My company has finally gotten to a place where we can hire a second developer, and I was wondering if anyone had suggestions for doing recruiting (that are hopefully cheap).
I've posted to Startuply.com, and have reached out to just about every university within a 300 mile radius, what other things should we be doing to find the right applicant?
This is the first time I've had to hire a developer where I didn't already have one in mind, so I guess I'm not sure where to source my applicants!
In general the best people to hire are ones you already know or who people you trust know. Doesn't your current developer know any other developers?
Does he or could you attend any user group meets or conferences? This is a great way to meet people in a non-stressful situation to assess what their personality is really like and how they get along with their piers. In a small company personality and fit can be as important as technical competence.
Once you have decided someone is a "nice guy" and might be a good candidate, then invite him in for a technical interview. If for some reason they are not interested, ask them if they know someone who might be.
Of course you can always advertise in the newspaper, on the internet etc. The issue there is that there are many people who interview well but turn out to be much different once you hire them.
Do you really need the new developer physically present in your office or he could work 100% remotely? If the latter, does he need to be a resident of your country?
I am asking cause I know successful software companies that don't even have an office - everyone is working from where in the world they are at the moment. One of them has developed a process for harvesting talent on vWorker.