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Software development is a thriving industry with a constant annual growth that has moved way beyond Silicon Valley. It’s now become a highly competitive industry, with companies routinely poaching developers from one another and offering ever greater perks to get the top talent available in the market.
Such a context, combined with the ever changing dynamic of the software development sector, makes it harder to find the right talent to fill particular positions. This is why a company should know the various ways available to hire software developers for long-term positions. That knowledge will let them get the talent they need to get ahead in the fierce software development world.
Here are some of the essential ways to find developers when building a team.
Consider Job Boards & Social Job Platforms
Job boards like Fiverr and Upwork are a good starting point to recruit talent on a project basis and through a bidding process. This can be useful for short-term work and quick projects that need a few freelancers to cover specific tasks or hard-to-fill positions for long-term work.
‘DevelopersforHire’ has a list available of a wide range of services and networks that offer developer services and contract work for companies to tap into. These services range from developers working for peanuts based on third-world countries to top-notch developers expecting good salaries and a flexible work schedule.
The various platforms available are constantly evolving with different matching methods for hirees and companies looking for talent. They usually take a cut from ongoing work, thus they have an incentive to find the right talent for the position being sought.
However, companies looking for long-term relationships should look beyond bid-based job boards. Platforms such as Dice or LinkedIn are far more qualified channels to find talented developers for long-term work. Companies using such channels need to post a job description to let experts apply to the position rather than sifting through individual bids.
The downside (if you can call it that) for this approach is that many developers will expect to be there for the long haul. This also means that they will expect to get the full package when it comes to benefits, sick leave and everything a full-time position consists of. That’s why this method is only recommended when building a team for several projects rather than looking for people for a specific project.
Don’t Rule Offshoring Development Work Out
If you are running a startup, you may not be in a position to hire too many long-term and in-house developers. This is where this third option comes in handy. Hiring offshore development companies or outsourcing labor can be done by contacting broker firms or even companies specializing in this form of talent. When resorting to them, it’s highly important to understand the different possibilities available.
For instance, developers may be located in a faraway country that speaks a different language, which can bring the costs down but that can come with communication and cultural barriers. This issue can be avoided by hiring teams in nearby countries because those barriers aren’t as steep as when working with developers in far-off regions of the world.
The benefits of using nearshore development companies are very noticeable, particularly for startups wanting to avoid spending on things such as office space, benefits packages and more. That doesn’t mean that larger companies and enterprises can’t benefit from nearshore or even offshore outsourcing teams, though.
In fact, they can use offshore developers to work on ongoing projects during their work schedules that may keep the company going even during the night time or when on-site developers are unavailable.
A good approach is to use remote and offshore developers at first for menial tasks or smaller projects until they get a feel of the company MO. Things like QA testing, debugging or working on the mobile or web app versions of the main software are a great way to start out with such developers. Then the company can ease them into greater projects that require more collaboration and ongoing meetings for them to tap into remotely.
Startup & SMBs Have Different Needs
The needs of a startup will generally be much different than that of established software development companies like that of small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs). As a company grows, it will tend to have more capital and reasons to hire long-term, in-house developers and will tend to rely less on telecommuters – whether offshore or local developers working offsite.
Startups, on the other hand, have to play a fine balance between having a core in-house team and some external collaborators. They will slowly build a team around this core group as they grow and form a new long-term relationship. In the meantime, they should rely on telecommute workers from local freelancers and offshore/nearshore developers for much of their business.
Using a wide range of practices from various job boards to IT outsource companies and even ads in the local paper can have great benefits for any company. This creates a dynamic and flexible workforce and a development team that is always learning and improving from colleagues.
In order to find the right talent and to fill the roles you want without too many hiccups, consider diversifying your talent pool and using various resources to find this talent.
Finally, keep in mind that sometimes finding the top talent may not be the same as the right talent for your needs. Being good to work with is a trait that is often hard to weed out in prospective developers, but worth finding it in the end.
