[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":76},["ShallowReactive",2],{"work-count-en":3,"translations:\u002Fen\u002Fblog":4,"blog-en":7},0,{"path":5,"missing":6},"\u002Fen\u002Fblog",[],[8],{"id":9,"title":10,"body":11,"date":66,"description":67,"draft":68,"extension":69,"meta":70,"navigation":71,"path":72,"seo":73,"stem":74,"__hash__":75},"blog\u002Fen\u002Fblog\u002Fbefore-your-first-backend-hire.md","Before you hire your first backend developer: 4 questions",{"type":12,"value":13,"toc":57},"minimark",[14,18,23,26,30,33,37,40,44,47,51,54],[15,16,17],"p",{},"Hiring a first backend developer feels like the obvious next step for a growing product. Before you open the position, it is worth answering four questions honestly.",[19,20,22],"h2",{"id":21},"_1-is-it-a-build-problem-or-a-maintain-and-improve-problem","1. Is it a \"build\" problem or a \"maintain and improve\" problem?",[15,24,25],{},"They are two different kinds of work. Building something new needs sustained focus over months. Maintaining and improving an existing system is often a series of smaller jobs: fix a slow query, make deployments safer, clean up a fragile integration. The person you need depends on which one you actually have.",[19,27,29],{"id":28},"_2-who-knows-how-the-system-gets-deployed-and-what-happens-if-that-person-is-unavailable-for-a-week","2. Who knows how the system gets deployed, and what happens if that person is unavailable for a week?",[15,31,32],{},"If the answer is \"one person\" or \"nobody is sure\", that is a risk worth fixing before anything else, whether or not you hire.",[19,34,36],{"id":35},"_3-how-much-of-the-work-is-truly-full-time-and-how-much-is-one-or-two-month-projects","3. How much of the work is truly full-time, and how much is one- or two-month projects?",[15,38,39],{},"A full-time salary is a long commitment. If most of the work comes as projects with a clear start and end, a part-time senior person can be a better fit than a permanent hire.",[19,41,43],{"id":42},"_4-is-the-infrastructure-documented-or-does-it-live-in-one-persons-head","4. Is the infrastructure documented, or does it live in one person's head?",[15,45,46],{},"Servers, deployments, monitoring, access: if none of it is written down, your team depends on memory. Documentation is cheap compared with the cost of rebuilding knowledge after someone leaves.",[19,48,50],{"id":49},"what-this-often-turns-out-to-mean","What this often turns out to mean",[15,52,53],{},"In many small companies the real need is not a whole team. It is one experienced person who understands both the code and the infrastructure, and who works part-time.",[15,55,56],{},"After 17 years in software development, I keep seeing this pattern. If you recognize your company in these questions, I am happy to talk it through. What would you ask?",{"title":58,"searchDepth":59,"depth":59,"links":60},"",2,[61,62,63,64,65],{"id":21,"depth":59,"text":22},{"id":28,"depth":59,"text":29},{"id":35,"depth":59,"text":36},{"id":42,"depth":59,"text":43},{"id":49,"depth":59,"text":50},"2026-10-24","Many small companies do not need a whole team. They need one experienced person who understands both the code and the infrastructure.",false,"md",{},true,"\u002Fen\u002Fblog\u002Fbefore-your-first-backend-hire",{"title":10,"description":67},"en\u002Fblog\u002Fbefore-your-first-backend-hire","4zR0CaoI0aVtiDpp5v0_an0b7GoRytPHZmNWl0zNhGs",1794689941329]