One of the biggest challenges I’ve run in to as a manager is writing the right job description for the right job title. Get that right, and suddenly the right candidates appear in your inbox (well, at least you’ve got a better chance of getting the right candidates the first time). That being said, let’s presume you’re looking to hire a Ruby on Rails developer. Maybe it’s for a new department or project, maybe it’s to augment an existing team. Either way, there’s three levels (in my mind at least) for a Rails developer. So what are the levels/titles and their qualifications?
Junior or Entry Level Developer
These are the new developers. Call them “entry level” if you will, as that’s what they are, entering the workforce. They’re generally fresh out of school, or they’ve just finished up a coding boot camp and are looking to change careers. Either way, odds are they’ll be great to augment an existing team, especially if it’s a well established team which enforces code reviews. Using the power of the code review to help them learn the nuances of the system and the enforce good coding practices (you did write tests and they do pass, right?) will help them quickly become a solid developer.
At this level you should be looking for someone with under a year of experience, but who has taken classes in the subject and can answer high level questions about the language itself. You’ll want to know that they have a firm grasp of the MVC (Model-View-Controller) architecture that Rails uses. Throw them a coding challenge if you must, but keep it simple, and look for well commented code with simple logic. Trust me, you’ll know if they head off in to the weeds on this.
On a side note here, I’ve taught a few boot camp classes, and some of the students who came out of it were pretty darn good. I tried to “sell” one of my students to a recruiter, who then told me that none of his clients would look at a some for a junior developer position unless they had at least two years of experience in the language. That’s pretty harsh and short sighted in my opinion. If these guys had two years of experience they wouldn’t be junior level!
Mid-Level Developer
To me, this is probably about 70% of the developers out there. They’ve got about two to five years of experience with the language, have probably gained their experience in at least two different companies, and are able to code just about any challenge you throw at them. They may or may not have exposure to multiple databases, but that shouldn’t matter.
They should be comfortable with SQL in general, and should be able to speak a little to the NoSQL side of things (which is pretty much just key-value document storage, so if they’re comfortable around JSON, they’re good to go in that arena, especially if they’re augmenting an existing team). Speaking of data and databases, can they adequately explain when you should consider using seed data, and what the pitfalls of it can be?
Ask about their testing habits. Are they strict about TDD (Test Driven Development)? Do they at least ensure that there are tests for the code they write, regardless of where in the process they write the tests? Ask about their preferred testing languages and why (don’t worry if it doesn’t match what you already use, they’ll adapt).
One key item I would look for here is how comfortable they are in the console. Can they use the Rails Console for debugging purposes? Being able to run around within the console to verify and debug things is a critical skill. Beyond just the Rails Console, do they use the Interactive Ruby shell (IRB?) I’ve found that sometimes it’s helpful to just jump in a test a theory without having to worry about the rest of the Rails project.
Mid-level developers are great for augmenting existing teams as well as starting up new ones. They can generally hit the ground running after a few days of looking at the code base and can be a productive member of the team in just a few Sprints. At the same time, they’re perfect for starting a new team if you already have a well documented project, and possibly a software architect who has given an initial thumbs up to the project.
Senior or Lead Developer
Here’s where it gets tricky. At this point it’s not just about how long you’ve been programming in Ruby on Rails. You could easily say that anyone with over five years of experience could be considered a senior level developer. However, it’s more than just the experience level. How much are the willing to help guide the other members of the team? Do they look at the junior developers and see potential and help them to learn and grow? Or do they just sit by and let them struggle? I’ve known some developers who have over a dozen years of experience, but have no drive to help anyone on the team other than themselves. Those guys will never be senior level in my mind. I’ve met others though who are such team players, and such leaders within the organization that they naturally fall in to a senior level even though they’ve only been doing something for three years. I’d be willing to hire someone with only three or four years of experience but shows solid leadership skills over someone with seven years of experience who is more interested in just getting the minimal amount of work done and just collects a paycheck.
These are developers who help make the product owners make decisions when they have questions over if a feature is feasible within the requested time frame. They can help to scope projects because they know what everyone on their team is capable of achieving. They push the other team members to become better. With the right senior developer on the team, the results you get from the team will truly be greater than the sum of the parts.
A senior level developer is perfect for helping get a new project off the ground. They can help make the right choices in the beginning of the project, and will quickly know where they will need the most help within that project, so you know what skills you need to hire in next.
They’re also perfect if you find that you have an existing team that seems to always be struggling to fully deliver. Let the senior developer come in and help try and correct any bad habits that your current team has. Have them help coach the team while they help pull the project across the finish line.
The Ideal Team
If I had to start a new, large project from scratch, I’d look for a four person team. I’d start with one senior level, lead developer. Once they are able to help analyze the project I would have them give their recommendations as to if we needed three mid-level developers, or if we could do a combination of mid-level and junior developers.
If I was augmenting an existing team, I’d look at the current needs of the team and the seniority levels of the existing members to determine what I needed. I know that this answer is a little more vague than all the rest, but it really does depend on the skills and needs of the team as to if you bring someone junior in to train them, or someone more senior to help grow the team for you.