25 MIN READ

How to hire freelance Elixir Developers in 2024

Updated on March 20, 2024
Platforms to find talented Elixir Developers
Toptal

What we liked the most:

  • 98% Hiring Success
  • Fast Matching within 48 hours
  • Risk-Free Trial for up to 5 Days
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Upwork

What we liked the most:

  • Secure payments
  • Fixed-price protection
  • Expert-Vetted program
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PeoplePerHour

What we liked the most:

  • #1 freelancing community
  • Free job posts available
  • Global talent access
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Kelly Wilson
Written by Kelly Wilson

Strategist and entrepreneur, with experience in hiring developers across various industries. Kelly has established herself as a trusted expert in identifying and recruiting top tech talent. She shares advanced tips on how to identify the right talent, create hiring strategies, develop your tech teams and much more.

Expertise: IT Recruiting, Tech, Marketing

Looking to hire skilled Elixir developers for your projects? Our comprehensive hiring guide provides valuable insights, tips, and a step-by-step approach to find and evaluate experienced Elixir developers. Explore top talent platforms, learn how to assess technical proficiency, and evaluate candidates' project experience. With our guide, you'll simplify the hiring process and find the perfect Elixir talent to build robust and concurrent applications. 

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Here are the top 5 sites to hire freelance Elixir Developers

Based on facts publicly available as of 01.01.2024

1. Toptal

Toptal is an exclusive network featuring only top-tier freelancing tech talent. To discover the best Elixir developers, the company uses a rigorous screening process that only 3% of applicants pass. It provides its clients with expertly matched freelancers who meet their needs. Core benefits of using Toptal include rapid matching, scalability, a no-risk trial, and a quality guarantee.

Key points:

  • Enjoy a risk-free trial for up to 5 days.
  • Completed over 60,000 projects for 25K+ satisfied clients.
  • Trustpilot rating of 4.8 out of 5.

2. Upwork

Upwork is a global platform with more than 10 million registered freelancers. It helps companies needing skilled talent and professional remote workers connect. Clients can find, screen, and hire candidates or select from premade projects offered by freelancers.

Key points:

  • Locate Upwork’s best-performing developers by their talent badges.
  • Platform Talent Scouts can provide shortlists of top candidates.
  • Be prepared to vet developers unless they have Expert-Vetted status.

3. PeoplePerHour

Established in 2007, PeoplePerHour is a U.K.-based freelancing platform with a worldwide reach. Companies can hire freelance Elixir developers by posting projects and reviewing bid proposals submitted by prospective candidates. Freelancers can also offer bundled services for a fee.

Key points:

  • AI-powered talent matching quickly compiles a candidate shortlist.
  • Compare tailored proposals submitted by PPH developers.
  • Core benefits include payment protection, a money-back guarantee, and a dedicated 24/7 customer support team.

4. Turing

Turing is a fully remote company that pairs clients with highly skilled tech professionals meeting their projects' requirements. Boasting a 97% retention rate, the firm meticulously screens applicants and selects only top-scoring candidates for its freelancer network.

Key points:

  • Turing’s fast talent matching enables hiring in just four days.
  • Turing developers offer time-zone compatibility for streamlined communications.
  • Take up to two weeks to evaluate developers with a risk-free trial period.

5. Revelo

Revelo is a nearshoring platform sourcing technical talent from the United States and Latin America. It vets freelancers through a screening process that assesses technical talent, soft skills, and English language proficiency. Companies can hire Elixir developers with a 14-day no-cost guarantee.

Key points:

  • You’ll receive end-to-end support to ensure your needs are met.
  • Every Elixir developer is fluent in written and spoken English.
  • Your individual developer or team coordinates with your time zone.

Guide to hiring great freelance Elixir Developers

Demand for Elixir developers remains consistent. Stack Overflow's 2022 survey shows Elixir in the top 10 highest-paying programming languages. It's also the second most loved according to survey respondents. Developers continually discover innovative ways to use this programming language, from robust web applications to training machine learning modules.

With Elixir's current growth and potential uses, the challenge of finding the right technical talent comes as no surprise. New and experienced developers continually enter the job market, giving you more choices and challenges in selecting talent.

Why Elixir Remains Popular

Elixir offers several essential benefits. It's a functional programming language — its code behaves like mathematical functions because the same input always leads to the same output. Elixir is also reliable thanks to its fault-tolerance capabilities. Because the BEAM VM it runs on can segregate dysfunctional modules from other code, this can avert complete systems failures.

Thanks to its simple construction, Elixir requires less code to achieve your desired results. Its uncomplicated syntax also helps developers build applications faster. Because José Valim designed Elixir on top of Erlang's virtual machine, it inherits another core advantage: scalability. Like its predecessor Erlang, Elixir can easily handle constant traffic and high loads. For applications that must deliver 99% availability, Elixir is a perfect fit.

“Elixir language is based on Beam, which has been implemented by tech giants like WhatsApp, Ericsson, and IBM. The José Valim creation comes with power-packed features such as Pipe-operator and helps in scaling up the software.”

by Usman Khalid, research analyst

The Challenges of Finding Tech Talent

The Bureau of Labor Statistics projects a 25% increase in software development jobs until 2031. That translates to an average of 162,900 openings per year. The BLS cites artificial intelligence, the Internet of Things, robotics, and automation technologies as critical factors contributing to growth in this profession.

Qualified candidates will naturally compete for these opportunities. Meanwhile, the IT talent marketplace remains global: Evans Data Corporation estimated in December 2022 that there are 25.6 million software developers worldwide. This large talent pool contains professionals with unique skills, experience, and education.

With so many candidates from which to choose, selecting technical talent can be difficult and time-consuming. Knowing how to hire Elixir developers is critical for getting the best talent and value.

What Does an Elixir Developer Do?

Elixir is an open-source programming language used to create scalable applications. The official Elixir website explains that software developer José Valim invented it in 2012. Vailm developed Elixir during an R&D project at Plataformatec, a Brazilian software consulting firm. He designed the language while trying to improve the Ruby on Rails framework and made it to run on BEAM, a virtual machine also running Erlang code.

While Erlang's roots lie in the telecommunications industry, Elixir is a dynamic and process-oriented programming language. One of its primary strengths is its compatibility with multiple cloud platforms. Educative mentions several use cases for Elixir:

  • Adobe: The software firm used Elixir to create a client-cloud app for collaborative photography workflows.
  • Discord: The company's developers used Elixir to build the popular instant messaging and chat application.
  • Moz: Developers used Elixir to improve API speeds and reduce disk space on its backend.
  • Pinterest: The social media network redesigned its notification system with Elixir to enhance performance and efficiency.

Elixir engineers craft solutions like these for clients in many industries. The technology is popular with software-as-a-service providers, especially with the Phoenix web framework.

Why Hire Dedicated Elixir Developers

Elixir developers for hire offer specialized skills and expertise needed for complex projects. Since Elixir works well for scalable and distributed applications, Elixir engineers may help create mobile, web, and cloud-deployed solutions. Some senior developers may have up to 10 years of experience with Elixir.

Depending on your project, you may need a single software engineer for its complete development life cycle. Alternatively, you may require a team of many experts to handle different aspects of your project. Perhaps you're looking for a specialist to provide ongoing maintenance for an application. When you hire Elixir developers, you benefit from their skills and expertise regardless of which part of the project they handle.

Should I Hire a Freelance Elixir Developer?

You have a few options for finding tech talent: full-time, part-time, and freelance. All these have unique benefits. However, you may get the best value by hiring Elixir freelancers:

  • Cost savings: With freelancers, you don't have to pay traditional hiring costs like benefits, vacation time, training, and payroll taxes.
  • Lots of choices: Many talent-sourcing platforms include professionals from all over the globe with niche skill sets. You can easily find a developer who's perfect for your project.
  • Fast hiring process: The freelancers you choose are ready to onboard immediately. You can complete projects much faster than with the traditional hiring model.
  • Scalability: You only choose and pay for the talent you need. You can adjust the size of your development team as your needs dictate.

These benefits underscore why it's best to hire an Elixir developer freelance.

What Skills To Look For When Hiring an Elixir Developer

Defining a critical skillset is essential when you wish to hire Elixir developers. While you should keep your project needs in mind, many of these specialists share common core competencies:

  • Elixir programming language
  • Erlang programming language
  • BEAM virtual machine
  • SQL, MySQL, and NoSQL
  • Continuous Integration/Continuous Delivery (CI/CD)

Other Programming Languages

Many Elixir experts are proficient in multiple programming languages. These usually include Python and Ruby, two critical tools often used in building Elixir apps. Web application developers may also know Javascript, HTML, and CSS.

Cloud Platforms

Because many cloud-based apps and services use Elixir, developers should demonstrate proficiency in at least one cloud platform. Most developers have experience with Amazon Web Services but may also know Google Cloud Platform, Microsoft Azure, or IBM Bluemix.

Database Technologies

Most Elixir specialists have experience with database technologies and tools like Ecto and PostgreSQL. Ecto is a database wrapper and toolkit created by Eric Meadows-Jönsson, an Elixir core team member. Developers commonly use PostgreSQL with the Phoenix web framework. Depending on their previous experience, some developers may also know Oracle or MongoDB.

Web Frameworks

Elixir developers typically use Phoenix or Ruby on Rails web frameworks. Both are popular for website applications because they're easy to use, offer robust tools, and provide structures that enable faster project creation. Some experts also have expertise with Django, a Python framework that promotes speed, flexibility, and security.

Server APIs

Other Elixir developer skills include Server APIs such as SOAP and REST. SOAP stands for "Simple Object Access Protocol," while REST refers to representational state transfer architecture. Both are messaging frameworks but work slightly differently. They play crucial roles in data communication, especially in retrieving database information.

How Much Does It Cost To Hire Elixir Developers?

The cost of hiring an Elixir developer varies widely. The latest Bureau of Labor Statistics data indicates that software developers earn an average annual wage of $120,990. ZipRecruiter cites a typical yearly salary of $116,750 for Elixir developers. Meanwhile, top Elixir developers can earn up to $180,000 annually.

Tips for Writing an Elixir Developer Job Description

A well-written job description can help you hire Elixir developers. You want it to be informative yet easy to understand. Wright State University's Human Resource department offers several helpful tips you can use. Be sure to include several essential details:

  • Job title: This should accurately reflect the person's role.
  • Job purpose: Describe what this person will do to contribute to your organization.
  • Duties and responsibilities: Summarize essential functions, listing them in order of importance or frequency.
  • Qualifications: Separate these into categories: education, experience, and skills. Indicate which are required and which are "nice to have."
  • Working environment: State whether the position is remote, in the office, or hybrid.

Include vital technical skills based on your project's requirements. One pertinent example is Python: Many Elixir developers have it in their skill sets, but you should still explicitly mention it if it's a necessary core competency.

How To Find Freelance Elixir Developers for Hire

Sourcing the best technical talent can be challenging, especially when searching for Elixir experts. Refer to our list of the best sites to hire Elixir developers that offer the most value for your organization and projects. Using a site like Toptal that diligently vets and matches candidates can save time and effort. You benefit by receiving world-class professionals through a speedy selection and onboarding process. Toptal takes care of the heavy lifting, leaving you to focus on critical aspects of your business.

Hiring Elixir Developers - FAQ

How Much Does It Cost To Hire an Elixir Developer?

The average annual salary for U.S. Elixir developers is $116,759, or $56 per hour. Yearly wages range from $11,000 to $154,000. This broad salary range considers years of experience, location and skill levels.

Are Elixir Developers in Demand?

Elixir is one of 2023’s top ten programming languages, with the demand for skilled Elixir developers expected to increase. As a whole, the projected job growth for software developers is 25% from 2022 to 2032. This rate is much higher than the 3% national average.

What is an Elixir engineer, and why should you hire one?
Elixir engineers can play many roles in the development process. They may design software, write and debug, test what they've built, and integrate it with other tools and subsystems. Depending on their specific roles in their project teams, they may build individual components or an entire application from start to finish. Hiring one of the professionals ensures you have the resources needed to complete your project quickly and efficiently.
Where can I find Elixir developers?
You'll want to review our list of the 15 best sites to hire Elixir developers. The platforms, networks, and companies on the list give you many options for finding technical talent. Freelancing platforms allow clients to post jobs and hire talent directly or offer exclusive talent-matching services. This list also includes software development companies whose in-house teams can develop your project.
How do you hire an Elixir developer?
To hire Elixir developers, start with a clear and detailed job description. Select a site whose products, services, and talent pool fit your organization's needs and project requirements the best. Sites that rigorously vet their candidates are more likely to provide you with top Elixir developers.

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