How to vet a freelance developer without a useless portfolio review

“Check the portfolio and read the reviews” does not tell you what to look at. These checks do.

Ask them to explain a decision, not a screenshot

“Walk me through a choice you made on a recent project and why” is a better prompt than “what have you built.” Someone who did the work can stay specific after the first sentence. Someone who was nearby cannot.

Give them a real slice of your problem

Skip the generic take-home test. Describe one piece of the actual project and ask how they would approach it. You will hear whether they notice your constraints. You will also hear if they jump to a rewrite you did not ask for.

Set the update cadence before you need it

Ask how you will know what happened this week. A specific answer — a note at each milestone, or a short log on hourly work — is usable. “I’ll keep you posted” is not. Put the answer in the agreement. Silence later is then a broken agreement, not a surprise.

Confirm the commercial model in writing

Hourly logs, fixed milestones, or a monthly block. Say which one, and what done means, before the first day. Most disputes we hear about from new clients are this misalignment, not a technical failure. The models are compared in hourly vs fixed vs milestone.

Ask what happens if something is wrong

A specific support window is a good answer. A vague promise of “full support” is not, because you cannot tell when it ends. Defensiveness is a signal to stop.

Do they ask you anything?

The strongest predictor in this list: informed questions about your problem. A rehearsed pitch that never turns around is a sales call. You wanted a scoping call.

References help less than people think. They are chosen by the person you are vetting. Weight a live follow-up question more than a written recommendation.

If you want to run this process on us, the contact page is the scoping call. Bring the awkward question.