Hire Open Source Developers: 8 Tips on How to Recruit Great Team
Whenever you need to hire open source developers, you must realize that this is a responsible step for any company, whether big or small, and a certified and trustworthy professional can maintain the integrity of your company’s tech procedures. My name is Alex and, here at Code2Day, I actively work on outstaffing open source developers for clients from different niches. In this article, I will share my experience on the topic and some specific lifehacks for hiring open source programmers for any business. We will take a backstage look at the recruiting process at Code2day and find out how outstaffing can transform it into its best version.
Why Hire Open Source Developers?
Not so long ago, I worked on the outstaffing process for a consulting company that urgently needed a credible open source developer for their latest API project. The API intended to facilitate the exchange of information and resources between the clients and their consultants, and by hiring an open source developer, the company planned to create a collaborative environment in which other developers could participate and contribute to the development of the API.
Upon the client’s first request, I contacted one of the open source developers from our established database, Marek from Lublin, Poland. Marek had over 3 years of experience specifically in open source development for different business niches and processes, in particular API development, therefore he seemed like the perfect match.
As an open source developer, Marek possessed all the required skills needed to reach the community and incentivize open collaboration. In addition, he worked well with such indispensable open source development tools as version control systems, IDEs, CI/CD tools, project management tools, and others. Overall, outstaffing Marek with Code2day has proven to bring many benefits that wouldn’t be achieved through traditional recruitment methods.
Faster problem-solving
The consulting company we worked with had very dynamic business processes, with a constant swirl of clients who had a variety of different requests, and they needed to provide the highest-quality service to each one of them, hence the urgent need for a native API. Outstaffing an open source developer was the fastest solution compared to in-house hiring or looking for freelance specialists. I immediately contacted Marek, described the job to him, and connected him with the client: by the end of the week, the offer was already on the table. Therefore, the need for an open source developer for an API project was met in the shortest possible timeline.
Cost-efficiency
Another reason why outstaffing is beneficial for short-term projects is because it is substantially cheaper compared to other solutions. The payment is usually either project-based or milestone-based, and there is no need to spend extra budget on maintaining an in-house specialist when there is no job for them to do. In the case of Marek, the pay was discussed prior to making the offer, as well as the expected project budget, therefore the client knew in advance exactly how much they would have to spend on outstaffing and maintaining an open source developer on their team.
Larger talent pool
Oustaffing allows businesses to tap into a larger talent pool, which is priceless when it comes to open source development, requiring innovation and fresh thinking. With access to a large range of options the task to hire an IT contractor is not so difficult as it may seem. Besides Marek, I personally offered the client other resumes of candidates from Poland, Ukraine, and even the US, thus giving them a wider range of choices. When you outstaff a specialist like Marek, you can see clearly how they can contribute to your company or project in advance: previous work experience, especially in similar projects, hard and soft skills, and recommendations from previous employers.
How to Hire Open Source Developers: 8 Main Steps
Code2day has had multiple other instances of successful open source developer outstaffing, people who, like Marek, demonstrated the highest levels of knowledge and required skillsets for the job. After years of experience working in outstaffing, I can confidently compile my own list of recommendations. Follow the steps below for the successful outsourcing of an open source developer for your company.
Step 1: Define Your Requirements
First and foremost, understand exactly what skills your future employee should possess. According to Statista, there have been 4.8M open source projects developed in 2024 in JavaScript alone. Each one of these projects required a developer with a defined skillset. Therefore, when you make a request to outsource an open source programmer, state the tools and programming languages relevant to your projects (e.g., Python, JavaScript, Kubernetes). In the case of Marek, our tech interviewer ran a test of his knowledge of Python, which was one of the obligatory requirements for the project.
Then, clarify the nature of your project in the request: state whether it is long-term or short-term and what specific roles you are looking for (for instance, contributor, maintainer, or technical lead).
Finally, emphasize which soft skills you are looking for in your future open source developer. Usually, we have our HR perform the screening of the personal qualities of each candidate during an interview. Specifying the soft skills you expect your employee to have is crucial even if these skills seem evident to most, and I’ll tell you why.
Not so long ago, I was personally interviewing a candidate for the position of open source programmer. While he possessed the full technical skillset required by the job, I was surprised to find out that his views on open source development were misaligned with those of the other members of the team. Therefore, his inability to work in a team and the lack of a collaborative mindset prevented the candidate from getting the job.
Step 2: Choose the Right Recruiting Firm
Once you have clearly defined your objectives, look for a recruiting firm that has experience finding experts for similar positions. Not once have I worked with clients who suffered through at least three incompetent recruitment firms before getting in touch with Code2day. Here, we are open about our experiences and strong sides, ready to provide our previous success stories and references on client’s demand.
Step 3: Share Your Open Source Strategy with the Recruiting Firm
Knowing exactly what kind of professional you want to see on your team will help you a lot in seamless communication with the recruitment team. This is how the process usually flows at Code2day:
As long as the client clearly communicates what kind of a specialist they need, the outstaffing process goes quickly and smoothly, just like it did with Marek.
Step 4: Set Clear Expectations on the Recruitment Process
There is a set of other details you must take into account to facilitate the recruitment process. If you decide that the firm should handle the entire process on your behalf, you can still define the timeline for initial screening, technical evaluations, and interviews, in order for the recruitment process to align with your expectations and deadlines.
Although collaboration with the client in the process is not mandatory, it can greatly speed up the candidate search. When I was interviewing other candidates besides Marek, the client was helping me set forth the criteria for reviewing candidates' open source contributions on GitHub, GitLab, or other platforms, in particular their participation in API-related projects. Last but not least, the client also managed to narrow down the list of candidates by explicitly stating its compensation range: in this way, the company made sure that Code2day only considered the candidates that were within its planned budget.
Step 5: Leverage the Firm's Network and Tools
Whenever hiring for an open source project, you must consider promoting your job in open source communities. When I was searching for candidates besides Marek to invite them to an interview, we promoted the job postings of the client in a bunch of relevant forums and open source community channels, including Reddit, Stack Overflow, and GitHub Discussions.
Once we picked out a sufficient number of candidates, we conducted coding tests to assess their coding abilities one by one. The entire process was overseen by our company’s native technical specialist. The results brought by the testing tools were later used to make more objective evaluations of each one of the specialists.
Step 6: Conduct Technical Interviews and Cultural Fit Assessments
After testing the general knowledgeability and coding skills of every candidate, I personally took time analyzing their various contributions to open source projects, particularly the ones similar to the API-building project of our client. Since we had an even number of candidates, it made it possible for me to set up pair programming sessions between them in real time. Such a creative test helped me see how well different experts could collaborate with each other and define whether we could expect to outstaff someone besides Marek for the same project.
Step 7: Finalize the Offer with a Focus on Open Source Engagement
One of the requests on Marek’s and other candidate’s behalf was to arrange flexible work hours for the project. Although the client was tight on time, he valued quality work first and foremost, and, with the help of Code2day as an intermediary in the process, both parties managed to negotiate a flexible schedule that prioritized open source engagement from both programmers.
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Step 8: Onboard the Developer with the Help of the Recruiting Firm
The last step of the process was to present an onboarding plan to the candidates who have already received their offers. I helped the client curate a detailed plan that included a technical setup, an introduction to existing projects, and involvement in company-supported open source initiatives. Once the experts were successfully outstaffed, I personally oversaw their transition and integration process into the team. During the first two months, we also organized regular video calls to get feedback first-hand both from the employer and the developers.
What to Look for in Open Source Developers
Code2day outstaffs at least three open source developers for different companies per month. With this regularity, I have established my personal list of qualities to look for when you want to hire open source programmers.
Technical Skills
Another time, I was interviewing Johan, an open source programmer from Stockholm, Sweden. He impressed me with his fluency in Python, Linux, Git, Docker, and databases like MySQL and PostgreSQL, which are both widely used in open source development.
Since open source is all about collaboration, developers in the field must be able to read, use, and modify code written by others. This was a mandatory test task during my interview with Johan since I wanted to ensure his adaptability to different, often complicated, codebases.
Contributions to Open Source Projects
My next task was to check Johan’s readiness to provide open source development services to different kinds of clients. For this, I checked his previous involvement and contributions to platforms like GitHub, Stack Overflow, and other open online communities. I was delighted to find out that Johan had an active GitHub profile with a long story of contributions to different repositories. Through his participation in discussions on Stack Overflow, Johan demonstrated his willingness to share experience and help others, which are both indispensable qualities for any good open source developer.
Soft Skills
The final stage of the interview with Johan was testing such soft skills as communication, collaboration, and problem-solving. Open source work often involves working with a distributed team, hence possessing all of these skills is a must. I checked Johan by asking him to comment on several random open source projects: for me, it was important to hear how well he could communicate his ideas and offer collaborative solutions that would work for the common good. After I made sure that Johan had no issue expressing his opinions and suggesting improvements for the works of others, it was safe to say that he was a fitting candidate for our database of open source experts.
How Do We Evaluate Open Source Developers
The evaluation process is indispensable when you want to hire open source developer with an outsourcing firm.
Screening Phase
Both Marek and Johan, as well as dozens of other open source developers I personally helped to outstaff, went through the initial screening phase before their interviews. During the pre-screening process, I and my colleagues identified the developers with consistent, high-quality contributions and active participation in open source projects. For example, Marek had previous experience in developing an open source API for a logistics firm, and Johan demonstrated active participation in assisting junior open source developers with broadening their portfolios.
Technical Assessment
One of the reasons we paid particular attention to Johan is because of his past experience working in an offshore open source software development company US. Such an important milestone on his CV was something that didn’t go unnoticed and raised Johan’s candidacy in our eyes. At the same time, we made sure to subject Johan to a more rigorous technical assessment during his interview to verify his abilities in practice: for this, we specifically made his coding test task more difficult than for other potential employees. This helped us ensure that the initial evaluation matched the technical requirements of our client.
Interview for Cultural Fit
Given that Code2day outstaffs open source professionals from all over the world, it is crucial to verify their cultural fit for the company they’re about to work at. Therefore, we invited the client to a couple of later-stage interviews both with Marek in Johan. Together, we assessed their communication skills, collaboration style, and how well both developers aligned with the company's open source ethos.
Feedback and Recommendations
After the interviews and technical assessments, I always provide the open source development company with detailed summaries of the evaluations of each candidate and often even share my personal opinion on each. My feedback includes both strengths and areas for improvement, which allows the client to assess every developer objectively and know what kind of collaboration to prepare for.
Hire Open Source Developers With Code2Day
Code2day is an outstaffing platform with over 8 years of experience in tech recruitment. By working with us, you entrust the hiring process to the hands of a reliable partner. This allows you to concentrate on other immediate processes of your business instead of spending weeks interviewing candidates, checking portfolios, and running tests. In addition, outstaffing is proven to be a cost-effective solution, as you pay exactly for the work that’s done for you and not a dime more.
We at Code2day offer new support opensource developers for all kinds of projects. Get in touch with our team, and I will personally curate the outsourcing process for your specific request. Experience the benefits of outstaffing first-hand as Code2day finds the perfect specialist for your company.
FAQ
What should I look for in an open source developer's portfolio?
Look for portfolios that have different contributions to relevant projects and that showcase the technical skills of a candidate well. Pay attention to their previous collaborations, such as code reviews or active participation in community discussions, which are immensely important for collaborative development.
How can a recruiting firm help in hiring open source developers?
A recruiting firm like Code2day will verify and interview relevant candidates on your behalf and provide you with access to an already established network of experienced specialists. In addition, Code2day evaluates the soft skills of each candidate and their ability to naturally integrate into project-dependent teams.
What types of projects should an open source developer have experience with?
Developers should have experience with projects similar to your business domain and large community-driven projects. When this variety is in place, it demonstrates the adaptability of a candidate to the open source ecosystem and their strong commitment to collaboration.
How do I ensure that an open source developer aligns with my company’s culture?
The best way to do so is to find out about their collaborative experiences and communication styles in advance. At Code2day, we provide clients with the main insights from interviews with each candidate so that the client can assess well their values align before choosing to add a particular expert to their team.