Scaling Your Engineering Team
How to hire offshore engineers that actually ship
Most founders make one of two mistakes when hiring engineers:
They overpay for prestige (us based contractors) without results
They underpay and micromanage developers who can't execute
The best founders know how to find builders, not just coders. If you want engineers who take ownership, ship fast, and don’t need hand-holding—this guide shows you how we do it.
Lets dive in
1. Hiring an engineer isn’t the same as hiring a product builder.
Before you post that job ad, ask yourself:
Is this role backend-heavy? Or UI-focused?
Will they be building MVPs or scaling infra?
Are you shipping fast and breaking things or building clean, stable systems?
Too many founders write a wishlist and hope for magic. Get clear on what your product actually needs next—and hire for that.
2. Where to find offshore engineers
We’ve hired out of:
Reddit (subreddits like r/forhire, r/webdev)
LinkedIn job posts + DM campaigns
Niche boards (WeWorkRemotely, RemoteOK, and Dev.to)
Referral networks we’ve built in LATAM, Egypt, Morocco, etc.
Paid sourcing pipelines (like outbound automation or agencies like us 👀)
Consistency is the unlock. You don’t need 100 candidates. You need 3-5 great ones.
3. How to screen engineers (without wasting 10 hours)
We use 3 filters:
Mini technical test (30–45 min): Solve a basic bug or build a feature (realistic, not HackerRank-style)
Portfolio check: Look at how they think, not just what they shipped
Comms test: Clear async writing, ownership language, and product thinking
Bonus: Ask them what AI tools they use when coding. If they’re not using Copilot or ChatGPT, that’s a flag.
4. Hiring checklist (our internal framework)
What we check before any hire: Timezone overlap (at least 2–4 hours with core team)
English clarity (voice notes, async replies, Loom videos)
Tool comfort (GitHub, Linear, Notion, Slack, Copilot)
Culture fit (are they growth-oriented, coachable, and aligned?)
Ownership mindset (do they ask smart questions or just wait for next steps?)
5. The 2-week onboarding sprint
Don’t throw them into a live repo with zero guidance. Our onboarding includes:
Day 1–3: Environment setup, access, SOPs
Day 4–7: First small tasks (e.g., bug fix or style tweak)
Day 8–14: Feature builds + feedback loop
Week 3+: Full tasks, async standups, and ownership
By the end of week 2, they should be in the rhythm.
We’ve built an offshore hiring engine that does all this—sourcing, screening, onboarding. You just get a shortlist of 2–3 people worth hiring. Book a free consult if you want in.
