If you hire the wrong developer for your business, it could be the worst thing that’s ever happened to it. You can watch them waste money from investors, delay projects, and make things that people don’t like because they don’t know enough about technology. Knowing how to hire remote developers is the key but there is a lot more that you ought to know. This blog intends to help you actually know if the developers you are about to hire are the right fit for your business.
How do you test the developers before hiring them?
Here is how you can hire developers best suited for your project.
Identify the must-have skillset
If you want to hire the best developers for your company, this may seem like the most obvious piece of advice. Physically detailing the specific talents needed to execute your project helps more than you may think it does.
Make two lists: one of “must-haves,” which are the absolute necessities for any potential applicant, and another one of “like-haves,” which are desirable qualities. No one is perfect, but the must-haves can be discussed during the initial conversation to eliminate individuals who aren’t going to be the best fit for the position.
Keep in mind that the more selective you are, the more time it is going to take you to find what you’re looking for. Nevertheless, using your list will help you determine whether or not the wait was worthwhile.
Check out the developer’s expertise
Here are a few ways to check the developer’s expertise.
Check their work portfolio
Portfolios help with hiring because they show how much a candidate has grown, what their career goals are, and what skills they want to learn. It is also a way to see how well a candidate can explain and present their projects. Looking at a candidate’s portfolio helps you come up with practical questions to ask during the hiring process.
GitHub account
Businesses can use GitHub to find out about a candidate’s reputation by looking at the
- Number of people who follow them
- Their level of experience
- Their technical skills by checking their ongoing and/or finished projects
- Their level of commitment by looking at the public activity on the site
Check how active they are on stack overflow
Stack Overflow is a site where people can ask questions and get answers about anything to do with computer programming. This collaborative platform is used a lot by developers because it has a lot of information about how to solve different programming problems. Stack Overflow is a great way for businesses to find out how much a candidate knows, how involved they are in the development community, and what their reputation is like.
It’s important to keep in mind that reputation on stack overflow is more accurate because it comes from peers.
Assign coding tests
A coding test is a useful approach to check out coders before hiring them. It’s the most effective strategy for recruiting talented programmers from a company. You can get a rapid indication of a candidate’s technical ability by having them code while working on real-world difficulties they could experience in a company.
Using automated web platforms, technical managers and HR managers can create programming tests to gauge a candidate’s proficiency. When the exam is finished, a report is generated so that you may examine it, make comparisons, and select the best candidates.
The time and money spent on technical interviews can be saved by using programming tests instead. By providing developers with a platform to showcase their abilities in a setting conducive to technology, they also enhance the applicant’s experience.
Conduct a live coding interview
In order to better evaluate developers, why not have them perform live coding? These sessions give businesses hiring them a real-time look at how a candidate does on their own, armed solely with their programming expertise. They also put them through a rigorous test of their ability to work with others in a group setting (in the case of collective interviews).
Live programming tests, or code tests for interviews, are a fantastic opportunity to demonstrate expertise and gain insight into a candidate’s true potential. The companies may see how well the developer codes, uses logic and articulates their thought processes.
Live coding is typically conducted through a screen-sharing application used as an online interview too. Remote developers are typically given instructions and watched as they carry them out under close observation. The point of the activity isn’t to give a perfect response to the question as quickly as possible but rather to view the whole thing as a form of fruitful conversation.
The interviewer may be curious as to the kinds of questions the candidate will ask to clarify the situation before deciding how best to proceed with a solution. They might also value knowing if the candidate runs into any roadblocks along the way.
The point of a programming interview test is not to create (or to analyze) a flawlessly organized and well-structured program. Indeed, the essence of live coding is to facilitate mutual comprehension in a fluid, conversational atmosphere.
Assess the soft skills
The following are the desirable soft skills in skilled developers.
Good communication skills
Candidates should be able to actively listen to managers during one-on-ones in order to acquire new technical skills on an ongoing basis; this is an essential part of effective communication.
Nonverbal cue recognition ability is another crucial quality to search for in potential developers. To prevent compromising future work or making mistakes, even software professionals working remotely will need to join video conferences to resolve issues with testing colleagues.
Cooperative sensitivity
Candidates that are open-minded demonstrate this quality when they demonstrate the ability to understand how another team member views a difficult problem.
When hiring, seek applicants who demonstrate emotional intelligence by showing they understand and can accommodate the needs of customers.
Analytical and deductive reasoning
In order to demonstrate critical thinking skills, candidates should weigh the benefits and drawbacks of each solution. It’s crucial that they know this since they may not be able to move forward with certain decisions or alter their strategy in the middle of the process without considering how it would influence the team as a whole.
Ability to think on one’s feet and improvise competently
The ability to think on one’s feet under pressure is also essential in this sector, as they are the foundation of finding novel solutions to difficult challenges and developing groundbreaking new approaches. Data structure design, backend service design, and user interface design are all areas that call for original thought and execution.
You can discover more about a candidate’s ability to think outside the box by having them answer questions designed specifically for them as part of a battery of tests.
Leading online aptitude test sites use both video and essay questions tailored to the individual. Send them out, then evaluate the applicants’ answers to see if they fit in with your company’s culture.
The value of working together
Candidates for the role of a developer will interact with a wide variety of people, including testers, designers, engineering managers, clients, and more. The ideal candidate will use and demonstrate a range of skills that will facilitate their team’s work together.
Time management
Prospective developers need to be punctual in terms of delivering work on deadlines. You won’t know for sure until you start working with a mobile developer, website developers, or software engineer if they will meet your deadlines, but you can get a sense of it.
Discuss meeting deadlines and what steps potential software engineers would take if they found themselves slipping behind. What method would they use to notify management? Understand that being behind schedule is inevitable in some cases, but how a developer responds to the situation is key.
Conclusion
Before hiring remote developers, always vet them thoroughly. Your developers are an important cog in the development cycle and high quality developers will lead to a high quality output so hire the best developers based on your requirements. You shouldn’t trust the development of your product to those who lack the necessary abilities. The tactics we discussed in this blog can help you verify if the dedicated developers supplied by an outsourcing firm are as competent as they claim to be.
