5 WAYS TO FIND AND HIRE THE RIGHT APP DEVELOPER
Coming up with a great idea is hard, but what’s harder is finding the right team that can turn your idea into reality. There are around 23 million people working on web and mobile app development worldwide. If you pick one of them without much thought, your idea might not turn to that big success as you desire. In this article, you will find the step-by-step process of hiring the right developer.
No matter, whether you are planning to hire a freelancer, a mobile application development company or an offshore app developer, there are few general considerations to hire any of these resources.
1. Business Goals?
Before you start searching for developers, ask yourself a few questions.
What specific business challenge would you like to solve by hiring a business developer?
There are three common scenarios:
· You are looking forward to implementing technology that you never used before. For example, say that you want to rewrite a website in Python. You can wait until your developers learn Python or hire a dedicated developer from an offshore company.
· You already have an in-house team, but need more specialists. Depending upon the requirement of your project, you can hire an in-house professional, a developer or a freelancer through an outsourcing company.
· You want to develop a project from scratch. This scenario is common for both existing businesses and startups. Startup owners usually have budget constraints and thus opting to outsource a project is a reliable option for them. Existing businesses want to automate business processes and thus they can go for any one of the options i.e. hire a dedicated or in-house team.
In-house team or outsource development?
There is no denying the fact that business owners want to release a new app quickly and without investing much from their hard-earned money. And no doubt, the app should be of the highest quality. At this point, the question arises whether you should outsource the project or hire an in-house team.
Let’s have a look at both, the pros and cons of both options:
In-house team:
As the name suggests, the in-house team means hiring a group of developers that work with you in the same office. The in-house team provides you with the following advantages:
· They will be working in the same workplace with you, hence they will be possessing a deep understanding of your company, your product and your corporate culture.
· Easy communication and quick responses to your inquiries.
But this option also comes with a wide range of disadvantages, such as:
· You will be hiring full-time employees and thus you have to pay them a full-time salary, even if they have no tasks or take sick leaves.
· You need to take care of office supplies, workspaces, equipment and so on.
· Just by hiring an on-site team you can remain assured of effective work and quick response to your inquiries. So, if you want to meet the deadlines and get the project to be completed without any flaw, you will also be required to hire a manager. This is turn will increase your expenses.
Outsource development:
Earlier companies were skeptical about outsourcing, but nowadays it has become a common practice. While outsourcing, another company takes care of your development project and you don’t have to get involved in every step of the process.
Here are a few benefits of an outsourcing development project:
· When outsourcing, you can hire coders from any part of the world, which means access to more talent.
· You can quickly add or replace the team members, which will help you start your development quickly.
· You only till the time the developer is working on your project and there are no expenditures on things like office space and costly equipment.
· You can hire experienced developers, leading to product development as per your needs.
Lack of face to face communication is the major drawback of outsourcing. But this challenge can be easily overcome with tools like communication software like Slack, conferencing tools like Zoom and project tracking software like Jira.
You can also consider hiring ready-made dedicated team to automate the processes. Here is a guide to help you understand how to setup an offshore development centre.
Freelancer or company?
The answer to this question depends on whether you can want to manage the development process and the degree to which you can lead the project on your side. If you are looking forward to hire a freelance, then think twice, it is quite intimidating to manage people located thousands miles away.
Hiring a freelancer comes with various challenges, such as:
· Freelancers work on several projects simultaneously, so there is the risk that developer won’t meet deadlines.
· There are also chances that freelance developer can suddenly leave the project. After all, there is no CTO or manager involved.
On the contrary, with an app design agency, you get designers, QA specialists, developers, who deliver you, project management services. Hiring an agency come with benefits like established communication channels, methodology, streamlined control and quality control.
Another great advantage of making a deal with offshore web development company is they have already come across development challenges and know how to overcome them. Over the years, the different members of the team accumulate knowledge which evolves into development approaches, ready-made component and best practices. Unless and until, have a small task, we recommend hiring web development company over a freelancer.
1. Search for Potential IT Vendors:
You have defined your goals and made your mind to go for outsource development team. Now, come the question how you will find the developers?
Firstly, define the destination:
North America, India, the UK and Ukraine are the most popular outsourcing destinations. Let’s learn about them more.
North America is the house for approximately half of the IT specialists in the world. Headquarters of leading IT companies are located in the US, even if they have their R&D at different region of the world. Thus, United States could be one of the good choices for building your offshore development. However, it is important to note here that the building an offshore development team in the US can be bit heavy on your pocket.
India is one of the preferred choices for building offshore development team. Business in India is concentrated in so-called IT clusters, which also includes the
Silicon Valley of Bangalore. According to the recent stats by Evans Data Corporation, by the year 2023, India will be ahead of US by number of developers.
Countries like the UK and Ukraine also hold a good share of web developers. The only thing that keeps India above all the three countries is you can find highly enthusiastic and skilled developers in India at quite affordable cost.
Conduct Research:
Here is where you can find the right offshore development team for your business:
· Freelance Website:
These websites can prove resourceful if you are looking for a freelancer. However, they are less helpful when you are looking for an outsourcing company that provides full-cycle development. Upwork, People Per Hour and Guru are some of the reliable solution for finding web and mobile app developers.
· GitHub:
The best developer should not only be perfect in his designs, but should also be strong in coding. GitHub is a platform where you can check sample of source code put by various developers.
· B2B Directories:
B2B Directories generally contain lists of companies that are categorized by their ratings, specialization and location. Clutch.co and Goodfirms.co are some of the best platforms where you can find the finest app developer in country of your choice.
· Design Communities:
You can check design communities like Dribbble and Behance to find some of the creative and unique designs. These two communities are the best places to find the great designing team.
2. Make a list of candidates and analyse them:
After you have found a list of developers that can make your dream come, it is the time to carefully analyse them. There are several things to check while choosing app developer for your project:
Once you are done preparing the list of candidates, you should create a list of questions that will aid you in making a wise decision. Here is a list of some crucial questions that will help you find reliable developers:
· What feedback they have received from their client?
· What market segment they focus on?
· Do they have experience in creating apps for your niche?
· What are the technologies they work on?
· How will they ensure quality of development?
3. How will the development process run?
This question won’t arise if you hire one developer, however, if you need a team to develop your product, try to find a company that has a streamlined development process.
Here are a few things to consider while choosing a development team:
· The company’s SDLC:
SDLC or Software Development Lifecycle is a framework that defines tasks performed at each stage of the development process. Look for a company that has a clearly defined SDLC that adjusts to the clients’ needs and provide stability during app development.
· Project Management Framework:
Project management framework and methodologies is also crucial besides well-structured SDLC. The most famous frameworks and methodologies are Agile, Scrum, Waterfall and Rational Unified Process. The right choice of framework will define how quickly a team respond to changes, while still delivering product on time.
· Communication and transparency:
Communication and transparency, both are crucial, especially when you are opting for outsourcing. A good team should provide you with a kick-off meeting, demo presentations, call upon request and sprint reports. Many companies use project management like Jira, where you can constantly check the progress of your project.
4. What about the high load?
Your app may become so popular that thousands of people will be using it simultaneously. Ask your potential vendors how they will deal under circumstances of high load. A development company should thoughtfully clone the app server and pick the tech stack.
After you have carefully analyzed the list of developers, it is time to make a decision. Before jumping to the conclusion, it is advised to clear all the controversial questions with your potential developers. Get an answer for all your queries to define whether the company you are hiring can fulfill your business needs.
