Hire the best Git developers

How to hire top Git developers

Whether you’re building an app for mobile, web, or desktop, you’re going to need a way to keep track of software changes, revisions, and deployments. This is especially important if you have more than one developer working on a project, such as a full stack developer or a web developer. A Git developer can help you implement a distributed revision control (DRC) system for your project, ensuring that your development team works efficiently and collaboratively.

Git developers are often part of a larger development team, which may include software engineers, web developers, and remote developers. Their expertise in managing code repositories is essential for maintaining an organized workflow.

So how do you hire Git developers? What follows are some tips for finding top Git consultants on Upwork.

How to shortlist Git professionals

As you’re browsing available Git consultants, it can be helpful to develop a shortlist of the professionals you may want to interview. You can screen profiles on criteria such as:

• Git repository services. You want a developer who’s familiar with your preferred Git repository hosting service (e.g., GitHub, GitLab, Bitbucket). GitHub developers with experience in programming languages relevant to your project will be an asset.
• Project experience. Screen candidate profiles for specific skills and experience (e.g., software development, AWS, and version control with Azure DevOps). Experience with Docker, Linux, Node.js, Ruby on Rails, and SQL can also be crucial depending on your project's needs.
• Feedback. Check reviews from past clients for glowing testimonials or red flags that can tell you what it’s like to work with a particular Git developer. Look for comments on their communication skills and ability to deliver high-quality results.

How to write an effective Git job post

With a clear picture of your ideal Git developer in mind, it’s time to write that job post. Although you don’t need a full job description as you would when hiring an employee, aim to provide enough detail for a contractor to know if they’re the right fit for the project.

Job post title

Create a simple title that describes exactly what you’re looking for. The idea is to target the keywords that your ideal candidate is likely to type into a job search bar to find your project. Here are some sample Git job post titles:

• Need someone to manage the Git repository for our analytics app
• Need help setting up a Git server on Windows with git-http-backend.exe
• Seeking a back-end developer experienced with Atlassian and Bitbucket

Git project description

An effective Git job post should include:

• Scope of work. From setting up Git to hosting your own repository on cPanel, list all the deliverables you’ll need.
• Project length. Your job post should indicate whether this is a smaller or larger project, such as creating a REST API or managing an entire repository.
• Background. If you prefer experience with certain technologies, programming languages, software, or developer tools, mention this here. For instance, experience with GraphQL or machine learning could be relevant depending on your project's needs.
• Budget. Set a budget and note your preference for hourly rates vs. fixed-price contracts.

Git responsibilities

Here are some examples of Git job responsibilities:

• Work with a development team to build user-facing features
• Handle code documentation and manage repository on GitHub
• Troubleshoot bugs and technical issues for the team, especially in startups that require agility

Git requirements and qualifications

Be sure to include any requirements and qualifications you’re looking for in Git developers. Here are some examples:

• Git and your preferred DRC platform (e.g., GitLab, Bitbucket, Azure DevOps)
• Desired technical expertise (e.g., front-end development, back-end development, full stack development)
• Experience designing continuous integration and deployment (CI/CD) pipelines using tools like AWS

Git Developers FAQ

What is Git?

Git is an open-source distributed version control system for tracking and managing revisions of computer files. Git takes a distributed approach to version control, allowing multiple developers to branch projects off a master repository so that they can make changes on their local machines. When developers are ready to push those changes to production, they can commit them to a staging area where they’ll be able to merge them with the master branch. Git is the most popular method of tracking changes in source code during software development, particularly among programmers and web developers.

How much does it cost to hire a Git developer?

The first step to determining the cost to hire a Git developer will be to define your needs. Rates can vary due to many factors, including expertise, years of experience, location, and market conditions.

Cost factor #1: project scope

The first variable to consider when determining scope is the nature of the work that needs to be completed. Not all Git projects are created equally. Hosting a small git repository on cPanel will typically take less time than managing the Bitbucket repository for a large enterprise app.

Tip: The more accurately your job description describes the scope of your project, the easier it will be for talent to give you accurate cost estimates and proposals.

Cost factor #2: Git developer experience

Choosing the right level of expertise for the job is closely tied to how well you determined the scope of your project. You wouldn’t need an advanced Git developer for a simple single-page application (SPA). On the other hand, creating and maintaining your own social media platform will require a skilled developer to effectively manage your remote repository, particularly if GraphQL or machine learning are part of the tech stack.

Beyond years of experience, you need to consider the type of experience the talent possesses. It’s important to note that “Git developer” is a bit of a misnomer. In truth, you will likely be looking for some other type of developer (e.g., Android, iOS, web developer) who happens to know Git. The following table breaks down the rates of the typical types of Git developers you can find on Upwork.

Rates charged by Git developers on Upwork

Cost factor #3: location

Location is another variable that can impact a Git developer’s cost. It’s no secret that you can leverage differences in purchasing power between countries to gain savings on talent. But it’s also important to factor in hidden costs such as language barriers, time zones, and the logistics of managing a remote development team. The real advantage to sourcing talent remotely on Upwork is the ability to scan a global talent pool for the best possible person for the job. Location is no longer an obstacle.

Cost factor #4: independent contractor vs. agency

The final variable regarding talent cost is hiring an independent contractor vs. an agency. An agency is often a “one size fits all” model, so you’ll often have access to a designer, a project manager, an engineer, and more. When hiring individuals you have total autonomy regarding who is responsible for which part of the project, but you’ll need to source each of those skills separately.

The trade-off between hiring individuals vs. hiring an agency is the level of administrative overhead you incur personally in coordinating tasks among all members of the team. Project scope and personal preference will determine which style is a better fit for your needs.

What are common Git developer mistakes?

Committing directly to master: Committing to master has become a running joke within the developer community. Everyone has a commit-to-master story where they or someone else broke a build or caused a problem by committing bad code to the master branch. As a general rule you should only commit to master by merging a development branch that is stable, tested, and ready for deployment. The idea is to commit all code changes to your own local branch and merge only once you’re sure those changes are validated.

If you need to roll back to the previous branch but don’t want to lose all the work you did accidentally committing to master, you can branch your current progress to save that work before rolling back the master branch to its previous version with the hard git reset command:

git branch new-branch

git reset HEAD~ –hard

git checkout new-branch

Not resetting keys and passwords after pushing sensitive data: Imagine accidentally uploading an SSH key or password to your repository through an accidental commit. You might think that all you have to do is remove that commit with a rebase or reset, followed by a force push to master. However, force push doesn’t actually delete the commit; it creates a new one and moves the file pointer to it. You can still access the old data via SHA-1. If you try to avoid this leak by manually deleting your .git folder, you risk messing up the repositories of other team members who might have pulled the latest changes. Moreover, your data was already exposed for an unacceptable period of time. This is why the most elegant solution is to simply update your keys after patching the leak in your remote repository.

Committing generated files: Generally speaking, you should commit only manual code to a repository. If a file is generated from your code it can be difficult to apply the line-based diff tracking used by Git. This normally powerful tool for tracking changes can become a major headache when it becomes difficult to separate the manual code changes that matter from the code changes that resulted from code-generated files. It also complicates contributions to your library from other developers, as they might make changes to the generated files rather than the source code itself. Their contributions could easily disappear the next time the build is run.

Tips and best practices

Keep commits clean, concise, and single-purpose

It can be all too easy to make large meandering commits that address multiple features and bugs in a single push. The problem with this approach is that other developers may find it difficult to understand your changes when they’re all lumped together in a single commit. Git is supposed to make it easier to work with a distributed team of developers. The larger that team is, the more important it becomes to keep your commits small and focused. Single-purpose commits streamline code reviews, simplify rollbacks, and make tracking changes with your ticketing system easier.

Commit early and often

You only really start to see the real benefits of a version control system like Git when you commit early and commit often. Think of it as saving your progress with periodic checkpoints as you code. This makes it easier to ensure each commit compiles and/or passes regression tests. The only exception may be for large public projects, where you don’t want to overwhelm contributors with an excessive number of commits. In this case, your commits may be more substantial, but they should still follow a general theme that makes sense and tells a story about the logical progression of your project.

Write detailed comments on your commits

Git requires you to write a comment for every commit. The idea is to be detailed and concise, capturing the purpose behind every code commit. The more descriptive you make these comments, the easier it will be to track bugs and figure out where your build went wrong when you encounter an issue in a future commit. It will also make it easier for a development team of programmers to collaborate on a project.

A talent edge for your entire organization

The hiring process should be structured to assess both technical and soft skills, such as communication skills and the ability to work collaboratively with team members. Conducting technical interviews and reviewing candidates' GitHub profiles for past projects and contributions can provide deeper insights into their capabilities, but all of this takes time and effort.

Upwork’s Enterprise Suite has you covered for hiring, managing, and scaling talent more strategically.

If you’re looking to hire for long-term or full-time assignments, see how Full-time hiring on Upwork simplifies the process and brings you access to the top talent for your project needs.