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The main component of any development team is the developers who will create software for you and your company. However, if you’re determined to start a project that includes software development, you may face some difficulties in finding specialists. After all, there are many factors and recommendations on what kind of specialists you should look for and how to do it right. Therefore, this article will tell you how to hire a software engineer and what features to pay attention to.
The hiring process
You may be surprised to learn that you don’t start looking for a team by inviting candidates for an interview. There are several stages that you need to go through before that. In general, to figure out how to hire software engineers and find excellent candidates for the team, you should follow this sequence of actions:
- Determine the scope of work and features of your project.
The fact is that the modern world of software, apps, and websites is incredibly vast. The software can be created in different programming languages, using different frameworks, and with the involvement of various third-party services. Moreover, the specialization of your business may require specific knowledge. For example, if you are engaged in trading, developers who have only worked with marketplaces are unlikely to suit you. There are a lot of nuances, and clarifying your understanding of what your project should be will help you find the right people for your team.
- Decide what kind of specialists you need.
When figuring out how to hire software developers, create a so-called profile of your potential employee. What technologies they should be proficient in, how many years of experience they should have, what kind of education they have completed, and so on. This will help you cut off resumes sent to you that do not fit specific parameters and save you a lot of time. However, it would help if you were careful here and did not rush to label all candidates who do not meet specific criteria. Experience has shown that some specialists with expertise in related fields can quickly adapt and be even more effective than people who are 100% compliant with your requirements. We recommend that you rely on your HR manager in this regard.
- Compare salaries on the market and the salary expectations of your candidates.
It will also be helpful to determine your budget per employee. The level of pay you can offer should be at least the average market offer in a similar segment. Otherwise, you risk either recruiting insufficiently qualified employees or simply not finding anyone. After all, people are primarily looking for a place that will bring them money.
- Do not make popular mistakes.
They include:
- Search for ideal candidates.
- Paying too much attention to the number of years of experience of candidates,
- Too much attention to the candidates’ education.
- Searching for candidates solely based on recommendations.
- Poor understanding and appeal to the motivations and desires of candidates.
Let’s put it this way: although people are primarily looking for a place to bring them money, only some people can stay in an area that offers nothing but money. You should see people as people first and only then as their profession. After all, for a team to work smoothly and efficiently, it must have a positive atmosphere. And this depends solely on the kind of people you hire. Such things as experience, education, and hard skills are not responsible for how comfortable others will be working with a person.
Once you’ve completed the above steps, you can directly interview candidates and search for specific applicants for a vacant position in your company. Depending on the scope of work, you will definitely need from 2 to 6 developers per project, as well as a team leader, designer, tester, project manager, and other specialists.
How to hire a qualified employee: tips
When figuring out how to hire developers for a startup, it’s easy to lose sight of life hacks and important little tips that will help you speed up the process and make it more efficient.
- Highlight the primary skills and outline the secondary ones.
Your requirements may include a list of skills a potential employee should have. However, if you look at this list more closely, you will realize that major and minor factors exist. We recommend that you give a chance to people with all the main factors in their resume but only some of the secondary factors. After all, if a person is selected based on soft skills and other indicators, you should give them a chance: you can improve your hard skills in a place or two, while some people can’t handle soft skills for the rest of their lives.
- Be flexible.
In fact, this factor is a corollary to the first one, but it is no less important. In fact, being flexible in your outlook and expectations is an indispensable asset for you as a business leader. When you’re looking for team candidates, if you like a person based on a basic set of requirements but don’t meet some of the ones on your list, don’t be afraid to be flexible and give them a chance.
- Give actual test tasks.
It is an excellent practice to make them pay for all candidates. The tasks to test the candidate’s skills should be part of your project because they will show how much of what is said in the resume is true and how well the skills of a particular candidate are suited to your project.
- Don’t be afraid to hire candidates from other countries.
Thank goodness remote work has become the norm over the past few years, so you don’t have to worry about it: a remote candidate will likely work on par with someone6 who works from your office. And hiring people from other countries will help you, firstly, save money – after all, candidates from countries like Eastern Europe are often not worse, but cheaper than candidates from the United States — and, secondly, broaden your horizons and change the angle of view on the problems of your project. Whatever they say, people from different countries have different ways of thinking, and this can be a winning factor for your project.
Who can you contact?
It can be challenging to consider all the factors and understand all the intricacies of hiring a programmer for a startup. But you don’t have to! Especially if you plan to create just one software product for a specific purpose and not turn into a product company with many proprietary software solutions.
We suggest you contact Magnise. Our developers have been working in the field for a long time and can solve problems of any complexity. You can always find examples of our work on our website.
Sign up for a consultation, and we can discuss the details of your project!
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