Ask HN: Trade-offs when hiring engineers. [Survey]

Curious how everyone makes trade-offs when hiring engineers. Please rank the following in decreasing likelihood/preference as to how you’d hire developers: 1. Hire developers as co-located employees (the “standard” way) – taking into account SV salaries and timelines 2. Hire developers as contractors on J1. They join you co-located but only for 18 months on a short term visa,with the risks that a % of people you want to keep cannot obtain the longer term visa; 3. Build your own remote/offshore team. Note they could be in vastly different time zones (eg. 8 hours away) 4. Managed service of a remote/offshore team as employees. Find a company to help source local developers which you ultimate interview/choose, office, HR and operations taken care of 5. Managed service of a remote/offshore team as contractors – you don’t bear employment risk / ramp up ramp down quicker but less control 6. No hire. Ie. Leave the position open until you find someone as a co-located employee (the “standard” way)