So you have this great startup idea. You already narrowed a pitch for investors, outlined the marketing plan, and ready to make it happen. Logically, the next step would be to find programmers to code it for you. But how to find developers that will correspond to your expectations?
In this article, we’ll try to help you with this struggle.
Where To Find Programmers For Your Startup?
- And if you are looking for an outsource software development partner, you can try the following:
- Look for an agency on Clutch.io;
- Go the tech conferences;
- Find a team on Onbench.de;
- Ask other tech startup founders for referrals.
- If you are looking to hire an in-house developer, we recommend the following sources:
- Job boards: AngelList, Mashable, TechCrunch, etc;
- You’ll be surprised, but… GitHub. Although you’ll probably need a tech consultant to show you how to use GitHub to hire developer;
- StackOverflow;
- Hackathons;
- Tech conferences (even online ones!);
- Meetups.
- If you want to hire a dev on a freelance basis, here are the platforms to do so:
- Agencies that can provide you with an outstaff developer.
- Screening
- Check their portfolio
- Look at their tech expertise
- Try finding the reviews
- Interviewing
- Find out more about their expertise
- Ask for referrals or a feedback
- Review their code
- Don’t be shy to ask for a test task
- Check their soft skills
- Agree on a trial period
Now, if you understand what kind of partnership you want to establish with your tech team and have an understanding of where to hire developers, we’ll help you to filter the good ones.
How To Source The Best Developers
It doesn’t matter how you decided to look for candidates. You are either interviewing an in-house developer or talking to the company’s project manager. In any case, you are screening the potential candidates and making sure they are a good fit. Here are some helpful tips for you to be sure you are thoroughly screening your potential developers:
Whether it’s a company or an individual, you want to know their expertise and see what kind of quality they can deliver. Besides, it helps to see whether they have experience in a similar business niche.
One way to find programmers is to choose them based on their tech stack. Let’s say, there is no need to interview a company further if you decided to develop your app in AngularJS while they only have .NET expertise.
Either online or offline, ask about the company or an employee you are interested in. A good reputation always means a lot in this business.
Once you are done with creating a pool of potential candidates, jump to the next stage.
It makes sense to have all the documentation ready at this stage since you’ll need a clear picture of who is your perfect developer (or a development team!). But here is how to make sure your development team will fit your expectations onwards:
You’ve already found some information online on their website or saw a few samples in their portfolio, but explore further. Make sure they know how to develop your product and can bring you value.
Having clients be able to give your potential developer reviews is always a good sign. It means there are people who are satisfied with their work and are willing to maintain relationships with them.
It will be helpful to review their code samples. When you hire developers for startup you need to understand that your venture will be changing. Meaning, your business idea is becoming a piece of software and you don’t know the future of your company yet. Who knows, maybe you’ll decide to change the developers along the way or sell your company. High-quality code will matter a lot in both scenarios. Besides, the best developers on the market are known for writing beautiful code. Why to settle for less?
Once you hire a dev, you’ll have to work with this person side to side. The same applies if you hire a development team. You’ll be in contact with the project manager and the team, so both soft and hard skills will matter a lot during this cooperation. So we encourage you to ask your candidates to complete a test task for you. You’ll be able to see the quality of their code and also check their communication skills and have a vision of what you’ll be dealing with. You’ll be secure that once you find developers for startup, they will match your expectations.
Besides focusing on the image of the company and their technical expertise, scan their non-technical skills. You are dealing with human beings after all, and they will be in charge of nurturing your business idea. We suggest you find developers that share your vision of your product. And it wouldn’t hurt to actually like people you’ll be working with.
Agree to sign a contract for a probation period before you hire developers full-time. We assume you already divided your product into stages and can begin developing a small chunk of software. You’ve already checked their reviews, their communication skills and even asked for a test task. Although sometimes employees or contractors can turn out to be better or worse than you expected, so we advise you to not get ahead and take it slow. Sign the agreement for one piece at a time.
Hope this step-by-step instruction will help you to find programmers for your startup. Not necessarily in this order, but following these simple rules will help you to filter out the best developers from the crowd. Your startup might change the world, so why settle down for less than the best?
Although if you need more information on how to hire developers or even assistance with this process, don’t hesitate to contact us.
