Scala Developers for Hire

Why is it so difficult to find Scala developers locally?

Though the USA holds the largest share of the global Scala development market, hiring Scala engineers locally is challenging  for several reasons:

• Scala is widely considered a rare skill with a steep learning curve, so the demand for Scala developers significantly outweighs supply.
• Most Scala engineers are already employed and difficult to recruit, which creates intense competition among employers.
• Scala is also an expensive skill, as it is typically used in high-paying domains like fintech, telecommunications, and other sectors where data-intensive systems are core products.

As a result, businesses often assemble distributed teams, hiring offshore Scala developers from regions with lower market competition.

Why hire Scala developers through SysGears instead of using Toptal or hiring directly?

SysGears is a Scala software engineering partner that provides developers with Scala as their primary specialization and proficiency with Play Framework, Akka, Kafka, and Apache Spark. Staffing platforms like Toptal can fail to properly vet a rare skill set, such as Scala. Development marketplaces usually do not manage rotation, resulting in the lack of proper knowledge transfer when the specialist leaves. 

At SysGears, we nurture every Scala talent individually, refining their Scala skills and teaching delivery and communication best practices through tailored professional development programs. We have extensive experience working in distributed teams and collaborating with clients long-term. By hiring several developers through SysGears, you receive a well-established team that shares similar values and delivery practices, ensuring consistently high-quality outcomes.

How much does it cost to hire a Scala developer at SysGears?

At SysGears, we charge an hourly rate of $40-$55 per hour. So, the overall cost of our services depends on the time our engineer spends on your project, their experience, and role. For example, a full-time involvement of a senior Scala developer with over 10 years of experience building distributed systems and mastery of data processing technologies, such as Apache Spark, Akka, and Kafka, drives the price higher, but still keeps it within the mentioned range. In every case, we maintain regular communication and provide transparent reports, so you know exactly what you are paying for.

How quickly can I hire a Scala developer for my project?

Typically, it takes 2-4 weeks to fill the Scala skill gap, though the timeline may vary, depending on the developer’s availability and the specificity of your project requirements. To make the hiring process as quick and efficient as possible, we carefully review your needs and select the best-fitting engineers from our bench. You can hire the candidate based on their CV to save time or interview them before making a decision.

How do you vet your Scala developers?

All our Scala engineers undergo rigorous vetting before joining our team. Our selection and vetting practices include a test task for primary Scala skills assessment, an English check for evaluating the candidate’s written and spoken fluency, a recruiter interview for soft skills assessment, and a technical interview with a live coding session led by our Scala department head. After hiring, every Scala developer completes a 3-month trial period during which we ensure they consistently adhere not only to Scala development best practices but also to delivery and communication standards we’ve refined over the past 15 years on the market. 

Can your developer join an in-progress Scala project mid-sprint, or do you only do greenfield?

Our Scala developers can join your project at any stage, whether you assemble a team for a new product launch, seek temporary support for application scaling, or need a long-term partner for legacy software modernization and maintenance. We can work with you on either a part-time or  full-time basis, flexibly adapting our collaboration terms to your budget and evolving project needs. 

Who owns the code that your Scala developers produce?

You retain full ownership of the code produced by our Scala developers throughout their participation in your project. Before starting our collaboration, we sign a comprehensive service agreement with a clear IP rights assignment clause explicitly defining you or your company as the sole owner of the source code and all related deliverables.

How do your rates compare to a full-time US Scala hire?

Since SysGears is a Europe-based company, hiring our remote Scala developers costs less than hiring on-site in the United States. The average annual pay for a Scala developer in the USA is estimated at $141,000, with actual figures varying based on location, industry, and seniority. To hire senior Scala engineers in the USA, businesses must be ready to pay over $300,000/yr. To compare, hourly rates of Scala developers from SysGears range from $40 to $55, depending on the expert’s specialization, experience, and seniority. 

How do you ensure the quality and security of Scala code?

To ensure Scala code quality and security, we leverage the following practices and tools:

• Static linting tools like Scapegoat, Scalastyle, and Wartremover for flagging suspicious language usage in code; Scalafmt for maintaining a consistent code style.
• Scala Steward, sbt-dependency-updates for regular library and dependency updates; Github Dependabot for monitoring security issues (CVEs) across libraries used in the project.
• Gatling and Apache JMeter for load testing to identify architecture weaknesses and balance deployment configuration; ScalaCheck for automated property-based testing to test unexpected inputs and boundary conditions; Scoverage for measuring test coverage.
• Peer code reviews and AI reviews of pull requests.

Do your Scala developers work with Scala 3, or are they still on 2.13?

Yes, our Scala developers design, build, and maintain systems using Scala 3. Additionally, we have experience in gradually migrating codebases from older Scala versions to Scala 3, ensuring minimal or no disruptions to clients’ business operations and service delivery.