How to Hire Software Developers?

Digital transformation trends have significantly boosted the growth of software development services. Organizations are leveraging software solutions to improve their operational efficiency and generate more revenues. Many opt for COTS software whereas businesses with unique requirements hire a bespoke software development company that can deliver top-notch custom software applications. 

To develop and deliver top-notch digital products, you need talented and experienced software developers. But how do you hire them? Well, there are many aspects to consider, so let this blog post act as your guide to hiring software developers.

1. Qualities Of A Good Software Developer Candidates

Here are some key qualities that make a good software developer candidate.

1.1 Versatile Technical Skills

It’s obvious, software developers must have a knack for versatile technical skills. Good software developers must stay updated with the latest technology trends. They should be consistent in maintaining development speed while writing logical, clean, crisp, and high-quality codes. 

To stand out from the competition, you need to hire developers who have working experience in full-stack development. 

The software development process encompasses numerous layers including front-end, back-end, and database management. Therefore, hiring a team with good technical knowledge of full-stack can certainly give you an edge.

1.2 In-Depth Business Acumen

Technical skills alone won’t suffice for the software development team. Your developers must also have a good understanding of business processes. They are also expected to be proficient in the following: 

• Understanding of the client’s business and their targeted audience.
• Building a transparent communication network between both teams.
• Consistent idea generation and using it in the client’s business.
• Implementing end-user feedback.

1.3 Effective Time Management

Every business aims to save time and money in all the ways they can. Perhaps this is the primary reason why businesses tend to hire software developers with good experience. Therefore, businesses look for software developers capable of enhancing their productivity and profitability with speed and precision.

1.4 Learning & Adaptive Attitude of Software Engineers

This aspect holds another vital importance when it comes to hiring developers. Since the world is moving towards regular technological innovations, your business demands you to learn new technologies, programming languages, and skills that will lead you to become a modernized, skilled developer. Adopting a development methodology like Agile and DevOps in the custom software development process is also a very important factor.

1.5 Effective Soft Skills of Software Engineers

It is observed that most of the technical workforce in the software development industry lack good communication skills, which causes them to lag behind others. They may excel in technical skills but need to improve their soft skills. This skill is a rare and highly sought-after quality that businesses look for when hiring software developers.

2. How to Hire a Software Developer

Let’s discuss things that you need to take care of while hiring a software developer.

2.1 Analyze the Market

Analyzing macro market trends is the first step in finding suitable mobile & web developers for your firm. Your startup’s need for developers and the current demand for specific tech skills may both be gauged with a little bit of legwork.

Market trends analysis can help you figure out which technologies are in high demand. In response to an increase in demand, wages tend to rise as a result of increased competition for available applicants.

Reviewing recent studies is a good place to start when learning about the software engineer employment market. 

The rate of technological adoption is an important factor to consider when assessing the availability of talent. Seeing the popularity of technology might help you estimate how challenging it will be to find a qualified software engineer with experience in that field. With this information in hand, you can make smart recruiting decisions while reducing costs.

Find out the current salaries of software engineers to estimate how many people you can afford to recruit. It’s possible to discover qualified individuals at lower costs by exploring beyond the traditional employment centers. You may check out foreign job websites to understand the prevailing standards in that nation.

2.2 Create a Detailed Job Description

Before you hire, you have to prepare a detailed list of the work that you need to get done in this project. This list acts as a criterion for selecting the right candidate for your development team. To create a job description, you first have to list out the features you want in your software, the tech stack needed to build it, and the platforms where you will deploy it. 

Once you have finalized your project requirements, create a candidate profile that can help you fulfill all these needs. Explain why you are hiring and give a proper description of what kind of skills, knowledge, and experience are you looking for in your software developer. 

You need to include the necessary details but don’t create a misleading job description. It might distort the message and create confusion among the job seeker. Creating a perfectly detailed JD can help you attract suitable candidates for the job.  

As you are looking for the right developer, the candidates are also looking for the right company. So, in addition to sharing vacancies, you should also provide a few reasons why your company is great to work with.

2.3 Identify Your Candidate Requirements & Project Scope

Market research may cause you to reevaluate your expectations of a developer. Sometimes expenses exceed expectations. Or, maybe it’s more challenging than expected to find someone with the particular set of abilities you require.

It is the time to go back through your previous work and make necessary adjustments. Here is a comprehensive checklist of everything you need from the startup developers you hire:

• How much do you plan to spend on the next version of the site? And how much of that can be used to pay for new programmers?
• Can you elaborate on the specific abilities and/or technical understanding that will be necessary? In other words, what is your top priority? 
• What kind of monetary constraints are being met?
• Locating a competent programmer? Maybe you’re collaborating with someone in a certain geographical area.
• What incentives do you as a business owner plan to provide to the engineers you hire? 
• Where’s the benefit for them?

Software developers who are more interested in working with your software development firm might be attracted once you’ve determined your organization’s demands and how you would like your objectives satisfied.

2.4 Verify the Expertise

You need to conduct thorough research into the history of software developers or development firms that you want to hire. You must verify that they are capable of doing the work and possess the necessary experience.

You should read the feedback posted by previous customers of the software developers you are considering employing. Get a list of their completed projects from them. With this method, you can exclude applicants who lack the necessary abilities for your project.

Use the same criteria while searching for an IT outsourcing company. Go over the reviews left by former customers and, if at all feasible, contact some of them to get their input. Several details regarding the company’s standing may be gleaned from perusing its LinkedIn page.

It’s important to choose software developers with not only technical knowledge but also “soft skills,” such as good communication, collaboration, and the ability to think ahead. You and the developer’s ability to communicate effectively will be crucial to the project’s success. Make sure communication is easy and that everyone is on the same page.

The programmers need to be self-motivated and able to solve problems on their own. Potential employees should proactively provide comments and raise concerns without being asked to do so.

2.5 Conduct Interviews

You’ve already spent a lot of time and energy in advertising positions and screening resumes and portfolios of potential applicants. However, you should maintain your standards when conducting the interview. Here are some guidelines to follow to make the interview process smooth and successful for everyone involved.

1. Practice skill-based interviews

In a job interview, your time is of the essence. You need to be confident in your ability to make a hiring judgment based on the short minutes you spent with the prospect.

Seems challenging, but with good time management, it is certainly achievable. If a candidate has previously been subjected to a skills evaluation, further testing would be redundant. Analyze the outcomes, identify any flaws, and question the applicant about them.

2. Preserve the standard of distant interviews

The future of remote work is uncertain, but one thing is certain: it’s here to stay. It’s for this reason that an increasing number of businesses are turning to online chats & meetings instead of in-person interviews.

The difficulties of interviewing via the phone or the Internet are real. You can’t expect that applicants would ignore flaws just because it’s a casual medium. Our suggestions include keeping a level head at all times, keeping the applicants in the loop, avoiding last-minute cancellations, and checking that all equipment is in working order.

Check if the potential employee has the necessary equipment to operate remotely. Evaluate factors including remote work history, the availability of a dedicated work area, time management expertise, and the capacity for remote collaboration.

3. Avoid making irrational choices

Interviews can often lead to prejudice because of how informal they tend to be. You need to employ techniques to actively prevent prejudice as many individuals may not be conscious of their own internalized notions. To ensure that all applicants are given a fair evaluation, it is recommended to utilize a panel of interviewers rather than conducting individual interviews and to keep track of each candidate’s performance during the interview process.

4. Communicate as much as possible

You must tell all of the interviewees of your final decision, and explain the decision-making process as well as schedule to them.

Those who were not selected for an open position should not be ignored, as this would provide a negative view of your organization. Inform them of the outcome of the interview and provide your support and encouragement. A few encouraging words may do wonders.

2.6 Build Your Hiring Funnel

This section will teach you how to define your hiring funnel, as well as the fundamentals of a successful recruitment campaign.

A hiring funnel is a graphical representation of the steps that prospective employees go through to get hired. While the specifics of each company’s and each candidate’s funnel will vary, For instance:

1. Sourcing and selecting

When the position’s specifications have been finalized and advertised on job boards, a pool of qualified candidates may be narrowed down to a manageable shortlist.

2. Screening 

This preliminary evaluation takes place over the phone with the HR or recruiting expert and helps determine which candidates are the best fit for the position.

3. Interviewing

Human resources and a company specialist in the industry typically do this to learn more about a candidate’s character and technical skills. There might be a sample task involved, depending on the position.

4. Negotiating the deal

A candidate may reconsider the offered salary or benefits package, or you may opt to throw in some extras to close the deal.

After you have a sense of how long each step of the funnel is expected to take and the people who are responsible for making each step, you can fill in the details. The recruitment process should be clear to anyone on your team who reviews this funnel. The hiring process becomes more manageable when everyone is on the same page.

2.7 Onboarding and Integration

Now is the moment to have your new team of dedicated developers set up and ready to go. A reliable service provider can help you plan the new hire onboarding so that they can start contributing to the team right away.

Here are some steps you can do, especially if you’re working with a freelance development team rather than a software development firm, to make the operation go even more seamlessly.

• Communicating your expectations to new employees will help prevent confusion and miscommunication.
• Make sure your new devs have access to all of the resources they’ll need to do their jobs.
• Provide detailed instructions for the developers on how to establish a productive atmosphere.
• Arrange a meeting with the whole team to introduce the new full-time programmers to the in-house staff and go through their responsibilities for the project.
• Assist any new team members in understanding the project’s current standing. Make sure they have read the relevant materials and are aware of the objectives.

If anything has transpired since you recruited your new developers, make sure to revise their job descriptions. In addition to keeping everyone on the same page, this will also make your recruits feel more comfortable in their roles.

3. Challenges in Hiring Software Developers

To improve a business process, companies around the globe take advantage of outsourcing by partnering with companies that have expertise in software development. With the growing technological advancements, enterprises are required to hire good developers which allows them to launch cutting-edge apps. However, hiring the right set of resources is a tedious and cumbersome task.

As per the facts and research by Glassdoor’s HR and recruiting stats in 2019,  the average cost per hire was about $4000 and the cost per quality is expected to grow which will make it more challenging to hire talent.

There are innumerable obstacles that businesses face that restrict them from outsourcing. Further enlisted below are some of the business challenges in the process of managing and hiring of a software developer.

3.1 Limited Pool of Experienced Candidates

It is nothing new that companies from all domains and verticals know the fact that there is a lack of tech talent. However, there are millions of tech students graduating every year but still to match the talent force with the desired skill set is a challenging task.

The common reason that most of them face is a lack of relevant skills and experience that is required for their project. It is always a concern that you may find one type of skill set in a specific business but other skills may not match. Therefore, in this industry where there is a shortage of skilled resources and finding an ideal software developer for your business needs. Experience in Development methodologies like Agile and DevOps is very important. These standard development methodologies are very important to implement.

3.2 Excessive Hiring Cost of Tech Employees

As we discussed, recruiting the right set of resources is a herculean task. Hiring a specific set of resources as per the business-specific requires a significant investment of time, effort, and money. For an excellent match of qualities in software developers, the hiring cost runs out of budget for the company because they demand a higher salary package.In short, this process of hiring resources is not just boring and challenging but also exorbitantly priced. Thus, hiring a third-party software development company with all desired skills is an easier solution.

3.3 Lack of IT Education Background

“Practice makes a man perfect”- Unquestionably this goes true that there are umpteen employees who have started in an IT company and continue to grow there whilst learning things from the IT environment. Therefore one thing that is lacking in all of these ingrown employees is a lack of formal IT education, such as Software Engineering or computer science.

While not a concern for all businesses, some of them consider this an important aspect of hiring software engineers from a technical background.

3.4 High Salary Expectations

A survey from Stack Overflow suggests that the growth rate of wages for developers is expected to increase by 22.7% in India and 16.9% in Brazil.

This means that if you hire a consultant, a freelancer, or a software developer for your unique business needs, you might run out of budget due to the salaries they expect.” Cost-effectiveness” is one of the essential factors that makes outsourcing a viable choice for many businesses.

4. Things To Avoid When Hiring A Developer

Knowing what to seek in software developers is essential but knowing what to avoid is even more critical.

4.1 Don’t Only Look for Technical Skills

It is of course essential to recruit software developers with strong technical expertise, but you also need to focus on finding candidates with a good balance of soft skills. Problems could arise if you recruit an individual who is technology proficient but lacks the necessary soft skills to effectively contribute to a team effort.

4.2 A Lack of Proper Onboarding Procedures

Sending a newly recruited software developer into an ongoing sprint without any explanation can lead to a rocky start. While the scrum master or project manager may bear some responsibility, several points must be clarified at or soon after the last interview for a pleasant onboarding.

4.3 Do Not Under/Over-Hire

Overstaffing and resource waste are possible outcomes of employing an excessive number of software developers. However, projects might get behind schedule and demand can’t be met if not enough developers are hired. The amount of developers you’ll require should be very clear to you. Always prioritize quality over quantity in your hiring process.

4.4 Lack of Sufficient Screening Measures

It is possible to hire developers who aren’t a good fit for the position due to a lack of thorough screening. Make sure you include interviews and technical assessments as part of your comprehensive screening procedure.

4.5 Money Shouldn’t Be the Only Focus

Developers’ wage expectations might vary widely depending on factors like location and the nature of the work. Consider whether someone requesting five times the salary would actually perform five times better in such a scenario. As an alternative, consider if the candidate is qualified but requests a lesser wage than you had anticipated.

Before making a hiring decision, you must know exactly what kind of ROI you are hoping to achieve. Developers, like any other type of employee, have diverse needs and demands. However, salary is important, it should not be the sole factor in retaining excellent software developers.

5. Conclusion

Hopefully, with this blog, we have helped you understand the major factors influencing your decision to hire a software developer. In this blog, we explored all the factors playing a vital role in hiring software developers and their challenges, tips on how they should resolve these challenges, and cost factors. These are just approximate figures for pricing; it depends on the type of technology you want to use and the complexity of development.

Frequently Asked Questions

How Much Does It Cost to Hire a Software Developer Team?

Entry-level software developers charge about $20-40 per hour whereas experienced Software developers charge $50–75 per hour. Based on the geographical location, required skills, and experience, this amount can go up to $120 per hour as well. 

How Do I Find Good a Software Developer?

You can find software developers through various job platforms, developers’ community forums, conferences and meetups, outsourcing companies, staffing and recruitment agencies, and more. 

Where can I hire the best developer?

There are various platforms across the globe where you can find different types of developers for different requirements such as GitHub, Stack Overflow, Dice, Guru, Upstack, Gun.io, and many more.