Hiring a Rails developer is one of the most important decisions you'll make for your startup. Here's what to look for — and what to avoid — based on years of building production Rails apps.
What Good Rails Developers Know
Beyond just Ruby and Rails syntax, look for developers who understand:
- Testing — Good Rails devs write tests. Period. Ask to see test coverage on past projects. We maintain 90%+ coverage on everything we build.
- Database design — PostgreSQL migrations, indexes, query optimization. Bad database design will haunt you at scale.
- Security — OWASP top 10, SQL injection prevention, XSS, CSRF. Rails has built-in protections, but devs need to understand them.
- Deployment — Can they set up CI/CD, manage servers, handle SSL and DNS? A dev who can only code locally is only half useful.
- Background jobs — Sidekiq, email delivery, API integrations. Any real SaaS needs async processing.
Freelancer vs Agency vs Studio
Freelancer ($50-$150/hr): Good for small tasks and bug fixes. Risk: they disappear, they're juggling 5 clients, no one reviews their code.
Agency ($150-$300/hr): Project managers, multiple developers, processes. Risk: expensive, slow, you're their smallest client.
Studio ($100-$200/hr): Small team, founder-led, senior developers only. This is us. We build our own products (PlasmaPoker, ApplyGlide, Sparknautic) using the same stack and practices we use for clients. No junior devs learning on your dime.
Red Flags
- No portfolio of shipped, production applications
- Can't show you test coverage or deployment pipelines
- Only does frontend OR backend (Rails is full-stack)
- No experience with the specific domain you're building in
- Quotes suspiciously low ($20-$30/hr offshore) — you'll pay 3x fixing the code later
What We Charge
SaaS MVP projects start at $8,000. Business websites at $3,000. Landing pages at $1,000. We scope every project with a fixed price so there are no surprises. Get a free estimate for your project.