Along with the war of explosive information technology in the world, the competition for talented developers among leading technology companies is equally fierce. The question is, how to hire developer at a low cost.
Because, finding a developer with full technology skills as well as soft skills is what any company wants. To get such candidates, companies will often have to pay a small fee. However, for small companies, especially startups, they do not have enough budget to pay for this separately.
If you are a Startup or project manager and want to hire developers at a low cost, this article is for you.
Table of Contents
I. Is it hard to hire developers?

The answer is of course: YES
It can be seen that information technology is directly affecting life, creeping into each profession and occupying a very important position. We are witnessing daily, even hourly changes along with the transformation of technology. Therefore, the demand for human resources in the industry is also increasing rapidly.
Obviously, the skyrocketing demand for developers is also forcing companies to transform themselves to compete with each other in attracting and recruiting dedicated developers.
Currently, there are more than 27 million developers in the world and this number is expected to reach 45 million by 2030. However, finding developers is still not easy.
Why?
To find the answer to this question, we must look from both sides:
Candidate side:
- The quality of human resources is not high: Quality here refers to people who have not had enough university education. The high demand but the tight human resource market has made many companies choose to hire developers who do not graduate from the right university. According to one report, the rate nearly doubled from 23% to 39% in just one year.
- High job transfer rate: IT is a very hot industry, this is undeniable. However, this is also an industry with a very high job-hopping rate. Continuous job hopping can come from a variety of causes. However, this will cause developers, especially newcomers to not have enough time to accumulate enough experience, greatly affecting the promotion process.
Enterprise side:
- Recruitment process: This difficulty often occurs for small and medium enterprises. When a professional recruitment process has not yet been built, the right target audience as well as the options for keeping talent to stay with the company for a long time have not been established.
- Recruitment budget: This limitation exists not only with IT companies, but with most companies across industries. Recruitment budget is a factor that directly affects resources and human resources in finding and retaining candidates.
- Employer Brand: Great employer branding will easily attract candidates and give them the feeling that this is where they want to work.

“You get what you pay for”. Is it right for you to find a developer? Are professional skills good or not? And is it quick to find them? … Depends greatly on what you have and what you decide to spend to get.
However, it is not always necessary to spend a lot of resources and human resources to attract candidates in the most effective way. In addition to the expensive paid ways, there are still ways to hire developers at a low cost that are equally effective.
II. Is there a way to hire developers for free?
2.1. Post job vacancies on social networks
Did you know that by 2021, 4.2 billion people are using social media? This is an extremely effective channel to exploit and reach out to developers because it is possible to reach candidates quickly and easily.
You can post recruitment information on fanpages and groups of social media sites such as Facebook, Linkedin, Instagram, Twitter, etc. In addition to posting on related industry groups, or on the company’s fanpage, you can also use the job posting features available on these platforms.
Besides, platforms like GitHub, Quora and StackOverflow, Reddit, … are also extremely useful channels, where developers often exchange and discuss work. Surely you can also find a suitable candidate here.
Advantages:
- All free
- Get quick feedback from candidates
- Be proactive in contacting candidates
Defect:
- There are a lot of such posts, so it is imperative to post a lot so that the job posting can reach as many people as possible.
- There are many CVs that the developers who are not suitable will also apply
- Get developer CVs passively
To increase the visibility and reach of your articles, you can use the advertising service of these social networking sites for a fee, depending on the company’s budget.
2.2. Post job vacancies for free through websites
Nowadays, job websites are probably not too strange to us anymore. This is where developers will think first when looking for a new job opportunity or simply when they want to learn more about the labor market.
There are thousands of recruitment websites out there. Most websites require a fee if you want to post on their website. In particular, if you want to put the news on the top, you have to pay a higher fee. However, there are still websites that allow you to post jobs for free.
Advantages:
- Free
- Increase the reach of job postings for developers
Defect:
- There are hundreds of job postings every day, so it can be tough to make yours stand out among them.
- The number of CVs sent is scattered
- Waiting time for CV to be sent is long
- Get your CV passively
With that said, you can also purchase paid subscription packages for these websites. Follow each news, or buy by week, month, … However, this is also an extremely useful source to recruit candidates who really need to find a job.

2.3. Search CV on famous job websites
Instead of “waiting for the CV” from the developer to passively send to you, you can use the CV search method to actively “find candidates”. The CV search will usually be for those who have experience in recruiting. Requires quite good requirements and skills in searching and connecting information sources together.
Employers will often search for CVs of these candidates on social networks and job websites.
Advantages:
- Actively looking for an application instead of waiting
- Usually you will find people who match the company’s requirements
Defect:
- Need skills from employers
- Suitable candidates, but may still be working at other companies, it is difficult to attract if they do not offer attractive offers.
- Job websites and social networks often do not disclose all information of candidates, so finding contact information is often quite difficult.
- However, you can also pay to buy CV search packages on the above platforms to not be limited in the number and information of developers on your CV.
2.4. Recruiting developers through referrals
Referring jobs to people you know is an extremely reputable way to find the right candidate. Because, the people who are working in the company are the ones who have the most objective view of the company’s environment, remuneration, … and also the people who best understand who the company needs.
You can implement this method by rewarding company employees if they refer developers to officially work at the company. This is both a way of “word of mouth communication” for the company, and an extremely reputable source for recruitment.
Advantages:
- People in the company are tested for their loyalty, attitude and sense of responsibility towards work and the company.
- Save time and money
- The company has more information about the candidate, making more accurate decisions in the hiring decision.
- Candidates who agree to work will often stick with the company for a long time thanks to the support of the introducer, helping them integrate into the company sooner.
Defect:
- Bias is likely to occur in the company
- Can cause limitations on workforce diversity in the organization
2.5. Developer conferences and meetups
This may not be the ideal place for you to find the right developer for your company, but it is a resource. Moreover, these conferences and meetups have great significance in expanding the network as well as a place for companies to update the latest technology knowledge.
Currently, there are many conferences and meetups both online and offline in the world and take place regularly. You can easily search and join them.
Advantages:
- Expand the network as well as update new technologies
- Talented candidates can be found here
Defect:
- Need to talk and connect with potential candidates. However, to convince them will also need more time to approach later.
- There will be language and time zone barriers when participating in online meetings
III. Some websites for free posting you should know
As mentioned above, there are hundreds of thousands of recruitment websites in the world such as: Upwork, Monster, Glassdor, … However, if you don’t have too much budget to pay for posting a job to a hot job, post This article will give you some websites where you can post your news for free and effectively:

Indeed: Indeed is well known as the highest-traffic job site in the US. It is the first place that businesses think of if they want to post a job advertisement. This site allows you to post jobs completely free of charge with visibility options
Jora: Monster is an established site for posting job postings online. This site also allows you to post your job for free on their site with many options to upgrade the posting plan if you want the job to be at the top of the list.
Googles for job: Along with the growth of Google, google for jobs is also fast becoming the largest job posting and listing provider in the United States. Here you can easily post jobs directly from your website as long as you fill out your job description completely.
Linkedin: Linkedin has long been a major social network dedicated to posting jobs and finding jobs for free. Here, you can not only exchange and use to share daily activities, you can also post job advertisements and search candidate CVs completely free of charge.
Post Job Free: Like the website’s name, Post job free allows employers to post their job advertisements without paying a fee. It also has a list of candidate profiles that you can refer to for free. All in all, this is a good channel that you should refer to
IV. Last Word
Recruiting developers is never an easy task, especially when you hire developers at a low cost. This is a big challenge for companies with little budget and no brand for recruitment.
Hopefully through the article, you have more ways to hire developers at a low cost. Hope you find the right candidate for your company soon.
