How to Hire a Golang Developer: Practical Tips

An excellent development team is one of the components of the success of your project. That’s why if you build custom software development solutions for your business needs, one of the first tasks will be to find outstanding professionals with rich expertise. 

With such developers, you can entirely rely on their knowledge and vision. Your collaboration results may be significantly beyond your expectations. However, businesses must often understand how to hire the best developers for their projects.

Therefore, we’ve prepared this article to share some valuable tips on how to hire Golang developers. Golang (or Go) is among the most widely applied programming languages today, and many companies have opted for Go as a more appropriate alternative to other programming languages.

What is Go/Golang?

But before hiring a Golang developer guide, we must familiarize ourselves with all the essential information about this language and the types of solutions that can be built with its help.

Golang, also widely known as Go, is an open-source, statically typed, compiled, high-level programming language designed by Google. The core idea behind its introduction was to offer developers an easy-to-use language that would allow them to create solutions of any complexity. The company first announced its plans to present Go in 2009, but its first version was made publicly available only three years later, in 2012.

The popularity of Go/Golang started to grow rather quickly, which can be explained by its readability, simplicity, and efficiency. That’s why it can be used for many projects today.

For example, it is often chosen for backend programming, developing games, cloud-based apps, and data science tools. It can also be a good option for building command-line tools, AI-powered applications, and other software products. We’ll discuss these and other use cases later in the article.

Below is a graph showing the results of the Go Developer Survey conducted in the first quarter of 2023.

Today, many tech giants and other prominent businesses rely on Go. We should mention Uber, Twitch, Pinterest, Slack, Netflix, Paypal, American Express, Shopify, Robinhood, Kubernetes, Dropbox, Heroku, Docker, and many others.

Go: Stats and Figures

Given the popularity of this programming language today, many businesses want to find seasoned Golang developers for hire.

As of July 2023,  the TIOBE index demonstrates that Go occupied the 13th position on the list of the top computing languages. The index is based on the results of the most popular search engines and also considers some other parameters, like whether the language has its own Wikipedia entry.

According to the data published by Statista, more than 13% of developers worldwide use Golang. Based on various sources, today, there are over 2 million Golang developers (if we also include those developers who focus on other languages but use Go for some specific tasks).

It’s interesting to pay attention to the number of available vacancies that require Go programming skills. As of the end of July 2023, there were almost 110,000 such job ads on LinkedIn.

What Industries are Looking for Golang Developers for Hire?

If you analyze what companies typically post job ads and plan to hire Golang developers, you will see that IT companies publish most vacancies. But are Golang developers in demand in other industries? Definitely, yes. Finance and fintech businesses and companies that offer cloud platform services are among those who want to work with experts with such skills. Though companies usually plan to hire Golang web developers, we notice a tendency to rely on this programming language in mobile app development as well.

Below is a list of industries and fields where Go/Golang is commonly used:

• IT services;
• Fintech and finance;
• Cloud computing services;
• Data analysis and big data;
• Mobile app development;
• Search engines and internet services;
• Retail, commerce, distribution;
• Mass media and entertainment.

But of course, it doesn’t mean that when you work in another industry and want to use Go as a programming language to build your solution. Each project should always be considered and analyzed individually. Suppose you haven’t found your industry on our list but believe Golang will be your app's best choice. In that case, you can always get a professional consultation with a reliable software development company like Geomotiv. Our experts will view your requirements and ideas and provide recommendations on the preferred tech stack for your project.

Based on the practical experience of our team, Golang often becomes a good choice as a language for backend development for different types of projects. As our Go developers note, it is an easy-to-use language that makes it possible to create various features comparatively fast. Moreover, when choosing a tech stack, we recommend you think about the support and maintenance of your product in the long run. With Go, developers won’t have any serious issues if it is required to modernize your app or enhance it with new functionality.

Widely-Used Applications of Golang

• Cloud-native apps and cloud-based services.
  Due to its built-in support for this use case, Go enables companies to build scalable and concurrent cloud computing infrastructures. This programming language provides the required speed to deploy fast and reliable services. Other characteristics, such as static typing, lightweight nature, portability across different platforms, and readability, help create maintainable code for cloud computing systems.
  Leading cloud providers offer Go APIs, while open-source libraries like Swagger simplify API development. Docker and Kubernetes, written in Go, also provide additional conveniences for cloud developers. These tools offer scalable and resilient ways of managing applications, making it easier for engineers to build cloud-native architectures.
• Web development.
  Go empowers web developers by providing the means to build scalable and secure applications. Its standard package includes a high-performing web server and an HTTP package, which helps choose from multiple web templates available immediately. Such capabilities enable developers to accelerate the delivery of APIs, web servers, and command-line tools (CLTs).
  Moreover, Go's unparalleled portability ensures that web applications can seamlessly run on Google App Engine and Google Cloud Run for effortless scaling. It also enables deployment in any environment, cloud, or operating system. This versatile and adaptable approach is ideal for modern cross-platform development.
• Microservices development.
  Go is one of the most preferable tools for creating scalable and high-performing apps with a microservices architecture. With microservices, multiple services are encapsulated yet coordinated by defined business logic. Go addresses those requirements thanks to built-in concurrency features. These features enable developers to manage and orchestrate independent services and maintain the required performance level without limitations.
  Go's syntax and type system is strict and understandable for different teams, which facilitates incorporating change and reducing time-to-deploy for solutions with a microservices architecture. Developers minimize time spent interpreting unfamiliar code and start contributing to projects faster.
• Data Science.
  Adding full-stack Golang developers to a technical team can benefit data science projects. Golang's ecosystem of tools, packages, and libraries provides support for parallel task execution, handling massive datasets, and executing complex computations. The main advantage of Go in this regard is its speed and efficiency.
  Golang's data science ecosystem continuously evolves, presenting promising opportunities for developers. While it delivers notable advantages, it may need more toolchains in other well-documented languages. However, as the Golang community matures, the richness and diversity of its data science resources are expected to expand.

Key Benefits That Make Golang a Preferable Choice for Many Projects

While discussing the popularity of this computing language, it is crucial to explain why it is so. The key reasons are related to the advantages that are open to developers.

Let us focus at least on the core ones.

• Simplicity of learning. Most programmers who learned Go when they already knew some other languages admit that Go is significantly easier than many other technologies. It has only 25 keywords, and its syntax can’t be named too complicated. Several weeks of learning are often enough for developers to start coding in this language on real projects. Our Golang programmers also say that thanks to the comparatively simple syntax of this language, it is possible to avoid many mistakes, which makes the entire development process relatively smooth.
• Concurrency and scalability. Go's concurrent nature means that it can run multiple tasks simultaneously with a high level of efficiency and low memory usage. Thanks to using goroutines, which can be explained as functions that run simultaneously but entirely independently, apps written in Go will be ready to face increased loads.
• Multipurpose nature. This programming language is compatible with operating systems, platforms, and devices. As a result, developers can use it to build highly efficient and seamlessly functioning software of different styles and complexity.
• Fast execution and development. Go can compile to machine code directly, meaning the byte code stage is omitted. Thanks to excluding all intermediary steps and processes, faster code execution and development are achieved. The development processes can also be streamlined using the parallel testing tool integrated into the Go framework.
• Easy maintenance and readability. Because Go's syntax is comparatively simple, developers can usually easily read and understand the code other teams write. This means that even when they have a task to maintain a product they did not develop, they can do it easily. As a result, the time needed to fulfill different tasks will be optimized because developers can understand the code relatively quickly.
• Tools are available on GitHub. Developers who work with Golang have access to a rich library of components and a choice of IDEs, editors, and plugins.
• Fit for large-scale projects. Very often, businesses choose Golang for their enterprise systems. This option helps to reduce the time needed for the development cycle. Moreover, when it is necessary to build a vast project, several development teams are involved. Using complex languages and technologies may cause issues in their collaboration. But with Go, there are no problems of this type.
• Open-source nature. Go is an open-source language with a powerful community. Today, Go fans run many tutorials and forums, and developers can always turn to their colleagues from all over the world for advice.

What Do Golang Developers Do?

When you want to hire remote Golang developers or specialists who will work from your office, you must understand what these experts do and what tasks you can rely on.

Such experts usually write code for different software solutions, including web, mobile, and cloud-based apps. Very often, Go is one of many programming languages they know and can work with. They can also have expertise in other popular languages like Python or Java and may be good data science, cloud computing, and DevOps specialists. As a rule, they are multifunctional professionals who can help you achieve excellent results in many tech projects.

Typical tasks for programmers on Golang software development projects:

• Writing code in Go;
• Writing tests for this code;
• Troubleshooting;
• Preparing documentation that will contain an explanation of their code;
• Creating software and helping to implement it.

Must-Have Technical Skills for a Golang Developer

The precise set of skills that may be required from Go developers can vary depending on the project. However, some skills are practically relevant in every case.

• Knowledge of goroutines. Every Go developer should know how to ensure that functions run simultaneously and independently.
• Understanding of Go channel patterns and frameworks. They help to enable data exchange between goroutines.
• Proficiency in using Go templates. With this instrument, developers can create dynamic content.
• Familiarity with Godoc commenting. This in-build documentation tool helps to facilitate the creation of user documentation.
• Expertise in using versioning tools. Knowing version control tools will help work on a shared database without conflicts.

How to Hire Golang Developers, and Where to Find Them?

The question “Where can I go to hire web developer who will be able to code in Golang?” is prevalent among those who have already decided to build a software product using this programming language.

From a geographical point of view, you have several options. You can find specialists in your local labor market or nearshore or offshore hiring.

4 Models for Hiring Golang Developers

If you have decided to hire Go engineers, it is high time you chose the best model for your case. We must highlight that no one-size-fits-all solution exists; each case requires its own approach. That’s why we recommend you carefully analyze all the available options and view them from the perspective of your business.

In-house hiring. If you have a long-term project, you know expanding your in-house staff and having all the required resources will be feasible, so you should turn to this model. Having Golang developers on your team will be comfortable, but only in those cases when you are sure you will always have tasks for them.

Staff augmentation. This model allows you to fill in available tech positions by hiring specialists from a talent pool of the chosen vendor. It is a cost-efficient and very flexible model that will allow you to find the required developers significantly faster than in those cases when you are looking for in-house staff. A vendor will solve all administrative issues.

At Geomotiv, we also provide such services. We have access to a rich talent pool and know that we can find the best experts for different software development projects regardless of their specificity. By using this model, you can hire just one specialist or more. Everything depends directly on your ongoing situation, requirements, and expectations. This is a perfect choice when you already have an in-house development team but do not want to expand it.

Moreover, we guarantee the full support of all specialists who join your project. We onboard new contractors and take on all the responsibilities related to organizing their work. We also gather feedback from our clients to understand whether the right people occupy the right positions on the project and whether anything can be done to enhance their performance.

Outsourcing. You should turn to this model when you are ready to transfer the responsibility for some tasks or projects to an external vendor. In other words, in this case, you will work with a team that will perform all the project realization tasks, and your participation here will be minimized. By relying on our team to fulfill such tasks, you get access to excellent niche expertise, enjoy optimized costs, and avoid the necessity of executing full control over the project.

Work with freelancers. Collaboration with freelancers has many benefits. Very often, their services are cheaper than those of software development companies. They are very flexible. They can work fast as they are interested in getting more projects. But there are also many pitfalls. Unfortunately, there are cases when freelancers can let you down or just disappear without fulfilling their tasks.

Nevertheless, there are also many highly responsible specialists with outstanding skills. You just need to ensure you’ve found the right person. One of the most popular platforms for finding freelancers with different skills is Upwork.

Are you also interested in working with specialists who have other skills, such as expertise in Node.js? You can read about hiring approaches here.

The Process of Hiring Golang Developers

The hiring and onboarding process may differ depending on the model you have chosen for establishing cooperation with developers. The main differences will be related to the responsibilities for headhunting and various administrative questions.

Nevertheless, the typical hiring process usually includes the following steps:

1. Creation of a profile of an ideal candidate. You need to understand the required skills, experience, and knowledge.
2. Publishing of a job description. You must present your requirements as a job ad that will help you hire Go developer. Also, please think carefully about the platforms where you will publish your ad. Or you may entrust software development partners like Geomotiv to make all that work for you (publishing job descriptions, initial screening, interviewing, candidate selection, hiring, and onboarding).
3. Consideration of received applications. Evaluate all the applications and assess them based on your requirements.
4. Analysis of assessment results. When you’ve assessed the candidates, you can create a short list of those you want to communicate with at the interview.
5. Interviews. You can evaluate the candidates' tech and soft skills at the interview and discuss financial, organizational, and other terms.
6. Candidate selection. Based on the results of the interviews, you can already choose the best candidate and prepare a job offer for this specialist.

For the interviews, we recommend that you prepare tricky questions that will help you understand each candidate's proficiency level. Here are a couple of examples.

Question: How do we eliminate a memory leak in Golang?

And here are the ways to estimate answers.

• A junior developer doesn’t know what a memory leak is.
• A mid-level developer knows what it is but doesn’t know it is possible in Go.
• A senior developer knows how the Go garbage collector works and how a memory leak happens.

Other questions for an interview with Golang developers:

Conclusion

As you can see, Golang is a rather popular programming language for building solutions of different types. At the same time, the language is easy to learn and convenient to use, which can also be named among the reasons why its users can choose the most comfortable terms and the most exciting projects.

If you want to hire dedicated Golang developers or are looking for a team that will take full responsibility for your project realization or at least for some tasks, you can always contact us. At Geomotiv, we can offer different cooperation models and will find the best experts who will fully meet your requirements.

FAQ

Need Help? We’ve Got You Covered!

How much does it cost to hire a Golang developer?

The cost of hiring a Golang developer varies depending on factors like region and specialist level. Geomotiv offers rates ranging from $30 to $60 per hour, providing access to affordable hiring locations.

Is Golang backend or frontend?

Go is frequently used as a backend development language to create web apps, APIs, and microservices. It is rarely used for frontend development.

Is there a demand for Golang developers?

The demand for Go developers is robust, with 5,000 vacancies in the USA on LinkedIn alone. This situation is driven by large businesses that extensively use Golang in their projects, making it a sought-after skill.