How to hire the best software developers?

The first step always starts with you. You have to be aware of the software you are aiming to build. You should be well acquainted with its features and user flows. Once you know what software you want to develop, you need to know what kind of software developers you are looking to hire - Onshore developers, Offshore developers or Nearshore developers.

Once you know what category of a software company would best fit your requirements, you have to start the search. You can use either of the ways listed below :

[a] Word of mouth or recommendation
[b] Listing directories
[c] Searching on Google
[d] Freelancing sites

Every company has a different story. Initiate communication by talking about each other’s business and the story behind it. This will help you get to know the company and the person behind it better.

Ask them the software development approach they generally take so that you have an overview of how they operate.

Then start discussing your requirements with them. A good software firm will start providing feedbacks and recommendations from day one. They will ask questions and point out logical gaps in your application flow, if any.

Practical experience proves competence. Be careful here, it’s not important that the software vendor has solved a problem similar to yours or developed something exactly alike. What you have to evaluate is whether they have worked on projects with similar complexity as yours.

Also, their experience will help you evaluate their skillset and technical expertise. It’s good to hire a development team who has worked with different industry verticals and different components of various software. Also, experience in similar industry or components can help them understand issues and solve bugs quicker, in turn, reducing the development time.

Testimonials are the most credible source of feedback. Client references help you understand the company’s technical capability, communication, project management, bug solving, etc to form a more impartial outlook. All these assist you to form an idea about whether the company can consistently deliver what’s been promised on time and help you know what you can expect from this business.

Software development is an iterative process and if you don’t understand each other’s language fluently, you cannot have proper, healthy and lengthy discussions. Get yourself a development team that understands and can speak fluent English, but more importantly who can make sensible logical talk, not just empty promises or nodding their head to everything.

[1] Don’t place everything around money.

[2] Don’t hire someone who cannot express their thoughts properly in fluent English even if they are technically competent.

[3] Not carrying out proper research is dangerous.

[4] Not Clearly Stating Requirements is yet another mistake.

Four further read : How to hire software developers?