[LRUG] Hiring a pair rather than an individual contractor

[Tim Cowlishaw]

Inspired by Ali's 'Technical  Intern' job ad, I've got a few questions for
those of you who hire independent contract engineers!

Some context: I've thought a great deal about stsarting an initiative like
Ali's, whereby I take on a more junior engineer to pair with me on contract
work. Being a freelancer is an insane privilege, and I've thought it'd be a
great opportunity to both help train people starting out on a career in
software, as well as encouraging more people to work independently who
might not otherwise consider it, or have the opportunity to do so.

With that in mind, I'd be very interested to know, from those of you who
hire contractors, whether:

(1) You'd be open to the idea of hiring a mixed-ability pair in place of an
individual engineer? Would such an arrangement work within the structure of
your organization?
(2) You'd perceive this is an arrangement with potential productivity gains
(or just as a deadweight loss since the more experienced engineer would
spend some time coaching the less experienced one). What sort of multiplier
would you be prepared to attach to the cost of a single engineer for such
an arrangement?

Cheers,

Tim.
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