Upwork

There are a number of platforms out there where we can hire full-time contractors like Upwork, Freelancer.com, Outsourcely, and Toptal. We're going to use Upwork.

Upwork is the largest freelancer marketplace in the world and is the best place for us to look for talent. When approached with the right system it gives us both quantity and quality. In addition to having the developers with the best bang for the buck, Upwork comes with a few other advantages.

Handling NDAs, payments, currency exchange, taxes, and other employment regulations is (probably) not anybody's idea of fun. Thankfully all of this is taken care of by the platform.

Upwork has built-in time tracking that measures activity and takes screenshots. While this might be uncomfortably Orwellian, we don't have to actively monitor the reports. Just by existing, this feature ensures we only get billed for time spent working on our projects. Additionally, in the unlikely event there is an issue with a developer, this feature lets us take advantage of Upwork's very employer-friendly dispute resolution services.

Upwork is used for hiring the full time contract workers that staff the engineering team. All job postings and communication with candidates is done through their platform.

Using Upwork

There is a plethora of reliable talent that can be received from this website and is just waiting to be found. However, this is not without due caution and well-placed scrutiny. In our experiences with Upwork's hiring process, we have developed a general flow that you can follow.

The following list ensures that you are able to have: clear communication of your needs for your job, maximum job post visibility, high-quality work received from candidates, and the ability to hire reliable and verified employees.

To find talent on Upwork we'll create job posts. We'll cover how to create one in more detail in the next section.