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Ask HN: Where do you find great remote developers?

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Ask HN: Where do you find great remote developers?

#1
I'm curious how people find excellent remote developers. We chose to make our company 100% remote in large part because we wanted access to a wider range of developers from all over the world. The trick of course is you have rely to a larger extent on advertising and methods that can't take advantage of your social networks.

Are there any places you've found particularly effective for advertising? Any other tricks or best practices you've found effective and finding and retaining great developers?

Thanks!

Re: Ask HN: Where do you find great remote developers?

#3
Might be a very dumb sounding answer but money is usually where it is: Pay well and you will magically have them :)

Even though I haven't really considered pure remote jobs, I have always at least peeked at recruiter mails that come in with an impressive number as an opener.

Re: Ask HN: Where do you find great remote developers?

#6
It almost always pays to have your finger on the pulse of whatever industry you're looking to recruit from.

If someone posts a neat article on something that's relevant to your problem space, don't be bashful and reach out to them (same with useful github projects, etc).

Twitter is another one if you've already curated a good base (or your developers/security folks/designers/etc have), just start DMing people who look like they're great and passionate about what they do.

Re: Ask HN: Where do you find great remote developers?

#9
Some of it is finding remote developers that aren't necessarily for hire, and getting to know them. Meetups, discussion boards, etc. Remote developers value their clients because of the flexibility, and finding a good remote client is harder than finding an FTE. So that means that if a remote developer has a relatively solid gig, they're often going to stay there even if they're theoretically open to something better.

Re: Ask HN: Where do you find great remote developers?

#10
We deal with this all the time at Turtle, as all devs on our network are remote. I'm not sure that advertising is the most direct way. If you're fully remote but paying well and have interesting work, you should have an easier time reaching great devs than companies who aren't remote (exceptions exist and some people do like nice space and free food).

Word-of-mouth is huge. Don't expect to get all your great devs at once. Hire a few, do right by them, and they'll help you reach others. Word-of-mouth has been our strongest referral engine yet.

Think about where your devs are most likely to be. Meetups? Conferences? Freelancer communities? Schools? Co-working spaces? Get there or find someone on the ground who can get to them.

A few tips:

(1) Be clear about why your work will be interesting. (2) Set up a process for flexibility (remote devs really value this). (3) Pay well. Mimic benefits in the markets you're hitting (example: if you're targeting Mountain View, consider giving your devs meals at restaurants serving better food than google).

Don't think of remote as a disadvantage (sounds a bit so from your post -- and from you jumping to advertising). Know that remote is seen as an advantage by money devs.

There are also a few remote job boards and twitter accounts but finding great devs within 20 miles or 2000 miles isn't all that different. Have interesting work, great process that doesn't get in the way, pay well, give freedom.

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