Q1.Can they show 3+ live URLs to production sites they built in the last 18 months?
weight 3// DEV VETTING SCORECARD
ModernGrindTech
Score any dev before you sign.
20 yes/no questions across 5 categories: proof, process, ownership, communication, risk. Each weighted by hire consequence. Takes 5 minutes. Output: vetting score with specific follow-ups for every weak answer.
20 questions5 category scoresFollow-ups you can paste
// VETTING SCORE
0 / 100 · Answer questions below to score
0 of 20 answered
Proof
0
Process
0
Ownership
0
Communication
0
Risk
0
// PROOF
Can they prove they ship?
Q2.Can they point to a public GitHub / GitLab with commits from the last 60 days?
weight 2Q3.Have they shipped something in your exact industry or with your exact tech stack?
weight 2Q4.Will they share a client reference you can call, not just a written testimonial?
weight 2Q5.Can they show numbers from past projects (traffic, conversion lift, cost saved, uptime)?
weight 1// PROCESS
Do they have a repeatable system?
Q1.Do they define a written scope document before asking for a deposit?
weight 3Q2.Do they break the project into milestones with tangible deliverables?
weight 2Q3.Do they have a repeatable testing or QA process they can describe?
weight 2Q4.Do they write a discovery or kickoff summary that captures decisions in writing?
weight 1// OWNERSHIP
Will you actually own what you paid for?
Q1.Will code ownership transfer to you as each milestone is paid, not only on final payment?
weight 3Q2.Will they ship you a clean repo you (or any future dev) can take over?
weight 3Q3.Do they avoid proprietary platforms or closed frameworks that lock you to their services?
weight 2Q4.Do you get admin access to hosting, domain, analytics, and any third-party services?
weight 2// COMMUNICATION
Can you work with them?
Q1.Do they respond to emails in a consistent time window (not 2am one day, 3 days late the next)?
weight 2Q2.Do they ask sharp, specific questions about your business goals (not just feature lists)?
weight 2Q3.Will you work with the same person/people from kickoff to launch, not a contractor chain?
weight 3Q4.Do they push back when you propose something that won't work, instead of just nodding?
weight 2// RISK
What's your financial exposure?
Q1.Do they offer a warranty or bug-fix window after launch at no extra cost?
weight 2Q2.Are their fees a fixed price or well-bounded, not "hourly with no cap"?
weight 3Q3.Do they avoid "pay in full upfront" requests? Deposit should be ≤ 50%, balance on milestones.
weight 3// WHY THIS EXISTS
Bad hires cost more than bad contracts.
The worst dev engagements don't fail at the contract stage. They fail 6 weeks in, when the freelancer goes dark mid-sprint, the agency hands you a partial build in a framework no one else can touch, or every change request triples the quoted price.
The signals for those outcomes show up in discovery. No live portfolio links. Vague about their process. Won't share a GitHub or Git access plan. Dodges questions about code ownership. Every red flag here maps to a specific post-mortem from a real client MGT inherited after another dev went sideways.
If your candidate scores below 60, this isn't a hire risk; this is a future extraction project. Pair this with the Proposal Decoder once they send you a quote.
// ALREADY BURNED ONCE?
MGT takes inherited codebases.
If you're already in a bad engagement or recovering from one, MGT runs code audits and rescue migrations. Fixed price. No contractor handoff chain.