Where to look for contract Perl developers?

Before going further, please note that I (Gabor Szabo who runs this web site) am available for contract Perl development. Alternatively, there are a number of other recommended Perl developers offering development, consulting and training services.

That said there's more work than we can do so - if you're looking for a Perl developer - here's some friendly advice.

Where should I post a Perl job ad?

jobs.perl.org allows you to post a job ad free of charge and for a fee your job post can also be "featured". When a job post is approved it also goes out to the jobs mailing list.

Perl Mongers are location specific Perl user groups with personal contacts and mailing lists. Some of them allow you to post job ads, but before doing that read the charter of the specific group. If it is not clear, ask the leader of the group listed on the central Perl Mongers web site.

LinkedIn has a Perl Jobs group where you can post your job ad.

Perl Weekly, is the prime source of Perl-related news for over 5,000 Perl enthusiasts. It is published every Monday morning (GMT). It accepts sponsored ads that will be included in the newsletter sent out to 5,000+ subscribers and included in the archive of the web site. For more details check out the sponsors page.

The Perl Maven site is read by more that 10,000 Perl developers every day. If you'd like to reach those people contact me to find out more.

What should I include in a job ad?

Generally speaking, a good Perl developer has more options to pick from than the potential employer, when considering a new job.

There are, however, a few things you can do in the advertisement and job description which will improve the chances of your job being considered.

Job title

Name of the company

Pay rate

Advertising the pay rate is a delicate subject, but if you pay above average then showing this will work to your advantage. If you pay below average then do you offer something else to make the job worthwhile?

If not, don't be surprised if you cannot find good developers.

Type of job

Is it a permanent job filling a role in your company? Or is it a contract for completing a project?

Do you need someone full-time or is part-time an option?

On-site or Telecommute?

If you need people to work in your office, make that clear otherwise you may be inundated with CVs of people with no interest in moving to your city/country.

A telecommute job increases your chances of getting a good developer. If you're OK with the employee working remotely, do you have restrictions regarding their time-zone? Do you still require on-site visits? How often? How long?

Relocation, Visa

If you require the employee to be on-site, would you help with relocation to your area? Would you sponsor their visa if necessary?

Other legal requirements

Do you have other legal requirements? (such as citizenship, a work-permit, etc.)

Conditions and hours of work

What hours do people work in the office? 9-5, 10-7, midday to midnight? How flexible is that? Is overtime paid?

Do developers provide on-call support? Is out of hours support needed? Is this paid?

Type of application

Is it a web application, batch processing or a combination of both? Or is it something altogether different? If it's part of a public-facing web application, link to it!

Type of work

How much time do developers spend on new development compared to maintenance and bug fixing?

Development methodology

How agile are you? And what flavour? Scrum, Kanban, something else? Beyond the name of methodology, can you describe in more detail how your teams work?

Technical details

In addition to providing the details of the job, providing a description of what kind of environment to expect can go a long way in getting the right candidates.

Which version control system do you use?

If you use Git, then be proud of it. Many developers know and like it.

If you use Subversion, well, that's much better than using CVS or some proprietary version control system, but that will make it harder to hire good developers.

(If you're not using Git, or some other DVCS you should reflect on why you're using a version control system which makes it harder for your current developers to work.)

Which bug-tracking system do you use?

No special opinion here, but pointing out that you have one, and which one can show the openness of your company.

Do you write automated-tests?

The main value of unit - or any other form - of automated tests is that it makes the developer sleep better. It allows them to make changes without fear of breaking other parts of the system. Therefore if you have lots of automated tests you should definitely boast about this.

Do you use continuous integration?

Same as with automated tests. Which tool do you use?

Do you use any configuration management tool?

Chef, Puppet, Rex or something else?

If you have a web service, do you employ continuous deployment? How often do you deploy code? If you have a packaged product, how often do you release it?

How many Perl developers do you have?

Can you give the names of a few of them who are know in the Perl community from their modules CPAN or from some other contributions they have made?

By providing names that are recognized by the candidate you help yourself through familiarity.

Which version of Perl do you use?

Do you use perl 5.20.x? Do you brew your own version of Perl?

If you use 5.8.x be ready to explain why! Even 5.10 will probably get you some raised eyebrows.

Which Perl modules do you use?

You don't need to provide a full list of Perl Modules, but providing some indication that you use modern Perl modules will go a long way in getting Perl developers enthusiastic about your job offer.

Which database(s) do you use?

Oracle? MySQL? PostgreSQL? MongoDB?

Any special software?

If you use any other special software, please list those too.

Need help?

Finally if you need help in writing your job description, or improving your code-base, you can always contact Gabor.