In this exclusive interview with CanadianSME Small Business Magazine, Ishan Kanade, the founder of RubyOnRemote, shares his journey from building a personal project to creating a trusted platform connecting global Ruby developers with remote opportunities. Drawing from his extensive experience as a software engineer and his expertise in SaaS products, Ishan discusses the evolving landscape of remote hiring, the impact of AI on recruitment, and how Canadian SMBs can attract top tech talent. With a growing community of over 13,000 Rubyists, RubyOnRemote is helping businesses navigate the complexities of remote work by curating quality job postings and simplifying the hiring process. Ishan also shares valuable advice for small and medium-sized businesses aiming to build strong, remote-first tech teams in today’s fast-changing market.
Ishan Kanade is a seasoned software engineer with over ten years of experience building and scaling SaaS products using Ruby, Go, and modern cloud-native tools. Throughout his career, he’s worked across infrastructure, developer tools, and product engineering—giving him a clear view of how developers discover opportunities and how companies hire.
What inspired you to launch RubyOnRemote, and how has your platform evolved to meet the changing needs of Ruby developers and employers in a remote-first world?
RubyOnRemote began as a personal project. As a Ruby developer in 2018, I struggled to find remote jobs—they were scattered across platforms, and researching each company to see if it aligned with my goals took too much time. So, I built a tool to solve that problem: a curated site that lists remote Ruby jobs all in one place. Initially, there were very few remote jobs, but since the pandemic, more companies have adopted remote work and given employees the flexibility to choose how they work. This has led to a significant increase in job listings on the site, and the number of companies hiring remote Ruby developers has grown from hundreds to thousands.
Over time, the platform has evolved to support AI-driven job tagging and filtering to better match developers with the right roles.
With over 13,000 Rubyists subscribed, what unique challenges and opportunities have you observed in connecting global talent with remote job opportunities, especially for small and medium-sized businesses?
Hiring is a challenging domain. With the emergence of AI-powered auto-apply tools, recruiters often receive inbound applications that are irrelevant. Likewise, many recruiters now use AI to generate job descriptions that don’t accurately reflect the actual roles. We’ve seen frustration on both sides—developers are tired of ghost job listings, and recruiters struggle to filter through noise. The key opportunity with AI now is to help both sides make informed decisions by surfacing the right level of detail: skills, expectations, and alignment with goals.
At RubyOnRemote, we focus on surfacing only verified and active roles to build trust and save time for both parties.
How do you ensure the quality and relevance of job postings on RubyOnRemote, and what advice would you give to SMBs looking to attract top remote Ruby talent?
We use a two-step approach to ensure quality—each job posting goes through an AI review, followed by a human review. My wife and I both spend time curating the listings to ensure only relevant jobs are surfaced to developers. AI plays a big role in enriching jobs by tagging the right skills, locations, and salary information from the job description.
For SMBs looking to attract top remote Ruby talent—yes, I’d say post on RubyOnRemote! But seriously, building an authentic employer brand is essential. Candidates notice when employers take the time to craft thoughtful job descriptions rather than using templates. Passive candidates, in particular, are hard to reach, as they’re not actively looking.
A well-written, specific job post with clear salary and expectations goes a long way in attracting the right kind of attention.
The remote work landscape is rapidly evolving. What trends are you seeing in remote hiring for tech roles, and how should Canadian SMBs adapt to stay competitive?
Post-pandemic, the appetite for remote work has increased significantly. We saw a spike in candidate signups around 2020. This shift has made it harder for candidates to stand out and more challenging for businesses to review the large volume of quality applications.
On the tooling side, candidates are now using auto-apply tools that prefill application details from their resume and work history. Companies, in turn, are evolving their use of ATSs to include features like sourcing from social networks and automating outreach.
While large tech firms are pushing return-to-office policies, SMBs continue to show strong demand for remote workers—especially those based in the same timezone or country as their teams.
Canadian SMBs can stay competitive by offering flexibility, async-friendly processes, and targeting niche hiring channels.
Finally, what key piece of advice would you offer to small and medium-sized businesses aiming to build strong, remote-first tech teams in today’s market?
This advice has always been true, and it’s even more important in the age of AI: companies that provide a great candidate experience attract the best talent. That starts with job descriptions that are transparent about responsibilities, salary, and expectations. Sharing your hiring process helps candidates feel confident and better prepared.
Companies that have a 30-60-90 day plan for new hires tend to onboard talent more effectively and set them up for success. Recently I worked with a company called Kit, which is an email marketing platform for creators. They went above and beyond in their candidate experience and that has led to significant applicants going their way from RubyOnRemote.
Finally, advertise your job in niche communities and specialized job boards like RubyOnRemote. You’ll likely receive fewer applicants than you would on LinkedIn or Indeed—but those you do get will be much more aligned with the role, making the process smoother for both recruiters and candidates.
This results in higher signal, better conversations, and stronger long-term hires.
