As a startup owner, you want to find and hire the best app developers. Not only a final cost but also a high quality of development process and time of execution are vitally important. Coders should be able to solve multiple tasks and be engaged in various areas. Clean code is a must. Sometimes finding a mobile development team becomes a real headache.
The process of hiring app developers depends on some factors. First, it’s your budget. Hourly rate of a programmer differs according to location, tech skills, experience, personal qualities which fit your business area, etc. Secondly, the type and complexity of the app. Will it be a mobile app, a web-based or a desktop platform? Pay attention to the features that need to be implemented. The third factor is the design of an app.
In this article, you’ll read the key tips on how to find and hire the best minds to develop a stable and reliable, profitable and long-term product.
Best countries to look for an app developer
You can think that the best solution is to look for coders which are located near your current office or live in the same country as you do. Or maybe you want to found your own company with all required staff. It may seem to you that it’s safer and cost-effectively. But it’s not always so.
These solutions have both advantages and disadvantages. Face-to-face communication without language barriers, constant and full control over the processes, the same time zone, a similarity of mentality and traditions. All this is undoubtedly a plus.
But at the same time with a local company, you’re limited to the coders’ technical skills and tech stack. Moreover, if you live in the area with high hourly rates, development cost may prove to be unbearable.
Keep in mind that if you found an in-house development company, you need to equip the office with all required tools for programming, development, and design. Moreover, you must pay taxes, salaries, sick days, leave, courses regardless of the developer’s engagement in the project at the moment. As a result, it can cost you a fortune.
Great app developers and development companies are available worldwide. They provide outsourcing services and can offer a high quality of work at a cheaper price. Be sure in the full and constant process control. You can scale a team according to the current project stage—add or reduce the number of employees. Professional outsourcing team provides round-the-clock communication mainly without language barriers. Moreover, you aren’t limited to the coders’ technical skills and tech stack—they constantly improve their technical background and follow the latest trends.
The main search filter is location. For example, the USA and Canada provide their services for 50 – 250 USD per hour. Australia will cost 50 – 150 per hour. Western Europe and the UK are available for 35 – 170 USD per hour. Eastern Europe provides its services for 20 – 150 USD per hour. India will charge 10 – 80 USD per hour.
As you see, the USA and Canada have the most expensive rates. The cheapest coders are located in India. The best price/quality ratio in Eastern Europe. By the way, we’re here! Local developers offer rates several times cheaper, but you can be sure of high quality. And they are in no way inferior to the Americans and Canadians.
Need proof? Read our article in which we compared hourly rates of development teams worldwide. We also compared the approximate prices for some popular apps like Uber and Kayak as if they were developed in different countries.
And in another article, we compared the pros and cons of hiring local, outsourcing, or in-house team. Follow this link for more information.
What information should be checked
It’s obvious that a development team should be also a technical partner you can count on. Before signing a contract, make sure that a company has an excellent reputation. Professional coders must provide reasonable estimation which is a guarantee of high quality, responsible attitude to the process, and faster app release. Accurate estimation protects your budget. Transparent development process allows having full and constant access to all daily processes. Highly respected teams care about trusting relationships.
Check out the information on previous and current projects. Look through different social media accounts—Facebook, Google+, Twitter, or Instagram. LinkedIn will help you to find and establish business contacts.
Such freelance platforms as Upwork, People Per Hour, Guru, etc. are widely used among developers.
It’s worth checking coding platforms. GitHub is a must for developers to create accounts on and commit codes.
If your product needs design, then design portfolio can be found at Behance, Dribbble, etc.
Don’t forget about Kaggle. You can host a competition and offer engineers to perform specific tasks connected with data science. By the results of the competition, you can choose the most suitable candidates and hire them.
SlideShare is also appropriate to find employees. Coders publish their presentations on this platform. To find the most skilled specialists, select technologies you’re interested in. Then choose top-rated presentations. The authors of these presentations are those you need
Personal blogs on specific topics will also allow knowing a candidate better. Such platforms as Stack Overflow, Quora, and Medium are popular among developers. Personal websites can contain useful information too.
Honest feedback is a must. It shows more than an ordinary portfolio. Such platforms as Clutch and GoodFirms provide real, comprehensive, and transparent information. The reason is that to leave feedback at GoodFirms, you need to login via LinkedIn. Clutch, in its turn, interviews customers itself.
Based on clients’ reviews and other various criteria Clutch, GoodFirms, and other respectful sources like ThinkMobiles or YouTeam provide lists of the top development companies in the most demanding IT spheres.
Pay attention also whether your candidates participate in various conferences, meetups, hackathons, and attending specific courses. A brilliant creator must constantly improve his or her tech background, skills, and qualities.
X-Ray search is last but not least. This tool allows you to search for specific information on certain websites by setting parameters via traditional Google search.
Freelancer VS Company
Hiring individual freelancers or an outsourcing company is a critical issue when searching for candidates. Let’s take a closer look at the pros and cons of each staff type.
How to make a list of candidates
A list of candidates should have information about:
- Contact information, links to personal or business accounts
- Location
- Hourly rate
- Experience
- Tech Stack
- Previous and current projects
- Professional activity and participation in different tech events
- Honest feedback from previous employers, partners, and customers
If you hire the app development team, determine who it consists of. Perfect staff should contain:
- Project manager. This person is of great importance as he or she manage your project from A to Z, and coordinate it across the team members.
- UI/UX designers. Designers collaborate with PMs and technical staff to gather and evaluate all the tasks. They draw graphics and provide services to design user interfaces.
- Developers. Coders provide the best solutions and the most suitable technologies for your project.
- QA engineers. These guys eliminate bugs for smooth app work.
- DevOps engineers. These specialists ensure the efficiency of the software delivery process.
After making a list, contact those ones you can trust in a convenient way and hold an interview.
What questions to ask
To avoid conflicts during the development process and make it successful, you need to carefully prepare for the conversation and know in advance what questions to ask. Gather as much information as possible during the interview.
Portfolio
Ask to show you the portfolio with the examples of the apps a candidate has developed. They should be available in the App Store or Google Play Market. Ask what projects were the most interesting for developers and why, and what they didn’t like. What role they played in previous projects.
Whether it’s important for a developer to join the product development from scratch, or at some specific stage.
Experience and skills
Experience is a key factor in hiring developers. Juniors have less than 2 years of experience. Middles’ work experience is from 2 to 5 years. Seniors are engaged in IT-industry for more than 5 years. Pay attention to the products that they have built. The more complex and diverse projects, the better. It means that they can be flexible and switch between different tasks.
Honest feedback
Ask a candidate to give you a list of previous employers and partners. You may contact them in order to receive honest feedback. It will allow you to get a complete picture of a coder’s skills, qualities, and responsibilities.
As for a company, then you may ask to give a list of previous customers. Professional teams keep these details open.
Problems
Gather information not only about success stories. It’s critical to be aware of the problems which took place in the past. This is important to know in order not to repeat the mistakes of previous employers or customers and create the most comfortable conditions for all the parties.
Website
Look through a company’s website. Highly respected businesses take care of having an appropriate personal website. They know that it’s their reputation. And it shows that a team will take care of your future app too.
Tech Stack
Ask what technologies a candidate or a team is focused on. And whether they take into account the further product growth and scalability. What new technologies they are ready to master.
Transparent development process and communication
It’s important to know whether the process will be transparent. And how communication will be held. Different time tracking tools will allow receiving daily reports, time and features estimation. Online meetings and calls will be a great help too. Best app developers really care about trusting relationships and further fruitful cooperation with their clients and are always open to them.
Conclusions
In this article, you’ve read about various tips on how to find and hire the best app developers. As you see, the key to success isn’t a bare startup idea, but a team of individuals who will become a reliable technical partner. This process depends on different factors and requires a lot of effort. But it’s worth it. If you do everything right, you can count on a long-term and fruitful cooperation.
