The project’s success depends on the expert team. Hiring proficient developers is significant and challenging, especially for people in business without a proper technical background.
This article will describe hiring options and help you to find the most suitable one for your project.
Preparation steps
First, you should set objectives for your future product before hiring the developers. So you have to describe the required features and analyze the market.
Research
Start your project by detecting your target audience, competitors, consider all the potential issues. Explore the ideas of your rivals and analyze whether your project is original and competitive enough. A product without outstanding, distinctive features will not attract customers. So you should think of how to make your product stand out from the crowd. What is more, you should indicate key functions to understand which solutions are required and which developer’s profile is essential for your project.
Platform
Detailed target audience studying will define the relevant platform. It’s important to mention that the development for both iOS and Android will raise the cost. Statista’s research shows a wide range of different programming tools and languages, suitable for a specific platform. To illustrate, iOS developers mainly use Swift and Objective-C, while app development for Android requires the usage of Korlin or Java. HTML, CSS, JavaScript are indispensable parts of the front-end development, Node.js or C# are used for back-end development, and MySQL for databases. Moreover, developers are required to work with diverse frameworks and Software Development kits (SDKs).
Take a look at the table above with platforms and programming languages they require:
List of features
The development is impossible without the feature list based on the requirement analysis. It will define the solutions stack and the specifics of the final product. Avoid being laconic; the more description of your project you provide, the better. This way, business analysts will clearly understand which results you would like to receive. If you decide to hire a freelance in-house team, you’ll take over fulfilling the duties of business analysts.
You may write two lists of features by priority:
- Initial features (MVP)
- Features for more complex software
Minimum Viable Product development is a helpful way to test an application’s fundamental concept. Its functionality may vary depending on the application’s theme. Extra features may be implemented after developing the MVP.
UX/UI Design
The beginning stage of the app development pipeline is a mockup made by designers. It allows checking the future interface and arrangement of all its elements. Ordinarily, UX/UI designers from outsourcing companies wait for your acceptance of the prototype before the main tasks. They select design patterns, matching the requirements, and create a user-friendly aesthetic design.
Where to Hire Programmers?
There are three main hiring options:
- 1. Freelance developers
- 2. In-house developers
- 3. Outsourcing companies
Freelancers
Freelancers are helpful for software updates, fixing bugs, software testing, diverse API integration, etc.
However, the team, consisting only of freelancers, may fail due to the absence of organization and mutual target. You’ll have to manage the project development yourself or hire a freelance project manager. Searching for a trustworthy freelancer is time-consuming and difficult. You may get an app full of bugs or not receive it at all after sending the prepayment.
If you’ve decided to search for freelancer programmers, you may use such resources as Upwork or YouTeam:
The lower table indicates freelance hourly rate in the USA by working area:
In-house team
Huge companies often use this type of teams due to their well-maintained communication, easy management, and efficient development and support of projects.
Nevertheless, the price for hiring the team from the US/ Western Europe goes through the ceiling, comparing to the other options, and it’s the main disadvantage of such teams.
Here’s the annual income of the US developers:
- UI/UX designers: $85,300
- Core team developers $80,000
The cost may differ due to the expertise and location:
- Californian senior programmer: $150,000
- QA developer (the US): $71,000
Please note that extra expenses, such as office rent, software license, and hardware purchase, may significantly add up to the cost of the project.
Outsourcing companies
This is the golden mean between previous options. The benefit of outsourcing companies is that you entrust the project to a third-party abroad company, with minimal risks and beneficial value for money. Companies from Ukraine, Poland, or Czech will build your product, while the project manager will update you about the progress. According to Fortunly, 78% of businesses fully enjoyed the cooperation experience with outsourcing companies.
Furthermore, outsourcing companies already have faithful developers, so you don’t have to conduct any interviews.
Here’s an average cost in various regions:
Yet, lower rates don’t indicate poor quality. You may look up reviews of previous customers to select the best outsourcing company.
There are the resources that will help you with this:
Choosing the best option
The most advantageous option depends on the complexity of your project. If your goal is regularly updating your application, outsourcing companies will be more suitable for you. In case your project is modest, and you have particular estimated expenses, you should appeal to freelancers.
We’ve made a special table to compare hiring options:
How to Interview Developers for Hire?
The ultimate way to choose developers and clarify candidates’ hard and soft skills is to conduct the interview.
Let’s find out how to indicate their proficiency level and a psychological pattern. There’s a small guide for you to interview a candidate:
- Soft skills: represent the worker’s character traits and behavior
- Hard skills: determine the expertise level and experience in the programming area
Soft skills defining
We’ve prepared some questions for you to find competent and ambitious programmers:
- 1. How do you motivate yourself while fulfilling tedious tasks?
- 2. How to maintain your performance level while working under pressure?
- 3. How do you keep focused on the task?
- 4. How do you manage your time at work?
- 5. How do you establish relations with teammates?
These questions are suitable for gathering the in-house team. To choose the freelancer, you should select him by the reviews on his page.
Hard skills defining
To indicate a candidate’s hard skills you may need an assistance of a professional. It may be a senior developer or even CTO. The specialist may check hard skills to estimate worker’s proficiency in one or more directions:
- Node.js
- JavaScript
- Angular
- Flutter
- Languages for iOS and Android development
- Other technologies required to develop software’s front-end and back-end.
There are some hints for you to assess the candidate without CTO:
Ask people with relevant technical expertise to help
If you can’t cope with the technical proficiency estimation, you may search for a computer literate expert on a third-party resource for a paid assistance or ask your knowledgeable acquaintances.
Ask the developer about his favorite task
His answer will reveal the engagement and motivation of the person. You may also check the latest repositories on the programmer’s GitHub account.
We’ve listed the main points which will help you to choose the developers for your project.
But please note, that the only warranty for choosing the right option is reliable technical expertise. So in order to find the most highly qualified and competent specialists, you should appeal to a certified outsourcing software development company. It will become your trustworthy solid partner and take over all your concerns regarding the project.
