Decided to hire a software developer? There are a huge number of companies that are engaged in software development and technical support. The time spent working with one client can vary from several months to several years. The average period of cooperation between a developer and a customer is a year and a half.
How to hire a software developer: choosing a studio
To get a quality product that will work, rather than throwing your money away, it is crucial to choose the specialists and companies who are going to develop your app thoroughly. Next — tips for hiring a software developer at a startup.
Depending on the type of business, you can use the app to:
- help customers shop faster (online stores).
- increase the user audience.
- increase sales (increasing the number of purchases that users make from tablets and smartphones)
- start push-notifications (Android apps developers can additionally program notifications about promotions, good deals)
- promote business (with integration with social networks).
- brand development.
- work with leads (a person who has installed the application is already loyal; he is interested in services. All that remains is to provide relevant content).
- solve specific problems for the business, not only for the convenience of users, but also for employees (to carry out special calculations, to provide communication between departments and accounting).
Before you hire a software developer, pay attention to the age of the studio, because the “old” companies often prefer the time-tested technologies and the “new” ones are trying to follow the latest trends and use the latest developments.
In the first case, the developed app can already be obsolete and unlikely to bring tangible benefits. But a project created with the help of two “raw” and untested technologies can hide problems precisely because of excessive innovativeness and the developers’ desire to surprise the customer with novelties.
Before you want to hire a software developer, it is worth choosing the golden mean, opting for a studio that uses current developments and follows the trends in the mobile app industry.
Beginners, even having a huge amount of knowledge, will hardly be able to realize a serious project, not to mention the creation of really complicated apps. Here you need not only knowledge but also experience. Therefore, when choosing a specialist, pay attention to their experience, and you should not trust just words, you should see the real examples of their work.
Some companies proudly display dozens of apps on their sites, and this should indicate their considerable experience and professionalism. But in our case it is important to pay attention not so much to the quantity, but to the quality to hire a software developer who will efficiently perform the task. If there are complex apps in a studio’s portfolio, it indicates that the masters are really high-level specialists who have the necessary experience to implement complex projects.
Cost of services
An important point in choosing a studio is the price of services. If they charge you a price comparable to the cost of one trip to a cafe, then you are unlikely to get the results you want. Too-expensive price-lists are also not a guarantee of success and a sign of a studio’s reliability. Keep it in mind when you want to hire a software developer. In this case, you should not trust too tempting offers, but avoid excessively “expensive” companies.
All the same golden mean rule applies here, and you need to check the adequacy of prices for services and their conformity with the current realities of the market. Average prices can be found on the Internet, examining the proposals of 10-15 companies and analyzing the dependence of the cost of the whole project on the functionality you want to eventually receive.
How to hire a software developer?
When choosing an agency to develop the right software, pay attention to:
- The company’s experience and portfolio. This is the most important if you want to hire a software developer. Evaluate the already completed projects. Examine the list of the developer’s customers: are there any large private or public companies among them. Experience in working with well-known companies reduces the risk of low-quality services, but increases their price.
- Implementation of similar projects. Ready-made developments can greatly facilitate the software development process. If the agency has already worked with companies in your field, it will need less time to study the nuances of the industry.
- The number of employees and timing of the work. It is important for the customer to get his project done as quickly as possible. To speed up the process without sacrificing quality, the agency should be able to assign a whole team of specialists to your project.
- Approach to work. Assess how much the developer is trying to immerse himself in your project. This may affect the consistency of the result with the original goals. Clarify exactly how the project will work. It is important that the developer will give you the opportunity to personally control each stage to make timely proposals and adjustments.
- Guarantees to be provided. During the first interview, ask the developer to provide you with a standard contract form; study it carefully. The contract describes the responsibilities of the parties and the terms of the claims.
- Training of your staff. You need to find out whether the developer will teach your employees how to use the product.
Every self-respecting company signs a contract with the client, which is a guarantee of compliance with all the agreements. If the studio, for whatever reason, refuses to draw up and sign a contract, offering to work “on trust”, it is better to refuse the services of such specialists.
How to hire a software developer: contract
The presence of an agreement, in which all the nuances of cooperation are described in detail, is a kind of evidence of the reliability of the studio. When composing an agreement, even though usually it is a standard one, you should study every point in detail, and if some questions are vague and insufficiently described, you should clarify and demand to introduce corresponding changes into the text.
Concluding a contract for the creation of apps, which will spell out all your requirements, you can avoid trouble. And because of the cooperation you will get exactly the product you dreamt of.
Before you hire a software developer, check out her portfolio and find out her areas of expertise. Mobile development is not the company’s main area of expertise, and the team has a wide range of specialists. This should be reflected in the cost of development — the more specialized the company and its team members are, the higher quality and more expensive the final product.