[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":74},["ShallowReactive",2],{"work-count-en":3,"translations:\u002Fen\u002Fblog\u002Fbefore-your-first-backend-hire":4,"post-\u002Fen\u002Fblog\u002Fbefore-your-first-backend-hire":7},0,{"path":5,"missing":6},"\u002Fen\u002Fblog\u002Fbefore-your-first-backend-hire",[],{"id":8,"title":9,"body":10,"date":65,"description":66,"draft":67,"extension":68,"meta":69,"navigation":70,"path":5,"seo":71,"stem":72,"__hash__":73},"blog\u002Fen\u002Fblog\u002Fbefore-your-first-backend-hire.md","Before you hire your first backend developer: 4 questions",{"type":11,"value":12,"toc":56},"minimark",[13,17,22,25,29,32,36,39,43,46,50,53],[14,15,16],"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.",[18,19,21],"h2",{"id":20},"_1-is-it-a-build-problem-or-a-maintain-and-improve-problem","1. Is it a \"build\" problem or a \"maintain and improve\" problem?",[14,23,24],{},"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.",[18,26,28],{"id":27},"_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?",[14,30,31],{},"If the answer is \"one person\" or \"nobody is sure\", that is a risk worth fixing before anything else, whether or not you hire.",[18,33,35],{"id":34},"_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?",[14,37,38],{},"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.",[18,40,42],{"id":41},"_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?",[14,44,45],{},"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.",[18,47,49],{"id":48},"what-this-often-turns-out-to-mean","What this often turns out to mean",[14,51,52],{},"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.",[14,54,55],{},"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":57,"searchDepth":58,"depth":58,"links":59},"",2,[60,61,62,63,64],{"id":20,"depth":58,"text":21},{"id":27,"depth":58,"text":28},{"id":34,"depth":58,"text":35},{"id":41,"depth":58,"text":42},{"id":48,"depth":58,"text":49},"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,{"title":9,"description":66},"en\u002Fblog\u002Fbefore-your-first-backend-hire","4zR0CaoI0aVtiDpp5v0_an0b7GoRytPHZmNWl0zNhGs",1794689940853]