Hire for the problem, not a profile score
Marketplace ratings, hourly rates, years of experience, and completed hours can help with screening, but none proves that a developer can deliver your product.
Prepare before interviewing
Write a short brief with the user, core workflow, existing assets, integrations, constraints, and success criteria. Candidates cannot estimate a moving target accurately.
What to assess
- a relevant system they personally built
- architecture and trade-off reasoning
- ability to explain risk plainly
- testing and deployment habits
- security and authorization awareness
- communication and written documentation
- ownership and handover approach
Use a practical discussion
Ask the candidate to walk through how they would build one critical workflow, what they would defer, which assumptions need testing, and what could break. Avoid unpaid production work disguised as an interview.
Contract and payment
Use clear scope, milestones or time controls, repository access, IP terms, acceptance criteria, change control, and termination rights. No universal payment percentage protects every project.
A strong developer gives you a narrower, more honest plan than you expected. Be cautious of anyone who guarantees the full roadmap before reviewing the data, integrations, and edge cases.
Fact-check sources
- Editorial framework; no external benchmark asserted
- NIST Secure Software Development Framework
Sources and product documentation can change. Recheck time-sensitive pages on the publication date.