Do you want to hire a software developer? But don’t know how to hire the right developer? If yes, this blog has all your answers.
Technological advancements are at its peak where software development is the need of the hour for the modern industries, due to which top IT companies are looking for software developers to form their in-house team.
But this task of hiring software developers comes with its own set of challenges. You need to consider many factors before employing a software developer in your organisation. That’s why many business folks are worried about making the right choice for software developers. It’s a complicated recruitment process but can be made simple with some easy points.
According to the software developer survey, it’s found that there were around 26,4 million software developers in the world where it’s tough to select the appropriate one for your organization.
“The best programmers are up to 28 times better than the worst programmers.” — Robert. L. Glass
Best developers are rare, and their productivity is three times better than the average developers plus ten times good then a wrong developer. For hiring the best software developer, you need to consider points.
So, let’s take a look at these points:
1. Positive Attitude
A good developer always cares about your company’s success. They always have a positive attitude and are ready to go on a distance to get the task done and bring something new every day. But make sure you are not exhausting your developers with frequent strict deadlines; sometimes, crunch time is unavoidable.
When you have to launch a new product in the market or need to deliver a particular feature within a limited timeframe, the best developer will take the responsibility and get it done on time because they value your client commitments and care about your project.
Great developers never his/her ego get in the way of constructive criticism. The best way to instil a positive attitude is to provide them with interesting projects to work on, ownership, and praise their excellent work.
How To Test This Skill
Interview these some significant and straightforward questions
- Tell me about something where you found it challenging to work in the past.
- Please share with me your experience where you had a hard time meeting the deadline.
- What you loved most in your last job?
2. Supreme Communication Skills
Good communication skills are an essential requirement, mainly when your company deals with global clients. A good developer should communicate well, understand problems clearly, break them down into hypotheses, and suggest solutions consistently.
Including this, he/she should understand concepts quickly, ask the right questions to help make them clear, and don’t need to have everything written down in a specifications document. Good offshore developers generally speak multiple languages coherently and are very comfortable with English specifically.
In the technology age, English is the de facto language of full documentation and developer interactions.
How To Test This Skill
- Arrange a scrum meeting and see how they are interacting.
- Give them a situation/problem and check how they are communicating.
- Ask them to provide a time estimate for building a project and see how they are questioning to decide a deadline.
3. Quick Learning Ability
Best software developers are generally self-learners. They are capable of teaching themselves and learn new trends & technologies quickly. Sometimes they do it due to their interest in enhancing their knowledge. They can process information and make contacts on the fly.
Every engineer faces a situation where they don’t have the answer; great programmers see many resources, talk to the right people, and find the solution no matter what.
The best skill anyone can have is self-learning, and great programmers are experts in this skill.
How To Test This Skill
- Tell me something that you have recently learned?
- If you want to teach yourself a new programming language, how will you do this?
- What concept in your “field” do you find challenging to understand? How have you tried to overcome that problem?
4. A Good Team Player
Another best quality that a good developer should possess is helping their team, and developers get better. They should help teammates when they are stuck in something, teach new skills, and write documentation for a better understanding as a whole. Also, they are capable of handling team conflicts gracefully when it rises.
How To Test This Skill
- Check what experience the candidate has for mentoring the team, whether it would be formal or informal.
- Ask what they prefer working independently or in a team.
- While following up with the candidate references, inquire whether he/she was well-liked by the teammates or had challenging experience sometimes during work.
5. Big-Picture Focus
A great software programmer doesn’t merely work for the sake of completing the task completion assigned to them. Instead, they try to add a more profound impact on the task and user experience as a whole. They strive hard to give it a high value and ready to speak up when a change request comprises some other use-case or aspect of that software.
How To Test This Skill
- Ask some questions about responsive design, localization, accessibility, and other areas often ignored by developers attempting to move too quickly.
- Also, ask questions about UX design, even if you are not employing for a design-centric role, to check their knowledge.
6. Deep & Broad Technical Experience
Great developers have worked with many technologies; they are capable enough to become experts and competent with other things. Of course, finding a software developer who has worked on a
a similar product niche to yours or using the same technologies is hugely beneficial. Successful programmers will follow coding standards and write code that is understandable and commented on to pass on to someone else quickly.
By uniting their cognitive abilities and different industry experience, they can arrive at optimal solutions rapidly. An experienced programmer is well versed in best practices such as agile development and task management software like Jira and Trello. They also have mastered version control, complex development environments, plus deploy applications – so ask questions along these lines.
How To Test This Skill
- Ask them to share their previous work references, such as code samples or screenshots of several enhancements. Also, ask if they have a GitHub profile or portfolio website and that he/she can share.
- Take their technical interview, such as an interactive coding challenge or conduct a whiteboard. Many companies give a 1-hour interactive coding task to test their real-world skills using appropriate technologies rather than academic knowledge.
- Ask for the references and talk to the entrepreneurs or CTOs with whom they have worked earlier. It will give you the right idea of their technical skills and other intangible qualities.
7. Good Time & Task Management
A good developer is highly competent. They have a great work ethic and show up at meetings on time. Task management and meeting deadlines is an essential skill that every company needs. Skilled developers are good at handling their clients or leaders where your involvement doesn’t require.
How To Test This Skill
All you can do best for this is to take their technical rounds and check their previous works. The best will be done here is that cross-check it with their last company or clients.
Other Things That You Should Consider
Overrated Expertise:
No doubt that expertise is essential, but it’s not a single factor you should consider while hiring technical talent. Hiring someone with the above skills, such as quick learning ability, positive attitude, or anything else, is much better. As tech stacks become more specialized and complex, it’s essential to keep in mind that a developer with a proven track record can alter their skills to something they haven’t used earlier.
Remote Working:
If you want to hire a shopify developer in India to work remotely for your ecommerce site, then communication skills and team fit become even more vital. Modern collaboration tools have facilitated the rise of remote-first organizations, daily check-ins, and quick chats to aid the team communication process. At the same time, these advancements and habits get lost in the office environment.
The importance of these qualities differs based on company size:
Big or established companies generally look for specific skill sets because they employ developers for a more defined and static position. However, problem-solving, learning new technologies, wearing many hats, and working in small teams become more critical startups. Always remember your context and business needs while hiring any developer for your organisation.
Wrapping Up!
Finding the right talent for your organisation is a bit of a critical task. You have to contemplate many factors while making the right choice. But if you consider the above points, then it remains no tougher.
The points that I have discussed above are based on my experience in this digital world. You don’t have to hire experts or fresher; all you have to do is choose the right talent to take your organisation to great heights.
Many software development companies in India hire software developers according to these factors. It really helps them in making the right choice.
