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Flexiple’s Guide to Hiring Freelance Developers
Insights from 7+ years of experience in assisting early stage startups build scalable tech teams.
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Executive Summary
1.5 million.
That's the number of self-employed developers in the world.
Through contract-based work (freelancing), businesses and talent now have options to engage with each other beyond full-time employment. And still do rewarding work! But "freelance" has gained a bad rap, seen as "less serious" than traditional employment.
We disagree.
Although, we do agree that finding the right freelance developer can be tricky. We have worked with 100s of early-stage startups, and have firsthand witnessed the beauty of collaboration between such teams and independent developers.
So, we built this guide - to help you pick the right fit for your team. Inside, you will find everything you need to know to navigate all-things-freelancer-developers!
This surge in the freelance workforce is driven by a confluence of factors, including advancements in technology that facilitate remote work, the increasing desire for work-life balance, and a growing number of skilled individuals seeking career independence.
76.4 Million U.S. freelancers contribute over $1.27 trillion to the economy.
This surge in the freelance workforce is driven by a confluence of factors, including advancements in technology that facilitate remote work, the increasing desire for work-life balance, and a growing number of skilled individuals seeking career independence.
83% SMBs agree that freelancers have greatly helped their businesses.
Freelancers offer SMBs a competitive edge, enabling them to tap into a vast pool of talent on demand, without the constraints of traditional employment structures. Rapid team scaling based on project needs enables leaner, more efficient operations, reducing overhead costs and boosting profitability.
71% of freelancers have gained more work recently, thanks to online platforms.
Online platforms have democratized access to this dynamic workforce, enabling businesses to seamlessly discover and collaborate with top-caliber talent from around the world. For freelancers, these open doors to a global network, fostering connections and client growth across industries and continents.
168% freelance work boom expected by 2033.
This remarkable growth reflects a major shift in how companies build their teams. As the gig economy booms, businesses see the benefits of combining full-time staff with freelance professionals hired as needed.
Chapter 1 : Market Trends
The Freelance Revolution
10 Trends
Chapter 2 : Why Freelancers?
In-house employees problems
The solution
Benefits of freelancers
Chapter 3 : Cost of Hiring
Project-based compensation
Time-based compensation
Factors
Chapter 4 : Hiring Channels
Hire a referral
Vetted tech talent networks
Pure freelance marketplaces
Online tech forums
4 more topics
Chapter 5 : Top Freelance Websites
Types of Websites
Top 7 Websites
How to Choose?
Chapter 6 : Freelancer Evaluation
Need for a holistic evaluation
What to look for
Evaluation at Flexiple
Chapter 7 : Effective Project Management
Challenges
Conclusion
The best way to build your dream tech team.
With our 7+ years of tech hiring expertise, you get 10/10 talent matches to scale your team. Get recommendations, not just resumes.
“Flexiple has exceeded our expectations with their focus on customer satisfaction! The freelancers are brilliant at what they do and have made an immense impact. Highly recommended :)”
Henning Grimm
Founder, Aquaplot
“Overall Flexiple brought in high-level of transparency with extremely quick turnarounds in the hiring process at a significantly lower cost than any alternate options we had considered.”
Kislay Shashwat
VP Finance, CREO
“Todd and I are impressed with the candidates you've gathered. Thank you for your work so far. Thanks for sticking within our budget and helping us to find strong talent. Have loved Flexiple so far — highly entrepreneurial and autonomous talent.”
William Ross
Co-Founder, Reckit
“The cooperation with Christos was excellent. I can only give positive feedback about him. Besides his general coding, the way of writing tests and preparing documentation has enriched our team very much. It is a great added value in every team.”
Moritz Gruber
CTO, Caisy.io
“Flexiple spent a good amount of time understanding our requirements, resulting in accurate recommendations and quick ramp up by developers. We also found them to be much more affordable than other alternatives for the same level of quality.”
Narayan Vyas
Director PM, Plivo Inc
“It's been great working with Flexiple for hiring talented, hardworking folks. We needed a suitable back-end developer and got to know Ankur through Flexiple. We are very happy with his commitment and skills and will be working with Flexiple going forward as well.”
Neil Shah
Chief of Staff, Prodigal Tech
“Flexiple has been instrumental in helping us grow fast. Their vetting process is top notch and they were able to connect us with quality talent quickly. The team put great emphasis on matching us with folks who were a great fit not only technically but also culturally.”
Tanu V
Founder, Power Router
“Flexiple has exceeded our expectations with their focus on customer satisfaction! The freelancers are brilliant at what they do and have made an immense impact. Highly recommended :)”
Henning Grimm
Founder, Aquaplot
“Overall Flexiple brought in high-level of transparency with extremely quick turnarounds in the hiring process at a significantly lower cost than any alternate options we had considered.”
Kislay Shashwat
VP Finance, CREO
“Todd and I are impressed with the candidates you've gathered. Thank you for your work so far. Thanks for sticking within our budget and helping us to find strong talent. Have loved Flexiple so far — highly entrepreneurial and autonomous talent.”
William Ross
Co-Founder, Reckit
“The cooperation with Christos was excellent. I can only give positive feedback about him. Besides his general coding, the way of writing tests and preparing documentation has enriched our team very much. It is a great added value in every team.”
Moritz Gruber
CTO, Caisy.io
“Flexiple spent a good amount of time understanding our requirements, resulting in accurate recommendations and quick ramp up by developers. We also found them to be much more affordable than other alternatives for the same level of quality.”
Narayan Vyas
Director PM, Plivo Inc
“It's been great working with Flexiple for hiring talented, hardworking folks. We needed a suitable back-end developer and got to know Ankur through Flexiple. We are very happy with his commitment and skills and will be working with Flexiple going forward as well.”
Neil Shah
Chief of Staff, Prodigal Tech
“Flexiple has been instrumental in helping us grow fast. Their vetting process is top notch and they were able to connect us with quality talent quickly. The team put great emphasis on matching us with folks who were a great fit not only technically but also culturally.”
Tanu V
Founder, Power Router
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