Why Hiring 5 Developers Is Harder Than Acquiring 5 Customers

It's often harder to hire five skilled developers than to get five new customers in the startup world, even though both are important for growth. But this isn't just a feeling; there are real structural, economic, and market forces that make it especially hard to build a great engineering team.

Let's break down why hiring developers is more difficult and give some important facts and figures to support it.

1. The Talent Shortage: A Demand–Supply Gap That Won’t Quit

Customers can be persuaded to buy something with the right offer or marketing campaign, but developers are a small group of people whose supply can't be easily expanded overnight.

• Almost 78% of tech leaders say it's hard to find qualified developers, and 74% of developers say it's hard to get a tech job. This shows that there is a structural mismatch in the market.

• More than 56% of recruiters around the world say that this imbalance makes it hard for them to find qualified developers.

Because of this shortage, companies often have to compete for the same small group of highly skilled engineers, which makes it take longer to hire people and makes it harder to put together even a small team of five developers.

2. Lengthy & Complex Hiring Process vs. Rapid Customer Acquisition

Getting one new customer, whether through a marketing funnel, a referral, or a sales call, can often be done in a few days or weeks and then done again on a larger scale. On the other hand, hiring developers usually takes a lot longer and involves a lot of moving parts.

• The average time it takes to hire a developer can be more than a month because there are multiple rounds of interviews, coding tests, and coordination between the technical and HR teams.

• In fact, good developers often get hired in less than ten days, while your company might still be doing final interviews by then.

Companies can use automated marketing, sales outreach, and conversion analytics to get more than one customer in the same amount of time it takes to fill one developer seat.

3. Harder to Evaluate Skills Than Sales Interest

Metrics like clicks, conversions, free-trial signups, and purchase intent give you real-time feedback on how well your product fits and how ready your customers are to buy it.

But when hiring developers, you need to look at both their real-world technical skills and how well they will fit in with the team. Unfortunately, current methods of doing this often don't work.

• Standard technical interviews and algorithm tests don't show what you really need to do on the job: 78% of developers say that tests don't match up with real work.

• 38% of candidates have trouble with automated resume screening, which means that good candidates can be missed just because the tools aren't smart enough.

A/B testing, landing page optimization, and analytics can quickly improve interest signals in customer acquisition. This is a process that can be repeated and measured. When hiring, subjective evaluation and unclear signals make it hard to scale and make every candidate interaction different.

4. Economic Competition Is Fierce — but Skewed for Talent

Customers can be won over by good prices and value propositions. On the other hand, developers often look at multiple job offers, the culture of the workplace, flexibility, the option to work from home, and pay all at once.

• Big tech companies are hiring again in a big way, raising salaries, benefits, and remote work options. This makes it harder for smaller companies to compete on pay or flexibility alone.

• Developers want more than just the highest pay. They want meaningful work, the ability to work from home or in a hybrid setting, and the latest technology.

Because of this competitive environment, you can't be sure that you'll be able to hire all five of the promising developer candidates you find. This is not the case when you convert five interested prospects into customers.

5. Customer Acquisition Has Benchmarks — Developer Hiring Doesn’t

Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC) is a well-known, measurable way to measure customer growth.

• For example, SaaS companies often have CAC benchmarks that range from $273 to $761 per customer, depending on the industry.

• CAC helps teams get the most out of their money, sales funnels, and ROI.

There isn't a universal way to measure how long it takes to hire developers, how good they are, or how efficient recruiters are across all industries. This is especially true since coding skills and team roles can be very different from one company to the next.

6. Developer Hiring Has Rigidity That Customer Acquisition Doesn’t

You can use automated flows to group customers, target them again, reward them (with free trials, freemiums, discounts, or demos), and care for them. The playbook is the same whether you want five users in India or Germany.

It's not easy to hire developers again:

• The tech stack you have will determine what skills you need.

• Cultural fit is important, especially for small groups.

• Even the best candidates can be thrown off by interviewer bias and a bad process design.

Every developer hire is like custom work made just for you, while customers can often be found through similar channels with campaigns that can be repeated.

7. The Cost of a Bad Developer Hire Is Much Higher

A bad customer acquisition means that a user leaves, which is disappointing but not as bad. Hiring a bad developer can cost you in a number of ways:

• Effect on the quality of the product, the morale of the team, and the deadlines.

• Replacing a developer can cost up to nine months' worth of salary, taking into account the time it takes to hire and train someone new.

• Bad hires can damage trust and slow down the flow of new hires in the future.

Because of the risk calculus in hiring developers, companies add more checks, interviews, and steps, which makes the process slower than getting new customers.

Conclusion — Why It Feels Harder (and Why It Often Is)

Hiring five developers is harder than acquiring five customers because:

✔️ There aren't many talented people available, and the competition is fierce.

Hiring cycles are slower and there is more uncertainty.

✔️ It's hard to objectively evaluate skills.

✔️ Automated systems make it easy to divide customers into groups and market to them, but hiring developers still requires a lot of human effort.

✔️ The economy is very competitive for developers, and it's often one-sided.

✔️ Benchmark metrics like CAC make it easier to predict how many customers will grow than hiring ROI.

In short, getting customers is a process that can be repeated, measured, and made bigger. Hiring developers is hard, subjective, and limited by supply. That's why even small engineering hires can be a big deal for many startups.

Frequently Asked Questions:

Why is it more difficult to hire developers than to acquire customers?

Hiring developers is harder because skilled developers are in limited supply, while customers can be reached at scale through marketing and sales channels. Developer hiring involves complex skill evaluation, cultural fit, competitive compensation, and longer hiring cycles, whereas customer acquisition is often automated, measurable, and repeatable through digital platforms.

How long does it usually take to hire a good developer?

On average, hiring a quality developer can take 4 to 8 weeks, depending on role complexity, tech stack, and interview process. In competitive markets, strong developers may accept offers within 10–15 days, which makes speed and efficiency critical for companies trying to secure top talent.

How can companies simplify and speed up hiring developers?

Companies can streamline developer hiring by:

• Partnering with vetted talent platforms like Workfall

• Using skill-based assessments aligned with real-world tasks

• Reducing unnecessary interview rounds

• Offering remote and flexible work options

• Maintaining a warm talent pipeline instead of hiring reactively
  

  These strategies help reduce time-to-hire while improving candidate quality.