Have you ever wondered how the code can influence your business results? Switching to certain frameworks can help businesses reap several benefits, like time efficiency, seamless maintenance, and scalability at once. A vivid example that combines all of these advantages is Ruby on Rails or RoR – a popular web application framework utilized by GitHub, Couchsurfing, and other major companies.
What if you want to join this list and develop your next web app on Ruby on Rails or modernize your tech stack but don’t have in-house expertise? Consider growing your team in Poland, a large hub of skilled RoR developers. Learn tips on how to hire Ruby on Rails developers in Poland to implement a robust web solution.
Poland – a top destination for hiring Ruby on Rails developers
According to Clutch, every 10th tech vendor in Poland provides web development services on the basis of Ruby on Rails. Despite the number of Polish companies that focus on .NET being twice greater, it shouldn’t discourage you from choosing RoR. In comparison to other frameworks, Ruby on Rails stands out for unparalleled development speed and high scalability.
Here are the reasons why looking for developers in Poland is the best idea if you want to leverage these and other benefits of the framework:
Extensive talent pool
Poland is one of the top three countries in Eastern Europe in terms of tech talent availability. Over the period from 2017 to 2022, the local talent pool has grown by 113K and now counts around 491,500 developers. Due to the great potential of Ruby on Rails, many Polish software engineers have embraced Ruby as their main specialization. According to LinkedIn, Poland is home to more than 6,300 Ruby developers, with 4,900 of them building applications on Ruby on Rails. Poland's strong education system and availability of Ruby on Rails courses also contribute to a steady influx of skilled Ruby developers. Therefore, if you decide to hire Ruby on Rails developers in Poland, you have a higher chance of quickly finding professionals who are well-versed in the framework and can effectively handle versatile tech requests.
Solid technical expertise
If you decide to hire Ruby on Rails developers in Poland, you will most probably encounter many candidates with excellent hard skills. Polish engineers are well-recognized in international rankings for their tech proficiency. Local developers have made it to the top three in the SkillValue rating and reached the 10th position on the TopCoder list.
In addition, the active Polish community of Ruby on Rails developers fosters an environment for knowledge sharing and cultivates high-quality standards in the industry. The local Ruby community is vibrant – Polish developers host a lot of networking events and meetups. The annual highlight is the wroclove.rb conference, which unites mostly Middle and Senior Ruby programmers. Among some other opportunities for Ruby engineers to connect in person and advance their knowledge are international conferences in neighboring countries. Friendly.rb in Romania, Ruby Unconf in Germany, and Rails World in the Netherlands are some of the popular events where Polish developers can gain insights into real-world projects and best practices.
Developer rates
The average rates of Ruby developers in Poland are lower than in North America or Western Europe. And before you think that it has something to do with the quality of services delivered, let's talk about cost of living. According to Numbeo, the cost of living index in Poland is 41.83, which is a relatively low figure compared to the US or the UK, which score 74.41 and 63.95, respectively. The figures are calculated based on the average consumer prices, cost of rent and utilities, transport fares, and other factors.
Thus, for the country with a significantly lower cost of living it is more than fine to have lower compensation rates. It does not mean you are not getting excellent services.
So, what is the average rate for a Ruby on Rails developer in Poland? The remuneration differs depending on the city. For instance, in Warsaw, a Ruby programmer earns around $33K-$40K per year, while in Krakow, the annual salary counts $28K-38K. To compare, in New York, the average salary for Ruby engineers is US $70,000 per year. If you hire Ruby developers in Poland, you will leverage the financial benefit of outsourcing while not compromising the code quality.
Read more: Rails outsourced development: Roadmap to success
Hire Ruby on Rails developers in Poland: Key approaches and criteria for choosing top specialists
So, you’ve discovered the advantages of Poland as a location for hiring Ruby on Rails developers and now are ready to augment your team with local specialists? First of all, you have to decide upon a way of recruiting Polish tech specialists that will bring the maximum value to your business and help you save time. Here’s the choice – utilize freelance platforms, delegate recruitment to agencies, or partner with a reliable outsourcing vendor from Poland. Let's break down each approach:
Recruit freelance experts
This option presupposes hiring Ruby on Rails professionals on a freelance basis and engaging them for specific projects or tasks. Most businesses that choose to search for engineers by themselves use popular platforms such as Upwork or Fiverr. Though at first glance this approach offers a high level of flexibility, less legal overhead, and a wide talent choice, it also has pitfalls. Some of the most common issues related to hiring freelance Ruby developers include recruitment challenges and confidentiality concerns. In addition, freelancers usually handle several projects at once, which might lead to delayed deadlines, poor code quality, and difficulties in backlog planning.
Use an agency to find developers
Another way to hire Ruby on Rails developers in Poland is to use the services of a local recruitment agency. By entrusting the process to a staffing company, you eliminate the need to conduct technical interviews on your own. However, keep in mind that not all recruitment agencies have extensive networks and access to the required expertise. To ensure a successful hire, they also need to have skilled technical experts in-house that will conduct interviews with potential candidates. Moreover, just as with freelancers, there's no guarantee that the provided developers will meet your expectations in terms of technical skills or long-term commitment.
Partner with an outsourcing vendor
One of the tried-and-true methods to leverage top Ruby on Rails expertise and entrust hiring responsibilities to a third party is to rely on an outsourcing company.
Related: Ruby outsourcing: how to find the best developers in Ukraine
According to Clutch, there are over 110 vendors in Poland that provide web application development services on the basis of Ruby on Rails. Trustworthy outsourcing companies like N-iX will take responsibility for finding the best candidates with relevant experience, interviewing them, and setting up the team that will best match your project needs. But how to select an outsourcing team that will help you hire Ruby developers in Poland?
Key checkpoints for choosing Polish Ruby on Rails providers and experts in Poland
1. The vendor’s size
If you aim to launch the project quickly, we recommend prioritizing large and mid-size vendors that employ 500+ tech specialists. Major enterprises typically have greater access to a pool of experienced Ruby on Rails developers and run well-established engineering processes. Moreover, the combination of a readily available workforce and efficient development practices ensures a quick project launch. Additionally, larger companies often adhere to industry best practices and prioritize quality control, resulting in higher-quality deliverables. According to Clutch, N-iX is one of three Polish vendors specializing in Ruby on Rails development that employs over 1,000 engineers.
2. Relevant industry experience
You want your future team members to understand your industry specifics, don’t you? Web development on Ruby on Rails has a wide range of applications across domains. From repository hosting services like GitHub to hospitality leader Airbnb and social networks like ASKfm – all of these were built with Ruby on Rails. So, when choosing a tech partner, examine in which industries your prospective remote Ruby on Rails team has experience. A demonstrated track record in domains relevant to yours indicates that the developers can effectively translate your concept into tangible business value.
3. Technical expertise
After you find the perfect match on the level of the company, it is crucial to outline the selection criteria for your potential team members. This will help you find skilled Ruby engineers that would be a perfect fit for your project. Depending on your requirements, the list of essential technical skills for Ruby engineers may vary. For your convenience, we prepared the must-have set of features every Ruby on Rails developer should possess:
- Solid command of Ruby programming language;
- Deep understanding of object-oriented programming, exception handling, syntax, and data structures in Ruby;
- Practical knowledge of Rails and other Ruby libraries, such as Resque or RSpec;
- Extensive expertise in Ruby on Rails MVC architecture and Active Record;
- Proficiency in SQL databases like PostgreSQL or MySQL;
- Hands-on experience with frontend technologies, including JavaScript, HTML5, and CSS3;
- Experience with code versioning tools, including Git, Github, and SVN;
- Test-driven development skills.
Most Polish Ruby on Rails developers possess these hard skills and expertise in adjacent technologies. For instance, local engineers have practical experience in working with an ActiveSupport library – a collection of core Ruby extensions that provide additional functionality and convenience methods for Ruby on Rails applications. In addition, local Ruby developers are familiar with continuous integration and continuous deployment practices. They can set up CI/CD pipelines using tools like Jenkins, Travis CI, or GitLab, enabling automated app testing and deployment.
4. High qualification level
The successful outcome of your project is directly related to the average seniority level of your Ruby team members. If you gather a team of experienced Ruby on Rails engineers, you might expect a higher quality of your web application.
According to LinkedIn, over 20% of Polish Ruby on Rails developers are Senior specialists with at least 7+ years of experience. For instance, at N-iX, the average Senior Ruby developer has around 8 years of experience, while for Middle specialists it’s 7+ years.
How hiring Polish Ruby on Rails developers can benefit your business: Success stories
Shifting our focus to practical cases of hiring Ruby on Rails engineers from Poland, let's explore exemplary success stories from N-iX.
Modernizing a cloud-based solution for a leading healthtech provider
Our client was Think Research, a Canadian healthcare software company that develops knowledge-based solutions and tools to help clinicians deliver better patient care. The key project task was to modernize the tech stack of their existing products. In addition, the client needed to implement new solutions aimed at solving some of the industry challenges.
In the early stages of the project, the N-iX team focused on the maintenance and continuous optimization of the client’s product – a cloud-based platform called EntryPoint. First of all, our experts upgraded the existing code base by migrating all of the client's products to one of the latest versions of Ruby on Rails and Mongo Driver. Following the successful completion of the initial project phases, the client has decided to continue their collaboration with the N-iX team for the development of new solutions.
As a result of cooperation with N-iX Think Research managed to:
- Modernize the platform’s powerful search tools and user-specific workflow apps;
- Leverage the best coding practices and optimize the platform’s performance.
Why choose N-iX for your upcoming Ruby on Rails project?
N-iX is a global software development provider with over 2,200 seasoned tech specialists on board. Over 21 years of market presence, we have established offices and development centers in Poland, Bulgaria, Ukraine, the US, Colombia, and other locations. Apart from vast experience, global presence, and talent availability, we boast:
- We possess expertise in Ruby web development, employing frameworks like Ruby on Rails and Sinatra. Additionally, we are seasoned in DevOps practices utilizing Ruby-based tools like Chef and Puppet;
- N-iX experts are well-versed in a wide range of Ruby-based services: web application development and refactoring, prototyping and MVP building, API implementation, and web application testing;
- Our portfolio spans successful Ruby projects for fintech, retail, healthcare, hospitality, and other domains.
