How do I hire an initial developer for an earnest undertaking?

Question

I am a novelist by trade, but I began a coding project at the outset of the pandemic. My failed stint as a student of physics included courses in programming. I had a good base to work from when I discovered I needed tasks with a shorter feedback loop than writing to occupy my time. The project consists primarily of tools meant to make explicit the implicit boon that reading is to writers, as well as facilitate the rehearsal and dramaturgy of plays, all by providing a group of contributors and collaborators another place to turn to regularly as part of their methodology. Although it began amateurishly, I was happy to find that my efforts, often fraught, but always enthralling, gradually produced a product that is truly useful and a code base that is mostly clear and concise. I have also been working on other programs that help make my publishing, e-commerce, and retail operation easier to manage. I also have a raspberry pi side project that I would like my hire to scale up.I am ready to hire a programmer, but I am at a loss as to how to do so. I think the project has potential, not great potential, but some potential, and I have capital to invest. I make use of GitHub, but I am inexpert in its intricacies. I am thinking about going to a nearby university and finding an undergraduate to hire. I suppose that I could hire foreign developers, but I would like to develop a relationship with a small team. It is important to me that the software is a creative enterprise and does not lose the esoteric motivation that is literature. Do I need a contract out of the gate? Could I begin a working relationship without too much formality, or is that a bad idea? How do I hire my first developer?

holonomically · Accepted Answer

One thing you could do is spell out what the new hire would be doing slightly more explicitly. Modern software engineering consists of feature stories and then 2 week sprints to implement those features completely or at least make enough progress and then regroup for the next 2 weeks as needed. This structure works pretty well for most businesses and is generally a good practice even when working on personal projects.
So if you could outline the goals for a few sprints then it would be easy to hire someone to work on the project because you'd have done the necessary legwork to allow someone to start productively working with your code in a structured and measurable way.
The other thing is outlining the "stack" which just means the set of tools you're using like programming language, databases, frameworks, libraries, etc. That will help any potential hire orient themselves in terms of how much they would need to learn to be able to contribute productively to the project.