For startups and agencies in the US, UK, UAE and Australia: how dedicated developers work, how to interview them, and how to make the first month a success.
Hiring a dedicated developer means having an experienced engineer work only on your product, as part of your team, while the agency handles employment, equipment and replacement if needed. For startups and agencies abroad, it is a way to add skilled people quickly without the cost and delay of local hiring. Here is how to do it well.
Dedicated developer, fixed project or freelancer?
| Dedicated developer | Fixed-price project | Freelancer | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Best for | Ongoing product work | A clearly defined scope | Small, short tasks |
| Who directs the work | You | The agency, against the scope | You |
| Billing | Monthly or hourly | Milestones | Hourly or per task |
| Continuity | High, with backup from the agency | Ends with the project | Depends on the person |
Choosing the right level
- Junior (1–2 years): well-defined tasks under the guidance of a senior on your side.
- Mid-level (3–5 years): builds complete features independently — the most common choice.
- Senior (6+ years): architecture, code reviews, mentoring and leading a small team.
If you do not have a technical lead in-house, start with a senior, or a mid-level developer backed by the agency's technical lead.
How to interview
- Share a real task: describe a feature from your backlog and ask how they would build it. You learn more from the questions they ask than from any quiz.
- Review code together: walk through a short piece of code and ask what they would improve.
- Check communication: ask them to explain a technical decision to a non-technical person.
- Agree working hours: confirm the overlap with your time zone before you decide.
Making time zones work
India is 4.5 to 5.5 hours ahead of the UK, 1.5 hours ahead of the UAE and about 9.5 to 10.5 hours ahead of the US East Coast, depending on daylight saving. In practice:
- UK and Europe: a comfortable overlap of three to four hours every day.
- UAE and Middle East: almost a full working day in common.
- Australia: overlap in the Indian morning and the Australian afternoon.
- US: a short overlap in your morning and the developer's evening; work progresses while you sleep, which can speed things up when handovers are clear.
The first month
- Week 1: access to code, tools and documentation; a small, real task to learn the codebase.
- Weeks 2–3: a complete feature, with a code review from your lead.
- Week 4: a short retrospective — what is working, what to change.
Daily stand-ups (even fifteen minutes), a shared task board and a written handover at the end of each day keep everyone in sync.
Protecting your code and data
- Sign an NDA before sharing anything, and make sure the contract assigns all intellectual property to you.
- Keep the code in your own repository and cloud accounts, and give access per person.
- Use separate credentials for production and remove access the day someone leaves.
Start with a trial
A short trial period is the lowest-risk way to begin: if the fit is not right, you change the developer or stop. Browse our hire developers pages — Laravel, React, Flutter and more — or read about dedicated developers.
