How to hire the best Ruby on Rails developer

We all have had a Swiss knife. That tiny folded 300-times metal creation that literally could let you build a house with it. Ruby on Rails  – an all-in-one tool that can handle any web development task – is the Swiss knife of software development. It provides the tools and framework needed to create dynamic websites quickly and easily. 

No need to reinvent the wheel whenever working with Ruby on Rails. It has an extensive library of core modules and allows access to third-party plugins for better functionality. Whether you are developing a basic web application or launching your own eCommerce platform, Ruby on Rails has what you need!

What is Ruby on Rails?

Let’s break the word into parts for better understanding and define what Ruby is first. 

Ruby is a dynamic, open-source programming language. It focuses on simplicity and greater productivity. Ruby got an elegant syntax that is simple to read and easy to write. Additionally, the Ruby programming language serves well for complex tasks, like building websites or web applications, and general-purpose programming tasks, such as automation, prototyping, data analysis, and game development. 

Now that we know what Ruby is, we can move on to a more complex concept – Ruby on Rails. 

Ruby on Rails is an open-source web application framework written in the Ruby programming language. The primary purpose of which was to make it easier and faster for programmers to develop robust, data-driven platforms and applications. 

Moving further, Ruby on Rails has multiple built-in features that just make sense. For example: 

• Object-relational mapping (ORM). It allows you to connect rich objects to tables in a relational database. Therefore, excluding the need to use SQL by making a direct usage of an object possible;
• Caching mechanisms. They allow the requests for generated pages to be accomplished by the web server. Requests no longer have to pass the entire Rails stack;
• Templating engines. You can now mix HTML & Ruby in order to create web pages utilizing data from your database;
• Routing systems. Avoid the need for strings in your views, the Ruby on rails router helps to generate URLs and paths. Additionally, it recognizes URLs and dispatches them to a controller’s action or to a Rack application;
• MVC architecture. A software design pattern that allows the separation of business logic from presentation layers in applications. It stands for: 
  • Model – data manager;
  • View – user information displayed; 
  • Controller – user input respondent.

Minimal effort – maximum result!

Why use Ruby on Rails?

Ruby on Rails is a great option for developers looking to create high-quality applications quickly. And that is thanks to: 

– Extensive library. It allows access to multiple open-source plugins that can be helpful in extending functionality in any application; 

– Active community. The framework remains up to date at all times. On top of that, the community provides strong support when needed; 

– Flexible development. Multiple languages could be used within a single project without sacrificing performance or scalability;

– Documentation. Thorough documentation makes it possible for newcomers to learn and use the language faster and easier. 

While these are just some of the Ruby on Rails perks, we will dive into more detail in the following paragraph. 

Advantages of using Ruby on Rails for your project

1. Scalability

Ruby on Rails was released in 2004. With an extensive active community, it became a powerful and mature framework. With scalability at its core, it allows you to keep adding features to a project as it grows without sacrificing an application’s reliability, functionality, and performance.

2. Security

Ruby is the least vulnerable language these days. With cross-site scripting protection and SQL injection prevention built-in by default protection measures, it can resist such security risks as clickjacking, XSS, Mass assignment, CSRF, and many others. 

3. Cost

RoR (Ruby on Rails) is an open-source platform, which means you are already avoiding licensing fees or high-development costs. Furthermore, considering there are many free gems available for you to use, it cuts down the costs even more!

4. User-focused development

Another great advantage of working with Ruby on Rails is its user-focused development structure. UX is at the center stage during development. Everything from page loading to design elements is geared towards ensuring users get the best possible experience when interacting with your application. 

5. Speed and productivity

Ruby on Rails significantly speeds up the development process by focusing on convention over configuration. It also reduces potential errors since you don’t have to spend time configuring everything manually.

Which projects Ruby on Rails works best for?

eCommerce platforms

Ruby on Rails is rich in gems that help with management and development phases from accounting to security. Thus, eCommerce platform production is one of the major industries that can benefit from using Ruby on Rails for their projects. These gems grant attributes and high functionality that are best suitable for online stores. 

Some examples of online eCommerce platforms built on Ruby on Rails are Shopify, Etsy, Airbnb, and Groupon. 

Services for software development

RoR’s convention over configuration (CoC) approach forms its niche among software development websites. This approach aims to decrease the number of decisions a programmer is required to make when using the framework. CoC means that the developer can rely on the framework to make some assumptions based on the name of classes and files rather than needing to write out every single configuration option. This makes RoR development faster and simpler, as developers can focus on the code rather than dealing with configuration files.

GitHub code hosting platform and Zendest customer service software corp are examples of software development websites that use RoR.

Entertainment platforms

Ruby on Rails offers efficient coding, stability, scalability, and speedy development, making it an ideal platform for facilitating streaming sessions in the entertainment industry. 

Hulu, Twitch, and Netflix are the most popular companies using Ruby on Rails in the entertainment business.

MVPs (minimum viable products)

MVP is a minimum viable product that has just enough features and functionality to be used by first customers and receive their feedback on it. Ruby on Rails is an ideal choice for the cost-efficient and quick development of MVPs. It is also frequently used for prototyping, updating, and testing different versions of applications before building a fully-functional Ruby on Rails application.

Social networking applications

The fast development of APIs, unique style facilitation, and excellent parallel scaling capabilities make it a perfect framework for content-heavy and extremely active social media platforms.  

SoundCloud, Twitter, and the booking app Couchsurfing made it their choice to utilize RoR for their needs, and they, indeed, are doing good. 

According to Foxsoft, as of March 2021, 380,996 websites worldwide are built on Ruby on Rails, which makes up 4.5% of all websites. Other well-known platforms among these 381k are Basecamp, Scribd, GitLab, Cookpad, and Goodreads. We can conclude that not only Ruby on Rails is a popular framework, but thanks to its big community, it will continue to be such for years to come. 

How much does it cost to hire RoR developers?

The cost of your Ruby on Rails developer will highly depend on their location, seniority level, and project scale. As an example, let’s consider a middle to senior-level RoR developer from New York. Depending on where they at, knowledge-wise, their average yearly salary will be between 107k to 124k or an hourly wage between 50 USD to 60 USD. 

If we look at San Francisco, developers there of the same levels will be making between 120k – 139k per year, or hourly of 56 USD to 65 USD. This is a significant difference for a startup! 

What about London? In London, UK, you can find developers for less. The same middle- to senior-level developers will earn an average yearly salary of 72k-75k. Put in other numbers, between 34 USD and 36 USD per hour.

Lastly, let’s take a look at Sydney, Australia. There, it is less pricy than in the USA. The salary for RoR developers sets there between 63k and 78k per year, or an hourly wage of 30 USD to 37 USD. 

Do the numbers look big and scary for a little but mighty idea? That is the reason why we have built Lemon.io, the platform for vetted developers that won’t rip your wallet apart. Let us share our rates with you. Through Lemon.io, you get a strong vetted(!) middle RoR developer with an hourly rate between 40 USD to 45 USD. For senior RoR devs, we offer 55 USD to 75 USD (max), usually, a comfortable rate sets up to 65 USD per hour. Last but not least, CTO-level RoR devs could be hired for 70 USD per hour, tops 80 USD per hour. Considering all the rates mentioned above, it looks like an obvious choice. 

Why hire with Lemon.io?

Oh, we waited for this question! Let us show you what we have to offer: 

• Scrupulous vetting procedure. In order to guarantee startups the highest quality of development, we have implemented a four-step vetting process. It includes examining resumes and backgrounds for past experiences, conducting an in-person interview to evaluate soft skills and English language level, providing coding tasks to verify stated abilities on their CVs and finally drafting offers only if all criteria have been met. In this way, we can ensure that only top professionals are part of our talent pool and your project.
• Remarkable custom matching. We can provide you with your first candidate for a RoR developer position within 48 hours after receiving your request. The Lemon.io Matching team will take into consideration all of your needs, requirements, and budget, as well as ensure that the programmers are in the comfortable or desired time zone to make communication easier.
• Timely weekly reports. You will be able to access a report containing an itemized list of the tasks completed by your developer and the amount of time they spent on your project.
• Assistance on the spot. Shoot us an email, and our Сustomer Іuccess team will get back to you within minutes. We will also accompany you throughout the entire project if any issues arise. 
• Rates. The developers in the Lemon.io talent pool come from all over, and most of them have a cost of living that is lower than what it would be if you were hiring someone in the United States. So don’t worry – even though you are getting an experienced Ruby on Rails developer, your wallet won’t take too much of a hit when working with us!
• Little bureaucracy. At Lemon.io, we understand you’re eager to get your ideas off the ground as soon as possible. That’s why we’ve designed our process in a way that you don’t have to sign loads of paperwork before getting started with the dev who can make your dreams come true – unless you would prefer it! We’ll take care of everything!
• Effortless onboarding. The Customer Success team at Lemon.io is dedicated to ensuring that you have a pleasant experience and are successful in your endeavors. We will prepare an effortless onboarding so that you can relax knowing everything is taken care of.

What should you pay attention to when hiring a developer? 

When choosing a Ruby on Rails developer, you should pay attention to their experience with the language and framework. You will want someone knowledgeable in both front-end development (HTML/CSS) and back-end programming (Ruby). 

Additionally, look for developers who have an understanding of database systems such as MySQL or PostgreSQL. 

Consider how familiar they are with version control systems like Git and related tools like GitHub.

Check if a candidate has hands-on experience and whether any projects they have successfully completed have the same base as yours. In this way, you will know if any of the skills used in the past can be specifically applied to upcoming projects. 

What’s the best way to assess a RoR developer? 

In our option, the two best ways to assess a freelance RoR dev are the live interview and a test or home task. 

The purpose of conducting a live interview and not a video recording, for instance, as an introduction, is because it helps you meet a candidate and assess their soft skills, personal qualities, and English language proficiency. Remember that a developer can get nervous during an interview just like any other human. However, pay close attention to whether they are feeling nervous just in the beginning as an acquaintance phase or because they don’t know anything about technology and are failing to answer your questions. 

While a task will help you understand their level of expertise and whether the way they approach a task fits the specifications of your project. What is the difference between a home task and a test task? A test task is performed online or live, where a developer has a certain amount of time to complete it. A home task is the opposite. A developer is given certain amount of days or hours to complete the task without supervision. 

Checklist on how to hire Ruby on Rails developers 

Step 1: Identify the ideal Ruby on Rails developer profile

First thing first, create a profile of an ideal candidate. What hard skills do they have to possess to be successful in the job? What personal qualities and soft skills are essential to fit the team? What mindset should they have? How many years of hands-on experience do you want your ideal Ruby on Rails developer to have behind their back? Should they be native English speakers? These are probably the most important questions to ask yourself when drafting a job profile. Luckily, we have created a job description template to help you answer some of these questions. 

Step 2: Choose the suitable hiring model for the engineering team

Moving on to the next step, you have to choose the hiring model that suits you the best. You can decide to hire directly to your company, make an offer on bidding platforms or hire from a platform for vetted professionals. At his point, we have to admit the last option serves the best for you. But to state so, let’s take a closer look at each of them. 

Direct hire is time- and source-consuming. Draft job posts, publish them, review resumes, conduct interviews, provide and check test tasks, make an offer, and onboard. It might take up to six months to hire a developer in this way. 

Bidding platforms aren’t a much better option, either. Time-wise, it may be faster, but through trial and error. You would still have to create a job post and place your offer, review resumes and conducts interviews, do a test task, and onboard a candidate. Although, what differs is that bidding platforms don’t have a specific vetting procedure for Ruby on Rails developers. Therefore, you can only rely on what a candidate tells you.

Platforms for vetted devs, like Lemon.io, are the best option. It is fast and has a vetting process in place to ensure you will be working with a professional. Not only it gives you access to 100s of vetted professionals, but you are also matched with a developer, so there is no need to skim through hundreds of resumes and conduct lengthy interviews. Platforms for vetted devs will also ensure a smooth onboarding and might have more pleasant rates than the ones on bidding platforms. Overall, great choice. 

Step 3: Determine the cost of hiring RoR developers

You can determine the cost of Ruby on Rails developers for hire based on these three criteria:

Location. Some countries might offer lower prices for Ruby on Rails development, based on the level of life there. For instance, developers from Argentina will definitely be cheaper than developers from the USA, or developers from Poland might be more expensive than developers from Ukraine. The price also depends on whether you outsource from a certain location on your own or choose a company to do so for you. 

Experience level. Are you looking for a senior or middle-level RoR programmer? The higher the seniority, the higher the price. 

Project needs. Define your project goals and, from there, your needs. Do you need a developer for a long-term or short-term project? Are you looking for a team of developers or just one Rails programmer? Know your programmers’ rates, which will help you determine the development costs. 

Step 4: Narrow down the developer location according to your needs

Make a decision by considering the location options based on these parameters: 

Cost of the development process. As it was mentioned above, some countries have higher labor hourly rates than others. 

Time zone. Would you rather work synchronously, with a slight two-three hours difference, or are you completely fine working asynchronously with a seven to ten hours difference? This is an important one to keep in mind.  

Countries’ reputation. Some countries, like Poland or Argentina, have earned themselves a reputation for estates that have high ICT rates. Expert Ruby on Rails there are of high knowledge and is also up to the latest trends in the software development industry to remain highly competitive. 

English level skills. Lastly, are you looking for a native-like speaker, or are you okay with some accent and a professional level of English? 

Step 5: Put together an attractive job offer and begin onboarding: 

Have you chosen your ideal RoR engineer? Tell them about the benefits and perks your company offers, salary, and vacation days. Lastly, send them an offer and a contract to sign and proceed to begin their onboarding! 

Conclusion

Ruby on Rails is an excellent choice of framework for the development of powerful apps with minimal effort and time- consumption. When looking to hire a Ruby on Rails expert, make sure to create a clear picture of your ideal candidate and an assessment plan with the criteria to make it easier for both sides to see whether you two are a fit. On the other hand, if you are worried that the whole recruitment process will take up all of your time, space, and budget, come to Lemon.io. Believe us, you won’t regret this decision. We offer vetted talented RoR developers at affordable rates. Moreover, no matter your location, we will find the right fit according to your requirements and time zone. 

FAQ:

• What do RoR developers do, and what skills do they have? 

  Ruby on Rails developers is responsible for designing, developing, and deploying web applications using the Ruby programming language. They have a wide range of skills, including: 
  -Strong knowledge of object-oriented design principles (OOP);
  -Proficiency in database management systems like PostgreSQL or MySQL; 
  -Ability to build efficient user interfaces with HTML/CSS and JavaScript libraries such as jQuery or ReactJS;  
  -Experience working with version control tools (Git);  
  -Understanding of system security best practices;      
  -Familiarity with server architecture concepts (Apache, Nginx);  
  -Knowledge of web services and APIs (RESTful & SOAP);     
  -Ability to write automated tests in RSpec or Cucumber.

• Why use Ruby on Rails for app development?

  Ruby on Rails is a popular choice for web application development due to its flexibility, scalability, and ease of use. It has an extensive library of tools that make coding faster and easier than other frameworks, such as PHP or Java. Additionally, the Ruby language is well suited for rapid prototyping, allowing developers to quickly build out new features without having to re-write large chunks of code from scratch. Finally, RoR makes it easy to deploy applications across multiple platforms.

• What are the advantages of Ruby?

  1. Ruby is easy to learn and use, with a syntax that emphasizes readability; 
  2. It has an extensive library of gems for extending its functionality, making development easier and faster than ever before;
  3. Its object-oriented design makes it great for creating large projects or developing complex applications quickly and efficiently while maintaining high levels of code quality throughout the process;

• What are the disadvantages of Ruby?

  Ruby is not as widely used or supported by the development community compared to other languages such as JavaScript, Python, and Go;
  It tends to be more memory-intensive than some of its competitors, which can lead to performance issues if your application requires a lot of processing power;
  The syntax can also be confusing at times since there are multiple ways of writing the same line of code with slight variations that may not always make sense right away, depending on your experience level with the language itself.