# Why Gusto hired Evil Martians for Sidekiq infrastructure

DevFeed: [Why Gusto hired Evil Martians for Sidekiq infrastructure](<https://devfeed.tech/articles/why-gusto-hired-evil-martians-for-sidekiq-infrastructure-19795.md>)

Original publisher: [Read original article](<https://evilmartians.com/chronicles/why-gusto-hired-evil-martians-for-sidekiq-infrastructure>)

Author: Irina Nazarova (inazarova@evilmartians.com)

Published: 2026-09-02T00:00:00Z

Content type: article

Language: en

Sources: [Evil Martians](<https://devfeed.tech/sources/evil-martians.md>)

Topics: [Sidekiq](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/sidekiq.md>), [Rails](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/rails.md>), [Redis](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/redis.md>), [Ruby](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/ruby.md>)

Tags: [ai](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/ai.md>), [case-study](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/case-study.md>), [engineering](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/engineering.md>), [infrastructure](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/infrastructure.md>), [rails](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/rails.md>), [redis](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/redis.md>), [ruby](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/ruby.md>), [scale](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/scale.md>), [sidekiq](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/sidekiq.md>)

## AI overview

This case study examines why Gusto hired Evil Martians to work on the Sidekiq and Redis infrastructure supporting background jobs in its large Rails monolith. It discusses the operational demands of running payroll-related jobs at scale and the tradeoffs involved when a company uses consultants instead of waiting for a perfect hire.

## Source excerpt

Gusto runs payroll for 500,000+ businesses on one of the largest Rails monoliths anywhere. Why a team this strong hired Evil Martians for Sidekiq at scale, what running background jobs at that size actually takes, and when to stop waiting for the perfect hire.