Hiring a software developer is more complicated than securing a qualified candidate for the other more conventional job postings at your office. Impressive software engineering candidates don’t always jump out at you when you’re sifting through dozens of nearly identical resumes. And while I’m sure you’re aware that you need to look at the developer’s portfolio and verify which programming languages they’re skilled in, finding the perfect fit for your company takes a bit more legwork. Let’s explore what it takes to identify a suitable software development company and how selectivity and persistence can pay off in your search. Here are a few essential skills you should look out for as you start the process of hiring a new software engineer.
1. Breadth And Depth Of Technical Knowledge
When it comes to assessing a software developer’s knowledge, unlike the many other roles in your organization, the candidate’s academic background may not tell you much. Proven experience usually overrides a new developer with impressive academic credentials. With that mentioned, if the developer has recently emerged from an elite program and has already produced an impressive portfolio in a short time, you might stand to gain something from hiring and training a candidate like this. Foremost, confirm that the potential new hire is skilled in your preferred programming languages. It should go without stating that hiring someone unfamiliar with your IT requirements puts you at a disadvantage. The one caveat to this stance is that if you are confident with your current training program, and the applicant is proven in other areas, it might be worth your while to onboard a prospect who isn’t an expert in the required languages. Lastly, take your time searching and give strong preference to full-stack programmers who understand the end-to-end aspects of the software development process. A developer with this type of profile will be able to handle problems that arise at any stage of your project.
2. The Prospective Software Developer’s Soft Skills
The notion that you should be hiring software developers who only work in the cloisters of their homes and rarely communicate with other team members is a misinformed one. Find a software developer with strong interpersonal skills who can articulate complex technical concepts to you in plain language. The best software engineers are reliable team players who can work with the company’s essential stakeholders to produce high-quality results.
3. Critical Reasoning
Software developers routinely encounter roadblocks. If these obstacles are non-overcomable, they can quickly spell doom for the success of any project. Before hiring a software developer, you must devise a strategy for assessing the candidate’s critical thinking abilities. You want your potential new hire to demonstrate the capacity to process a lot of information in a short amount of time. A skilled software developer must display the analytical skills required to resolve unexpected issues quickly. An ideal candidate will understand how to confront problems head-on before breaking them down into smaller, multifaceted issues and resolving them one by one until the problem is sorted. Software developers with a high aptitude for problem-solving and critical reasoning will make the best use of your existing tools. They help prevent IT disasters and effectively mitigate the impacts of one, should a catastrophe ever occur.
4. A Flexible Learning Style
Few other professions are required to take in new information more routinely than software developers. Engineers are required to process new information constantly to keep their skills up-to-date and adapt to an ever-changing IT industry. Much of this learning is done on the job. Seminars, conferences, and online boot camps are also great educational resources. When evaluating the potential new hire, look for software developers who go out of their way to keep their skills current. On-going professional development is the key to becoming a successful developer, and any prospective engineer should reflect this by being more knowledgeable than other candidates with similar credentials.
5. A Positive Attitude
Writing software code can be drudging work, if not utterly painstaking. A software developer that has an impressive resume but reflects a negative work attitude is not likely to produce effective results over the long term. Try to find someone passionate about writing code -someone who won’t “soft quit” on you, only providing the least amount of effort to accomplish a complicated task. Solutions produced by engineers like this break, and you could end up spending far more money than anticipated. When it comes to fulfilling hard deadlines, a developer must be sufficiently engaged with the work if you expect them to meet these cutoffs regularly. A committed software developer knows how to organize an effective schedule to deliver the most demanding projects within the specified time. While receiving projects early is always great, a skilled engineer who consistently produces high-quality results on time is an invaluable asset to any organization.
Starting The Recruitment Process
Hopefully, this list provided a few relevant qualities to look for as you begin the search for your next software development company. The process of hiring a new software engineer is often a challenging one, but it doesn’t have to be. To learn more about One Blink Technology and how our custom software solutions benefit companies like yours, complete our online request for contact form now. We’ll have a dedicated specialist reach out to you right away.
