know to get started. Yes, it's that easy
Offshore Your Ruby on Rails Team with Versatile
If you are interested in expanding your business globally and want to build an offshore Ruby on Rails team you can get started at Versatile.
We provide end-to-end hiring solutions right from building your team of talent, managing compliance, payroll and even finding you the right consultants for your hiring needs.
Check out our offshoring Ruby on Rails development page for a comprehensive look at how to get started.
Start Building Your Global Team Stress-Free!
