How to Hire Your First Developer (Even If You Are Not Technical)

This is general information, not legal or tax advice. Employment, contractor and equity rules vary by country; get local advice before you sign.

To hire your first developer, decide what you need built in the next six months, choose the right engagement (freelancer, agency, contractor or full-time), write a clear one-page brief, shortlist candidates with shipped work, run a short paid trial, have an experienced engineer review the result, and sign a contract that gives your company the code, accounts and IP. For most startups the first hire should be senior and product-minded, because they will make decisions that last for years.

Key takeaways

• Define outcomes before roles. "Launch a booking MVP in 12 weeks" leads to a better hire than "need a full-stack dev".
• Hire senior first. Your first developer sets architecture, security and deployment with nobody to check them.
• Use a paid trial, not puzzles. A one- to three-day paid task that resembles real work predicts performance better than algorithm quizzes.
• Own everything from day one. Repositories, cloud accounts, domains and app store listings belong in company accounts, with IP assignment signed.
• Get independent technical input if you are not technical; a few hours of review is cheap insurance.

Step 1: Decide what you actually need

Write answers to these before posting anything:

1. What must exist in six months? For example, a web app where clinics check in patients and see a live queue.
2. What platforms? Web only, or iOS/Android too.
3. What already exists? Designs, a prototype, an old codebase, a no-code tool.
4. What is your budget and runway? Monthly cash you can commit for six to twelve months.
5. Who will manage the work day to day? If it is you, keep the scope tighter.

A short product requirements document makes this concrete; see how to write a product requirements document. For budget framing, see how much it costs to build an MVP.

Step 2: Choose the engagement model

Contractor or employee? Classification depends on the real working relationship, not the job title. In the US, for example, the IRS says the general rule is that someone is an independent contractor if the payer can control or direct only the result of the work, not what will be done and how. The IRS looks at behavioral control, financial control and the type of relationship. Other countries apply their own tests, so check locally.

Salary context. For reference, the US Bureau of Labor Statistics reported a median annual wage of $135,980 for software developers in May 2025. Rates in Pakistan, the UAE, Malaysia and elsewhere differ widely; benchmark against local job boards and recent offers rather than global averages.

Step 3: Write a one-page brief

Include:

• The mission and the user: one paragraph on what the product does and for whom.
• The first 90 days: concrete outcomes ("ship sign-up, booking and payments to 10 pilot customers").
• The stack (or the decision you need them to make): see choosing a tech stack for a startup.
• How you work: time zones, overlap hours, communication tools, weekly demos.
• What success looks like at 6 months.
• Compensation range and engagement type.

Clear briefs attract better candidates and filter out poor fits early.

Step 4: Source candidates

Good channels for a first hire:

• Referrals from founders and engineers you trust.
• People whose open-source work or technical writing you already know.
• Freelance platforms and talent networks for contract work.
• Local developer communities and meetups, including in Lahore, Karachi, Islamabad, Dubai and Kuala Lumpur if you hire in those markets.
• Your own network on LinkedIn, with a post that links to the brief.

Shortlist based on shipped work you can see: live products, app store listings, repositories, case studies. Ask what they personally built.

Step 5: Interview for the right things

Screening call (30 minutes)

• Walk me through something you built end to end. What would you change now?
• How do you decide between building a feature and using a third-party service?
• How do you handle unclear requirements?
• What does your ideal working week with a founder look like?

Technical conversation (60 minutes, ideally with an experienced engineer present)

• How would you design the core of our product? What would you build first?
• How do you set up deployments, backups and monitoring on day one?
• How do you keep secrets and customer data safe?
• How do you test your work?

Listen for trade-offs explained in plain language, curiosity about your users, and honesty about what they do not know.

Step 6: Run a short paid trial

1. Pick a real but self-contained task, such as a small feature, an integration spike, or a code review of an existing prototype.
2. Time-box it to one to three days and pay the candidate's normal rate.
3. Give access to a sandbox, never production data.
4. Ask for a short write-up: what they did, decisions made, what they would do next.
5. Review the result with an experienced engineer if you are not technical: readability, tests, security basics, and how well they communicated.

Paid trials respect candidates' time and show you how they actually work.

Step 7: Check references and sign the right contract

• Speak to two previous clients or managers; ask what they would hire this person for again, and what they would not.
• Contract essentials: scope or role, payment terms, confidentiality, IP assignment to your company, ownership of all repositories and accounts, notice period, handover obligations and, for contractors, terms that fit local classification rules.
• Set up company-owned accounts first: a GitHub organization (GitHub describes organizations as shared accounts for businesses), cloud accounts, domain registrar, email, and app store accounts. Invite the developer; never let them create these under personal accounts.

Step 8: Onboard for success

• Week 1: access to everything, a walkthrough of users and goals, and a first small change shipped to production.
• Weekly: a demo of working software and a short written update.
• Monthly: review priorities and the technical debt list.
• Establish a light sprint rhythm; see how to run engineering sprints in a small team.

From experience: Working remotely with clients across the US, UAE, Canada and Malaysia, the setups that go smoothly share two things: a fixed daily overlap window for real-time questions, and a weekly demo where the founder sees working software. Everything else can be asynchronous.

Hiring across borders and time zones

Many startups hire their first developer in another country. It widens the talent pool and can stretch a budget, but it changes a few things:

• Overlap hours matter more than location. Agree a fixed daily window of two to four hours when both of you are online. A Pakistan-based developer working with a US East Coast founder, for example, can overlap in the developer's evening.
• Payments need a reliable route. Agree the currency, payment schedule and method up front, and who covers transfer fees.
• Contracts must work in both countries. IP assignment and confidentiality clauses should be enforceable where the developer lives; ask a lawyer familiar with that jurisdiction.
• Public holidays and working weeks differ. The UAE, Pakistan and Malaysia each have their own holiday calendars; put them in the shared calendar so deadlines are realistic.
• Write more. Short written specs, recorded demos and decision logs make asynchronous work dependable.

Handled well, a remote first hire can work as closely with you as someone across the desk.

Red flags during hiring

• Cannot show anything they personally built and shipped.
• Insists on hosting the code or accounts under their own name.
• Promises a fixed date for a vague scope without asking questions.
• Dismisses testing, backups or security as "later".
• Avoids explaining decisions in plain language.

First developer hiring checklist

• [ ] Six-month outcomes written down
• [ ] Engagement model chosen and budget confirmed for 6–12 months
• [ ] One-page brief published
• [ ] Shortlist based on shipped, verifiable work
• [ ] Structured screening and technical interviews completed
• [ ] Paid trial reviewed by an experienced engineer
• [ ] Two references checked
• [ ] Contract with IP assignment and account ownership signed, reviewed by a lawyer
• [ ] Company-owned GitHub, cloud, domain and app store accounts set up with MFA
• [ ] First-week onboarding plan and weekly demo scheduled

Next steps

• Write your six-month outcomes and budget today.
• Turn them into a one-page brief and share it with three trusted founders for referrals.
• Prepare a paid trial task now so you can move quickly with good candidates.
• Create company-owned accounts before anyone writes code.
• If you want help scoping, interviewing or reviewing trial work, see our fractional CTO service.

Sources

• U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Software Developers (pay): https://www.bls.gov/ooh/computer-and-information-technology/software-developers.htm
• IRS, Independent contractor (self-employed) or employee?: https://www.irs.gov/businesses/small-businesses-self-employed/independent-contractor-self-employed-or-employee
• IRS, Independent contractor defined: https://www.irs.gov/businesses/small-businesses-self-employed/independent-contractor-defined
• GitHub Docs, About organizations: https://docs.github.com/en/organizations/collaborating-with-groups-in-organizations/about-organizations

Keep reading