Over the past several years I've been running a reasonably successful online game as a two-man venture: I program the systems, he manages the volunteers among the community who provide artwork and community moderation.
Lately I've been having some issues with server admin stuff. I know just enough bash to get myself in big trouble, so I've been paying for managed hosting. Most of the time things go very well, but sometimes... well let's not go into that. I'm patient with them though, because I used to work with them and have a very good relationship with the hosting company, including significant discounts.
Anyway I'm considering looking into hiring a sysadmin to handle the server (singular, most likely plural by the time s/he's done XD) however I'm concerned that trying to hire a full-time one would face some issues:
We work from home, we have no office, so it'd probably be full-time remote. Not sure if that's an issue or not but just putting it out there.
I have never hired anyone before and it's quite intimidating. That one's more on me.
Considering how rarely I actually contact my current managed hosting sysadmins, I'm afraid that most of the time would end up being twiddling thumbs until something goes wrong. But, when something does go wrong, a quick response is essential.
Just... where do I start?
I'm seriously intimidated by all this, but I'm reasonably certain this is the correct path. Especially because so far all our growth has been organic and I'm going to need help with scaling when the time comes to actually advertise a little.
Is it reasonable to try and find someone on a contract-basis? Would that be more of a consultant role? Or should I be looking into something more like part- or full-time, even if I'm unsure there will actually be work to do all the time?