Tuesday, October 20, 2020

You should pay your first developer TWICE the market rate.

 You've founded your company.

You've got the investor cash.

Now you need to start building that application that's going to make you a bajillionaire.

But first you need to hire developers to do the building.

I'm going to put it out there: you should get a senior developer / senior software engineer, and you should pay them TWICE the market.

So if market rate in your city is $120K, then place ads on the job boards and everywhere you can, stating up front in the job title $240K.

"$240K!!! Senior JavaScript ReactJS/nodejs developer wanted."

And then make it clear in the first sentences of the job ad:

We are a startup company with the funding to build the first version of our software.  We'll be building it in <insert technology choices here>.  We are looking for the best of the best senior software engineers and we will pay TWICE the market rate to get that person.  Later employees will be paid well, but this offer we will make only to our first engineer(s) because it's so important.

I've seen many startup companies go about their first hires in a very normal way..... or even worse, they hire junior developers (which I should caveat is a fine strategy is you don't have money).

It's a different story if the company is founded by software developers - this advice is for the non-technical founder.

Of course just because you are paying double market rate doesn't necessarily get you an amazing person - but it gives you a very good shot at shaking that person out of the market.