Choosing the right remote developer is intrinsic to most tech-centric companies’ successes. This is particularly sacrosanct for startups as a bad hire might ruin your entire product development process, leading to a bad product that’ll wade off investors.
And since statistics from CNBC say that 78% of candidates misrepresent themselves on their application. It is increasingly becoming difficult to sort out the most ideal programmer to hire for a developmental process.
So, let’s answer the question: which type of developer should you never employ? We’ll also educate you on how to recognize one.
Which type of Developer is the Worst to Hire?
The one programmer you should never employ in your organization is an “underqualified developer”. What do we mean by this?
Under-qualified developers are programmers with little or no experience with frameworks, and programming languages needed to create software and applications to aid the technical and business requirement of your organization.
They offer no significant contribution towards the proper production, launch, and maintenance of web and mobile applications. And quite often, this makes them a burden to an organization.
How to Identify an Under-Qualified Developer
As we’ve said earlier, identifying an under-qualified coder can be difficult, as traditional means of assessing resumés are being tricked with false claims.
But with the right knowledge, you can spot an under-qualified developer, even with a falsified resume. Effective ways to identify an underqualified developer are:
1. Poor Code Structure
Though operational, a code structure can have poor quality according to standard coding practice. Just like defective equipment, it often works but requires constant maintenance, and may stop working abruptly.
Poorly written codes are chaotic, have obscure structures, and can be difficult for other team members to decode. Thus, before you hire a developer, first check through any source code they’ve written from scratch. Symptoms of poor code to watch out for include:
- Lines of code that are unreasonably longer than necessary,
- Files that are poorly arranged,
- Codes that are tightly coupled,
- Codes that become inoperable after minor fixes,
- It has unnecessary complexities,
- Function names don’t show the tasks they solve.
Once you’ve vetted their coding styles and structures, consider their willingness to compromise:
2. Unwillingness to Compromise
Irrespective of the intricacy of your project, a developer that’s unwilling to make sacrifices shouldn’t be hired. Why?
Software development is an ever-changing landscape as more tech stacks and frameworks are launched regularly. A tech stack that’s ideal for a solution might become obsolete within a few years.
For example, Php is the best backend programming language, as it enjoyed widespread acceptance by reputable big tech companies like Facebook, YouTube, Yahoo, Baidu, Wikipedia, and Twitter.
However, there has been a considerable shift in opinion within the past 12 years. As of this moment, surveys suggest that experts are torn between python, node.js, express js, and Kotlin as best for server-side development.
As a startup, hiring a developer that’s unwilling to compromise may leave you stuck with legacy tech stacks. This can make your code insecure, and be at risk of a data breach.
3. Weak Portfolio of Projects
While developers can fake experience with resumés, a portfolio is quite difficult to fake for an experienced recruiter.
A qualified programmer should have a project portfolio that has solved tasks in your niche of interest. They should also demonstrate considerable use of logic and capacity to create, launch, and maintain your software per requirement.
4. Inability to Work Pass QA Tests
If you do an in-depth check of codes written by prospective employees, underqualified developers will often fail requisite Quality Assurance tests.
QA testers check for usability, security, and performance. Common testing procedures used to assess developers are unit testing, smoke testing, smoke acceptance testing, end-to-end regression testing, sanity testing, etc.
Depending on your project and startup requirement, the QA testers can check for the codes they’ve earlier written to fit your startup’s expectations.
This gives you insight into the developer’s ability and helps you know if they’re qualified for the role you’re considering them for.
5. Negative Employer Reviews
The ultimate means of detecting under-qualified developers are reviews from past employees. If your startup has a habit of reaching out to past clients, then you should explore this means.
Although most countries don’t have laws prohibiting employees from providing work-related information to a potential employer provided, they’ve shared truthful information. However, most employees avoid this to prevent a disparagement lawsuit.
Thus, it’s safe to assume that this shouldn’t be considered a full-proof means of discovering under-qualified developers as you may not get any response.
Consequently, we’ll discuss tips for hiring ideal programmers for your startup:
Tips for Hiring Best Developers
Haven discussed ways to avoid unqualified developers, we’ll educate you on tips for attracting top tech talents. These are:
● Visit forums and Social Media Platforms with Developers
A survey by stack overflow suggests that Facebook groups, YouTube channels, Reddit, and WhatsApp groups, are top platforms to meet tech talents.
Connect with developers on these platforms and discuss programming topics for insight into their expertise. This way, you can access their ideas.
● Request for Referrals for other Qualified Developers
Ask your pool of in-house talents to refer top developers they think will fit your startup requirement. They have a good understanding of your work demands, so they’ll likely suggest qualified professionals.
● Use Live-Coding Tools
There’s no better way to guarantee a developer’s skill and competence than by running live-coding interviews. These are interactive interviews where a developer is shown a problem, and they write codes to solve the problem.
With the aid of live-coding tools, you can effectively run live coding interviews for prospective employees around the globe. Common examples of tools to use are Codility, Indeed Assessments, Criteria Cords, etc.
● Use Recruiting Softwares
Recruiting software helps you sort through resumés for candidates with specific talents. This should not be used independently but in conjunction with other recruitment procedures. Some top recruitment software to explore are JazzHR, BreezyHR, ZipRecruiter, Zoho Recruit, Hiring thing, etc.
● Outsourcing Dedicated developers from IT Vendors
Hiring dedicated software developers from a reputable outsourcing agency is the one of the most guaranteed ways to hire qualified and experienced programmers.
Outsourcing from IT vendors is an ideal hiring model for startups primarily because it’s easily scalable, offers access to a larger talent pool, and lowers costs. It also eliminates the time-wasting moments expended in interviewing multiple developers only to end-up hiring mediocres.
In this method, you’d simply highlight your expectation to the outsourcing agency, sign the requisite contract to make your cooperation legally binding, and pay per contract stipulation.
This hiring model is already a preferred approach for many tech-centric companies as experts believe IT outsourcing spending will reach $519 billion in 2023.