What You Should Know Before Hiring a Golang Developer in 2023
This article is a comprehensive guide that covers popular hiring platforms, average salaries of Go developers worldwide, and various employment types. By the end of this lengthy read, you will have everything you need to know before hiring a Golang developer.
How does the popularity of the Go language affect the hiring process?
Knowing Go has become a trump card for developers who have also gained experience with other programming languages such as Java, Ruby, Python, or Javascript. According to the Stack Overflow 2021 Developer Survey, Go, also known as Golang, is the fourth most popular programming language.
Hiring developers familiar with both popular and niche technologies is becoming increasingly difficult as the demand for software engineers grows. According to many reports, developers who work with niche programming languages like Rust, Go, and Scala are more likely to earn higher average salaries than their more common counterparts, owing to their scarcity.
What distinguishes Go from other programming languages?
Golang is widely used in data science and artificial intelligence applications. Both are seeing increased investment from startups and companies undergoing digital transformation. As a result, more companies are looking for candidates with strong analytical skills and a solid understanding of data.
Golang is an open-source programming language created by Google in 2007 that combines the performance and security benefits of a compiled language like C++ with the speed of a dynamic language like Python. Go was designed to run on multiple cores. Its concurrency feature allows it to handle multiple requests simultaneously while maintaining high performance. Google wants its servers to be as fast as possible, so they created Go to meet that need. The faster the code can execute—the faster internet TCP or UDP over IP requests can be received, processed, and returned to the client—the more performant and scalable Go becomes.
Furthermore, the Golang programming language has an excellent standard library, allowing you to create web apps without a framework. Its standard library is also useful for DevOps engineers. It includes file processing, HTTP web services, JSON processing, native concurrency and parallelism support, and built-in testing modules.
Uber’s microservice, which implements dynamic pricing in neighborhoods where many people request rides simultaneously and shows users which products are available at a given location, was notable for its use of Go programming.
What is the global average salary for Golang developers?
On Glassdoor, we’ve compiled data on the average salaries of Go developers. Please keep in mind that the platform considers the earnings of developers with varying levels of expertise, so actual salaries may vary from case to case. Furthermore, a backend developer who does not speak English and works on a local project will earn significantly less than a programmer who works for an outsourcing company.
Nonetheless, this study demonstrates how incomes differ across countries, which is caused, at the very least, by differences in living costs and taxation levels.
Go software engineer salaries according to Glassdoor
These figures represent the median earnings reported by Glassdoor’s proprietary Total Pay Estimate model, based on salaries submitted by platform users. Wages in India, the United States, Canada, Mexico, and the United Kingdom include a base salary and additional pay such as a cash bonus, commission, tips, and profit sharing.
According to Glassdoor, the highest-paid Go developers work in North America and Western Europe. Engineers from India, on the other hand, are the least expensive.
| Country | Salary per year, USD |
| United States | $142,000 |
| Canada | $86,000 |
| Mexico | $59,000 |
| Brazil | $82,000 |
| United Kingdom | $83,000 |
| Germany | $69,000 |
| Romania | $56,000 |
| Bulgaria | $47,000 |
| Ukraine | $44,000 |
| China | $70,000 |
| India | $17,000 |
| Australia | $82,000 |
Many companies in countries such as the United States or Western Europe prefer to hire remotely using innovative models such as staff augmentation. Thus, hiring contractors from other countries may be the solution if you want to hire a professional Go developer but are limited in tech talent. Furthermore, this solution is cost-effective because you will not have to pay for office rental, equipment, or bonuses—you only pay for the services. Now that we’ve looked at the average salaries of Go developers worldwide let’s look at how you can use this information before hiring a Golang developer.
Hiring a Golang Developer: Geographical Options
If you want to hire a Go developer, you have three options based on location. You can hire a local engineer, a nearshore developer, or an offshore developer (or development team).
Recruiting local talent
When hiring local talent, developers typically work in the same office with a team. Even if they work remotely or in a hybrid work model, they are all in the same time zone, so team members can quickly call or meet to discuss project details.
Traditional hiring will work for this method; start by searching online job boards like Angel.co or Glassdoor.com. You can also hire developers by organizing or participating in local events such as hackathons and tech conferences. There have been fewer in-person events in recent years, as many have moved online. Finally, you can approach headhunting firms for an in-house backend or full stack developer, or you can look in your local market using your HR services.
Hiring nearshore and offshore developers
Nearshore and offshore outsourcing provide access to a larger pool of developers, preventing a talent shortage.
In both of these cases, the hiring process is very similar. You should first look for individuals and organizations with high ratings. Ratings can be found on B2B platforms such as Clutch and GoodFirms before hiring a Golang developer or development company. Companies may hire web developers for nearshore positions through regional events (tech conferences and hackathons).
Four Models for Hiring a Golang Developer
Several hiring models are available, including in-house hiring, staff augmentation, freelance, and outsourcing software development.
In-house Hiring
You must pay a monthly salary plus benefits if you hire an in-house developer (financial and non-financial). Because they are committed to developing the product and the company, in-house developers are the most engaged—they delve into the product details and come up with the best solutions. As a result, at the core development stage, in-house recruitment is the best solution.
On the other hand, this method is more expensive because employers are required to pay for health insurance and make retirement contributions. Furthermore, the hiring process may take much longer because of the additional onboarding requirements for in-house employees.
Staff Augmentation
Staff augmentation is a solution for businesses that want to rapidly scale their development process by hiring a Golang developer who are only focused on one project. You will directly manage full-time employed programmers at software development agencies. You will be able to communicate with each of them.
Staff augmentation is just as safe as in-house hiring, but it happens much faster. By using the YouTeam online platform, for example, you will be dealing with a trusted network of developers from Eastern Europe and Latin America who are available for immediate hire. It takes 48 hours to receive a shortlist of Go engineers who meet your specifications.
Team augmentation, like in-house options, necessitates managers’ attention during onboarding. You must align the workflow and establish communication between the in-house and remote teams.
Read more: In-House Recruitment vs. IT Staff Augmentation
Outsourcing
The process is fairly straightforward if your company decides to hire through an outsourcing service. First, contact a Go development shop and agree on the project requirements. Then, a remote development team will work on your project.
Tech companies use this business practice to focus on the core aspects of the business, assigning app development to outside organizations managed by the CTO or product owner of the in-house team. Outsourcing, on the other hand, limits communication between the company and external providers and may pose security risks because sensitive data is accessible to multiple parties.
Read more: Staff Augmentation vs IT Project Outsourcing: Pros, Cons & Differences
Freelancing
Hiring freelancers is appropriate for short-term projects, small tasks, and businesses with limited resources. Suppose your company decides to hire a freelance Golang developer through a platform like Upwork. In that case, you must pay the platform the hourly rate plus a commission. Because freelancers must pay a commission, their hourly rates may be higher.
Even though freelancers are the quickest to hire, this hiring model is fraught with project delays and cancellations. Unlike dedicated development teams and contractors, freelancers are responsible for multiple jobs, and the quality of their output may fall short of the client’s expectations. You do not have the same level of control over a freelancer that you do over an employee.
Where to Find And Hire Go Developers?
Depending on the hiring model, we recommend a list of Go developer groups, job boards, directories, and communities. These links will direct you to communities where you can post Golang developer jobs, find contractors, or connect directly with the most active users.
Staff augmentation
- Companies that provide IT Staff Augmentation services are the best choice for this model, such as Bestarion.
Outsourcing
- Clutch recommends development firms.
- GoodFirms has Golang development companies.
Freelancing
- Create a job listing on Upwork.
- Hubstaff talent can help you find remote Golang engineers.
In-house Development: Job-boards
Communities and groups
- Go official Twitter account
- Go at GitHub
- Gophers Slack community (gopher is an iconic mascot of the Go project)
- Local meetup groups for Go developers
Comparing Go Developers from the United States, Europe, and Asia
American developers are frequently hired long-term by product companies, with the possibility of additional training.
Developers with experience in software development firms (more prevalent in Europe and Asia) typically know 1-2 focus languages in which they have deep expertise and years of experience. That is why contractors from these world regions are so valuable — such experts can add the most value to a project.
When European developers focus on hard skills, Americans will be the best at soft skills, and this difference will be even more pronounced in Asia. This disparity is due to cultural differences and different types of businesses and roles. First and foremost, as a contractor, you are expected to produce results.
In general, a country’s average income has nothing to do with the qualifications of its workforce. Ukraine, with 300,000 high-quality tech specialists, has a reputation as a reliable IT outsourcing destination due to a cultural fit with EU and US customers, as we all share the same values.
Examine the spreadsheet for a comparison of developers from the United States, Ukraine, and India in terms of time zone convenience and English language proficiency:
| Go Developer | United States | Europe | Asia |
| Average Salary | $142K | $54K | $27K |
| Time Zone Convenience | Perfect for the US and Europe. | Perfect for Western European countries and the US. | Time differences between European countries and the US. |
| English Proficiency | Native | Intermediate to High | Elementary to High |
What Should You Ask Go Engineers in an Interview?
Make sure you have a standardized interviewing process to evaluate candidates better. Make a list of the most important questions you want to cover and write down potential answers. Whatever employment type you choose, there are two main categories of questions you should ask a Go developer in real-time:
Hard skills: Depending on the tasks at hand, you should focus on the following areas of knowledge:
- Understanding of common Goroutine and channel patterns
- Knowledge of Go frameworks and tools, such as:
- Go’s templating language
- Code generation tools, such as Stringer
- Dependency management tools such as Godep, Sltr
- Knowledge of code versioning tools such as Git, SVN, and Mercurial is required.
- Capability to write effective and clean Godoc comments
More examples of questions for hard-skills interviews with Go developers (with answers) can be found here.
Soft skills: After assessing an interviewee’s abilities, you should modify the conversation to confirm their cultural fit and background. This way, you can demonstrate that the candidate is a great team player who shares your company’s values.
Why Should You Hire Your Next Go Developer from Bestarion?
Bestarion is an outsourcing company in Asia that helps hire a top Golang developer through an IT staff augmentation service. And this is why:
- We have pre-interviewed our pool of middle and senior Golang developers to ensure that they are the best fit to meet the needs of our customers.
- It takes a short time to receive a verified list of candidates after contacting Bestarion.
- No legal burden. Our experts will help you communicate with project engineers and answer any legal or financial questions you may have.