An In-Depth Guide On How to Hire Remote Software Developers in 2022

How to hire remote developers?

In times of global IT talent shortage it sometimes is difficult to find needed top tier developers. Recruiters around the world are currently facing a larger candidate market. According to Indeed, 86% of HR Managers find it quite challenging to find and hire tech talent. All that in times where everybody needs to scale up their tech team quickly in order to meet the demands of their projects.

To address this problem, it is really nothing new that today often is no longer hired locally, but remotely from all over the world. Especially in the vast IT industry, where remote work is relatively easy possible. According to a recent report by industry representatives surveying over 14,000 software developers, 70% of developers said they are willing to work remotely.

Speaking about outsourcing or hiring remotely: It often not only saves resources economically, but also saves valuable time you need to focus on your mission. See our blog post for more information.

|💡The True Cost of Hiring In-House vs. Outsourcing in Software Development

But without further ado, let’s dive into our In-depth guide on how to hire remote software developers!

Hiring Process

Don’t limit the hiring process to just the resume. There are many other signs that you can use to determine whether an applicant meets your requirements. It is important to have a clear vision of what you are actually looking for.

What is needed for the Project? 

To accomplish a project successfully, it is essential to understand what you want from your possible candidate and what your project requires. In other words:

Important Skills A Remote Developer Should Have

Technical Skills

Which Programming language?

Which programming language must the candidate know? PHP, JavaScript, Python, Golang or Perl? Today there are a variety of programming languages and frameworks in which programmers have specialized. Specify your search exactly according to the needs of your project.

Which skill level?

Now that the most important programming languages have been determined, it comes down to the performance level of the developer. Because there is a logical gradation between the different skill levels of the programmers: junior, middle, senior and lead. For a closer look at the differences between the stages, just click on the following link and check out our latest blog post.

|💡 The Difference between Junior, Middle, Senior and Lead Developers

Soft Skills

Not only the technical skills, programming skills, etc., but also the soft skills are important to make it work. There are some characteristics that can give insight on a candidate’s capacity to work as part of a successful team. 

Here are the top 3 soft skills to look out for when hiring remote developers:

Problem solving

“The ability to handle difficult or unexpected situations in the workplace as well as complex business challenges.” 

Especially in an environment where communication is partly indirect or digital, it is extremely important that the candidate has the ability to identify, communicate and solve problems. See this interesting article for further details.

Teamwork

Teamwork makes the dream work, right? Your future developer will work with your current team on a daily basis, as well as with other development departments, testers, and analysts. To achieve project objectives, they must interact with colleagues, exchange ideas, and assist one another. 

Communication matters: Whether it’s project-, team- or client communication, you need the right tools, awareness of the diverse cultural backgrounds and only one project language. We have already covered this topic in the following blog post, just click the following link.

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Adaptability

Another important soft skill of any specialist is the ability to be flexible in everyday work. Adjusting to the challenges of remote mode, changes in the team, and team restructuring are all constantly changing conditions that should not have any long term impact on the developer’s performance.

Ways to find the right candidate 

Many paths lead to the right team, whether alone or with a professional partner – here are two examples of where to look for IT talent:

Social Media

You can easily join one of the professional groups on LinkedIn where you can hire remote developers for example. There you are able to post a remote job ad. The same applies to Facebook. You already have a company presence on Instagram? Post it also there!

Agencies

Choose from a selection

Developer on demand companies often maintain their own database of highly qualified candidates. 

In that way you can attract multiple professionals at once, which makes it easier for you to find the right fit. Like that, it is possible to quickly find a candidate even for highly desired positions, such as those for React developers for example.

Agencies do offer proper contract terms and make you only pay for the result, your top tier talent. No need for you to spend tons of money on posting job ads. Furthermore, agencies can respond to specific requirements of clients, whether startup or big 500.

Matchmaking Platform focussing on global Partner Hubs

It is often the case that individual agencies do not meet the fast-moving demands of innovative technology companies and other future drivers, so codecombinator stands for another alternative option to bring supply and demand together: a global matchmaking platform.

What’s a matchmaking platform?

In simple terms, a matchmaking platform is a platform that gives you access to world-class tech know-how in one place. Here you can find highly specialized developers, designers and product managers, you name it, all from professional developer hubs around the globe and tailored precisely to the requirements of your project. 

This platform combines the experience of multiple agencies and providers of developer resources and delivers them for whatever challenge you are facing, while always being at your side as a dedicated professional partner.

|💡Find out: Differences between Freelancer & Remote Developers On Demand

Once the candidates have been found, the next step is to determine the best possible fit. To achieve this, we give you an overview of what this might look like.

Screening Candidate 

There are several methods to remotely screen potential job candidates for an interview.

A typical approach would be to start with an online technical test to assess the applicant’s skills.

This is followed by a task, which may be a more complex problem, that allows the applicant to demonstrate their professional skills and evaluate not only their ability to solve the task, but also the conciseness of their code and adherence to best practices.

Subsequently, the applicant should go through an interactive test, where you can see the candidate’s soft skills. If you are working with an agency, these steps are already completed, so you can focus on the interview.

Interviewing Candidate

Now it’s time to get to know the candidate personally in a first interview. It is quite the key point in the process of hiring your remote developer. Pay attention to some important features, such as soft skills, which languages the candidate speaks, work experience, personality and behavior. 

You could ask: Has the candidate ever worked remotely, what are his expectations when it comes to your project?

Also focus on the technical side. Develop a technical interview which is rather interactive and dynamic. Test the candidate’s ability of problem solving. Alternatively, you could use a recent real-world example from your team.

This will help the candidate get a sense of the type of work they will be doing, that can attract them and make them more interested in the position. It also allows you to determine whether they can grasp concepts in the problem environment in which they will be working.

Onboarding Your Remote Talent 

Starting a new software project? Introduce the candidate to his new work environment step by step. This means adapting to your established processes, integration into the team and the equipment with the right tools. Just everything that comes to mind in order to successfully take on the project.

What to watch out for when onboarding remote software developers

 

• Team integration

• Onboard Training

• Adapting to existing processes

• Assimilation into your work culture

Benefits of Hiring Remote Developers

 

 

• Reduced risk and fast processing times

• Simplified management

• Resource-saving: Financial & Time

• New Input: brings helpful know how to the project

• Proven quality & Flexibility (when working with partner)

• Easier to select candidates based on the needs of the project

Downsides of Hiring Remote Developers

 

• Remote Communication 

• Possible time zone differences

• Building a strong team mentality might be tricky

Creating a remote work environment presents its own challenges. You need tech talent that is able to manage their time effectively on their own, and complete tasks without 24/7 supervision. Like we previously mentioned, soft skills like communication and the ability to troubleshoot and handle upcoming IT problems are key when it comes to remote work. 

|💡Outsourcing – The Differences Between Nearshoring, Offshoring & Onshoring

Key Takeaways

Finding the right candidate today is difficult and yet easier than ever before. The biggest advantage you have today is the accessibility to a larger talent pool. Make sure to use the full potential of employee recruitment by opening up to the possibility of hiring remote developers. 

We have shown you the advantages and disadvantages, what to look out for and what a functioning onboarding process should look like. We hope you were able to take away some insights from this article.

It’s up to you

Whichever option you choose to find your tech talent, it’s not always easy, having a professional partner on your side is key.

Fortunately, we can assist you with that! Feel free to contact us if you need proven and pre-qualified IT experts from global Partner Hubs with over 600 IT professionals.

Our mission is to deliver tailored solutions to our clients’ needs, whether through remote or embedded teams.

Written with know how 

by Team codecombinator

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