Elixir is one of the most exciting programming languages on the market and its popularity only grows more and more every year.

New businesses often prefer Elixir when they decide to create their app, even to more established languages like C++ or Java.

Elixir may be the perfect choice for you too, but finding the right team of skilled and experienced developers sometimes can be a painful task. In this post, you will find some tips about hiring a team of Elixir developers that will make your life a little easier.

Reasons to Choose Elixir

At the early stages of your app’s development, you need to decide on the language in which it will be coded. Here are some features of Elixir that may make you choose it over some more established options:

  • Scalability. An Elixir code works in a way that allows you to adapt your app’s functionality according to business growth, no matter how rapid.
  • Fault-tolerance. Elixir allows engineers to implement built-in safety measures that allow apps to run smoothly even when some unexpected problems arise.
  • Concurrency. Elixir allows the processing of literally millions of processes in real-time without any negative impact on the quality or speed of the app’s work.
  • Great performance without overworking your servers.
  • Good compatibility with cloud services and other similar products that allow the use of distributed computing.

All those features and many more make Elixir a great choice, especially if you consider that Linkedin, Toyota, and Discord, among others, already run their apps on this programming language.

One of a few negatives would be not a great selection of options when it comes to hiring developers due to Elixir’s relatively low popularity at this moment.

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Hiring Options for a Team of Elixir Developers

If you decide to hire Elixir developer, you have four main options.

  • You can go with freelance hire, this way the cost will be lower, but finding an experienced Elixir developer, considering a language was created just 11 years ago, can be pretty hard. You will need to scroll your way through dozens of candidates with low qualifications and even if you find a developer you’re satisfied with, don’t forget about possible problems with communication and your control over the development process. If we are talking about creating a whole team of Elixir engineers, you will almost definitely need a dedicated project manager for the project, preferably with some Elixir coding background, to control every freelancer at once.
  •  If your project allows it, you can hire a full-time team, remotely or in your area. This option will require some serious spending and a long interviewing process, but in case of success, you will be able to fully control your app’s development.
  • Outsourcing agencies have become a more and more popular option in recent years. It will cost you more than assembling a team of freelancers, but much less than in-house developers. Agency will provide you with a team, consisting of developers from their own pool of talent, according to your requirements. In case you decide to hire foreign specialists, the agency will take care of the communication process in case of language barriers or different time zones. Also, some agencies will provide code testing, legal counsel regarding copywriting issues, and other additional services.
  • And last but not least is a dedicated team. This option may seem pretty similar to outsourcing. You also hire a team of professionals remotely, often abroad, who will work on your project with minimum supervision, providing a fully developed app as a final result. But unlike outsourcing, you don’t employ a certain amount of freelance developers through a middleman, but pay for an established and already assembled team of specialists. With pros being the relatively low cost of work, avoiding long and exhausting interviews with developers, and a team that concentrates solely on your project, without being distracted by other orders, there are some cons too. As we mentioned earlier, there are just not enough experienced Elixir developers out there, let alone whole teams of such specialists. You will need to search long and thoroughly for a team of coders that will meet all your requirements.

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Geography of Hire

When budgeting your app, you will always end up with a task to cut some costs.

You can get rid of some less essential members of your development team, like a business analyst or project manager, but hiring foreign coders will be much wiser.

Creating an app from scratch in any programming language can be fairly expensive, but with Elixir this issue can become even more pressing.

There is different research on the web concerning the average yearly salary for Elixir developers in the US, but they all show about 100 thousand dollars.

With numerous sites featuring freelance services, outsourcing agencies, and foreign software developers, you really don’t need to pay that much.

Developers from Eastern Europe, South Asia, and Latin America will charge you three to four times less while providing the same quality of service. This happens because of the lower cost of living in those regions. Today people from all over the world can learn coding in various programming languages, and in every country on the globe, you can find at least a select few professionals with adequate English.

When remote hiring becomes a worldwide trend, you don’t have to worry about the security of your working arrangement with foreign specialists.

If you hire a developing team through sites like Upwork or Fiverr, your deal will be protected automatically and you can be sure that you won’t be scammed.

If you hire a dedicated team through their own website or use the services of an outsourcing agency, it can be trickier, but a little research about the company you do business with will help you to find a reliable partner in any place on Earth.

Final Thoughts

Finding a team of expert Elixir developers is not the easiest task, but if you put time and effort in, you can create a great app for your business.

There are plenty of hiring options and you will need to remember that every day more and more people start to learn Elixir or switch from another programming language, so it’s up to you to find fresh talent for a reasonable price.