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Introduced in 2004, Ruby on Rails has been a popular programming language ever since, delivering major business advantages to those who have embraced it in their organisation. Since its invention, ROR has helped technical specialists to reduce development time by up to 50% when compared to alternative languages which, in turn, has helped to significantly reduce costs and increase ROI.
As we’ve mentioned in our article about the pros and cons of Ruby, working with Ruby on Rails can be a challenge despite the fantastic benefits it can offer. Moreover, experts in the field are hard to source and in high demand, regardless of the hiring companies’ country, industry or size.
When faced with this dilemma, companies typically have two options: reach out to an elite software house who have a ready-built team of dedicated Ruby on Rails developers eager to work on the project, or find your own in the open market. If you’re taking the latter option, this article should help - and once you’re finished reading, reach out to us for help! Whatever industry you’re in, we can help you to find the perfect match for your business, just tell us what you need. We can do the work for you and connect you with up to 5 companies within 72h that match your need- all for free.
Here's a step-by-step guide on how to go about the hiring process the right way.
1. Where to Find the Best Ruby on Rails Talent and How to Attract Them to Your Company?
There are many different ways to find potential programmers that may fit your company’s needs well. It’s important to note that the Ruby developer market is very demanding and contains a finite number of valuable specialists, making recruitment challenging.
Ruby on Rails technology often attracts true enthusiasts - and the truth is, there are relatively few of them on the labour market. That’s why if you know that you’ll need RoR developers in your team for long-term projects, it's good to have an ongoing recruitment process in motion.
The first step in the recruitment process is to evaluate the necessity of the next job role in the team, and identify the priority hire. Next, a catchy job ad should be prepared that outlines what’s required and the type of individual the team is looking for, with the remuneration package clearly scoped out and communicated.
2. Post The Right Job Ad
Armed with an attractive job ad that includes all essential information about our requirements and the benefits we offer, we then go on to the next step: job posting.
In this phase, we use many channels such as external pages with job offers, that are solely focused on the IT market including us here at Pangea. If you need help selecting the right company just tell us what you need. We can do the work for you and connect you with up to 5 companies within 72h that match your need- all for free.
We also see success with our career page - in fact many of our finest developers have come through this channel. Remember, this area of your website is critical and needs to include interesting and appealing content that puts your company’s best foot forward. That’s why having that tab visible on your website and filled with interesting, appealing content is very important!
To apply for a position through our website, candidates are obligated to fill in the form on our career website and attach a sample of code or applications written in the technology they specialise in. The sample can be student or amateur work - it doesn’t have to be commercial, but it definitely needs to showcase good language.
Based on the seniority of the position, the code we request will typically vary in terms of level of how advanced it is, as this helps identify their capabilities and their suitability for the role in question.This code should be presented on GitHub or Bitbucket.
3. CV Selection: How Can You Distinguish the Most Promising Developers at an Early Stage of the Hiring Process?
The CV management process is divided into several phases:
Evaluating Candidate Information
As CVs are received, it’s important the details are evaluated to identify the suitability of the candidate. Everything from experience and skill set to salary and employment term expectations should be reviewed to identify the quality of fit. applicant’s CV should be supported by proof of their skills and knowledge, in the form of code supplied through GIthub/Bitbucket.
Application Analysis & Specifying the Level of Advancement
After checking the code samples and identifying whether it meets the required standard, candidates will be informed if they have qualified for the next stage of the recruitment process.This typically takes the form of a phone interview, primarily designed to fill in information gaps around the individual’s experience, portfolio, education and direction of development. These are all factors that may come into play when making a decision around a candidate.
4. The Interview: What Questions Should I Ask to Verify the Potential Ruby on Rails Developer Skills?
Before you decide to pop the question “will you join our company?”, you need to make sure that it’s a match made in heaven. At Railwaymen we believe that the best way to do that is to invite the potential candidate to an interview at our office.
Before that happens, the Human Resources Coordinator completes the required information and creates a comprehensive view of the candidate to make sure that both sides are well prepared for the talk.
Usually, the following people from our team are present at the meeting: the CEO. CTO and Senior Ruby on Rails Developer. During the interview, our priority is to focus on verifying the technical knowledge of the candidate, their interest in the new technologies, and motivation to self-development in the IT area.
From our Ruby candidates, we require a particular familiarity when it comes to:
- Object-oriented programming, structures, and algorithms
- Ruby language and concepts
- Ruby on Rails framework at the level that allows creating a simple CRUD application
- SQL language and ActiveRecord ORM with particular emphasis on understanding generated SQL queries
- HTTP protocol
- HTML & CSS
- JavaScript language and frameworks: JQuery, ReactJS
The level of knowledge required is highly dependent on the position the candidate is applying for (Junior/Regular/Senior). We not only ask questions but also prepare some simple tasks that help to verify the candidate’s ways of thinking.
After the interview, we make our decision and inform the candidate. This is very important, as no one likes to be left in the dark and they may even be someone we work with in the future. Even if we decide to not hire them, we send feedback to help in their self-development.
Ruby Job Description Template
In the highly competitive market of Ruby on Rails professionals, you need to sell your company well - that’s where a well-written job ad comes in. You need to look at your job posting from the candidate's perspective, providing all the critical information they could want around the opportunity.
When it comes to job description content itself, it varies slightly depending on the platform that we post it on. The most comprehensive ones are visible on our website and based on Google Analytics data, they get a lot of traction!
In our job descriptions for Ruby developers, we do our best to explain who we are looking for as clearly as possible. Different companies require different sets of skills (or tools/ experience) depending on the type of projects being developed and so clarity in this area is critical (as it is with managing an outsourced Ruby development team).
Additionally, we focus a lot on the benefits that we provide, and these are listed under our “what we offer” tab. This is very important - the salary is one thing, but we want to show the candidate that we offer something “extra”.
Source: Railwaymen.org / Example of Job Advertisement
Are You Ready to Hire a Ruby on Rails Developer?
Hiring Ruby on Rails developers is demanding. They know that the magic that they can do with the language is very valuable and won’t join your company unless you offer them the best conditions, perks and salaries.
That’s why if you want to find the best Ruby developers, posting a job ad is not enough. You need to take care of the general image of your company and have people on=board who are capable of finding candidates with the right skills and cultural fit.
Based on our experience, all of these efforts pay off, as having talented, experienced and well-liked Ruby on Rails developers in your company enables you to develop products of the highest quality as a team. Now, stay tuned for our piece that takes a glimpse into the future of Ruby development.
