Experienced Elixir Developers for Hire

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If you are planning on developing a new web application for your business, choosing the right programming language for the task and hiring experienced developers are definitely among your top priorities. In this post, we will talk about where to find a skilled Elixir developer and how to make sure you made the right choice.

When to Choose Elixir

Let’s talk about the Elixir programming language a little. It was created in 2011 by Jose Valim and is based on another famous programming language named Erlang. In the following ten years, Elixir gained more and more popularity due to its impressive scalability, fault-tolerance, ability to run multiple requests with ease, great data protection, privacy, etc. Many world-famous companies, like Pinterest, Linkedin, Discord, and Financial Times, use Elixir now. This makes it one of the most exciting and quick-developing programming languages of the modern era.

But when do you need to hire Elixir developers to create an app? First of all, if you are working in finance, Elixir will be an excellent choice. Many banking and blockchain apps now use this programming language for its quick data transfer, excellent reporting speed, and overall reliability. Also, if your app needs to process a really big amount (we are talking about millions here) of user requests or email notifications daily, Elixir will be great for you.

If you are worried about raw CPU power, Elixir might not be right for you. Also, the greatest disadvantage of all is the fact that in eleven years since language creation, still, not enough developers have enough skill and experience. So your choice will be more limited and the price of work probably will be higher. Sometimes creating an app in a more common language like Java or C++ can be for the best.

Where to Find Elixir Developer

When it comes to hiring Elixir developers your options are pretty standard. You can go with a freelancer, but remember that there are simply not enough skilled Elixir engineers, so finding the right one will be much more difficult. But, it’s an option not without its positives. When the cost of developing an app on Elixir is one of the main problems, you can find a freelance specialist with little experience but extensive theoretical knowledge of a language, who will work for less money just to gain some experience and a good review.

Another option is an in-house hire. It’s quite expensive, but if you have a budget and your project’s size requires it, why not? This type of working relationship with an Elixir developer is pretty rare, but you will have unlimited control and communication during the whole development process.

One of the most popular hiring options in recent years is an outsourcing agency. Not only you won’t need to search for talented Elixir developers yourself through numerous freelance sites, but an agency will also provide you with a great variety of foreign talent. The geography of hire is a really important factor here. We already mentioned that the cost of creating a web app in the Elixir language can be relatively high. For example, according to different research in the US, the average salary for an Elixir developer varies from 80 to 110 thousand dollars.

Of course, there are opportunities to find more budget-friendly specialists in developing countries. Even specialists from Western Europe, like France, or Netherlands for example, will charge you almost two times less. But if you look further in the East you can find skilled and experienced Elixir developers in Eastern European countries for a great price. Engineers from Hungary, Poland, Bulgaria, and Ukraine will charge you about four times less than their US colleagues, due to lower costs of living and average salaries in those countries. Another popular option is the South-Asian market, where developers from Malaysia, Indonesia, and India can offer you rates a little higher than their counterparts from Eastern Europe, but still lower than coders from the US and West Europe. Of course, you can find a specialist from abroad on one of the sites for freelancers, but there might be some problems with communication, due to language barriers, and reliability, which outsourcing companies will help to avoid.

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Interviewing an Elixir Developer

Interviewing process is crucial in hiring an Elixir developer. In an ideal world, you will need someone with expert knowledge of programming language and app development in general for this stage, but with some tips, you can manage on your own. Here are some things you’ll need to find out about your future hire:

1. Ask about previous experience in coding. Sometimes developers can have just a couple of years of coding in Elixir, but also an extensive knowledge of Erlang, Ruby, or other similar languages. Proficiency in Erlang is especially crucial sometimes, considering that Elixir allows and even encourages the usage of its libraries.
2. Make sure your candidate has enough experience with the Phoenix framework, which is widely used in Elixir development and sometimes even synonymous with a language. Without Phoenix, you may have some trouble building a scalable and fast-running app. Knowledge of other, less popular frameworks, will be a great addition. Sugar, Plug, Trot, Nerves, and others will help your developer achieve greater results and expand their possibilities.
3. Experience with Open Telecom Platform, front-end development instruments, version control tools, and issue-tracking software are also crucial a lot of times and you will need to make sure a developer has it. Even if you are searching for a specialist for a really specific task, without this knowledge they will have some serious problems.
4. Pay attention to soft skills too. Ask some questions about your candidate’s time management, availability in case of emergency, and attitude in terms of learning about news and updates on Elixir and other relevant tools. This will help you to understand if this is the right person for your project.

Conclusion

Hiring experienced Elixir developers might seem like a big problem, considering a limited pool of talents and high costs. You will need to be absolutely sure that your app needs to run on Elixir, consider hiring foreign developers, and ask just the right questions during an interview. Those steps will make the whole process much easier and in no time at all, you will find your ideal candidate.