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Ask HN: I need help to find a great rails developer

3 points by redguava ↗ HN
Hi Hacker News,

Please help!!!

I am the founder of a small bootstrapped startup in Melbourne, Australia. It has been growing quite fast and I now need to hire my first full time developer. I am very reluctant to hit the job boards and advertise like normal as I really don't believe that's how you find quality talent. In fact, I suspect quality talent is probably already working somewhere and not looking for a job actively.

I have a great job to offer with many perks including a 4 day work week with full time pay. Details are here http://www.redguava.com.au/jobs/. I don't expect to get quality talent without giving back in return, so I will reward the right person appropriately.

Do you have any innovative suggestions on how I can go about finding someone. I do need someone in Melbourne (I am generally open to remote workers, but not for this role).

Any suggestions would be much appreciated.

6 comments

[ 4.5 ms ] story [ 22.5 ms ] thread
revorad
There's a monthly job post here. The next one's coming up on the 1st Feb. You will probably have better luck then. See http://news.ycombinator.com/submitted?id=whoishiring
redguava
Thanks, I will post there on Feb 1st. I am really keen to find ways to find people that aren't necessarily looking for work. I expect great developers likely already have work or are commonly poached and don't hit the job forums. I plan to start networking at local events more but that won't satisfy the immediate need.
gamechangr
post on craigslist in "the bay area" and "austin" and of course..here!
redguava
Craigslist isn't really used in Australia, but thanks for the suggestion.
gexla
If you are having problems finding a Rails developer, then why not pick up the best developer you can find regardless of the platform that developer knows.

If you absolutely must use Rails, then a good developer could probably pick up Ruby and Rails quite fast. Your progress may not be as fast as you like at the beginning, but that might be a small price to pay for getting the right person.

gexla
Another way to locate Ruby coders in Melbourne...

Github. You can even read through their code, no need to ask for samples. There are also tools out there to help you locating people in a certain region.

http://githire.com/