How to hire remote developers?

Outsourcing of services in the business world is currently one of the forms of building a team with the appropriate skills for a given project. After analyzing the costs associated with growing an in-house team, many entrepreneurs decide to cooperate with freelance developers or entire companies specializing in outsourcing technology services. Each option has its pros and cons, but every entrepreneur and project has different needs, and what may be an obstacle may be the perfect solution to the situation for others. The global pandemic has opened us up to remote collaboration around the world even more than before. And many companies and individuals now prefer such a system. So let’s focus on the clue: how to hire remote developers? 

A remote developer or remote team?

In a blog post about the most common problems of outsourcing software development and how to avoid them, we also mentioned choosing the proper party in cooperation. This is one of the most critical factors, because depends on whether you choose: 

• in-house (remote developers who will be part of your in-house team), 
• the software company (you hire remote development team)
• freelancing (small developers who will not be part of your team),

often depends on the quality of the service offered, which translates into the resolution of the final product, your profits, and the amount of work you put in. Digital agencies usually have administration, people, and sales departments. When deciding on a specialized company, you can expect familiar business strategies and rules. In case of engaging a freelancer in the project, it is necessary to construct the requirements of a specific job position, create an offer, conduct recruitment, agree on all details of cooperation and onboarding, and all this is supposed to take place remotely. 

Define your recruitment goals

If you are looking for remote software engineers, the first step is to define all the requirements related to the project and the model of cooperation that you prefer. Construct job advertisement by focusing on priorities, list programming languages or frameworks you care about. The job ad should include a mention of the project or company, a list of requirements (hard and soft skills), a description of responsibilities, and what the candidate will receive in return for accepting the offer. Remember that the language used in the job offer itself will already tell people a little about the organization’s culture. But it’s the elements, and the quality of the details presented that will let candidates know what to expect when they start working with you. Creating a job ad is a time-consuming process, but if you make a universal template, use it for future hires as well.

Finding the right candidate 

When choosing a way to find a candidate, you have several options. Of course, you can bet on the traditional form, posting a job ad on LinkedIn or other sites, but you have to reckon with the fact that anyone can respond to such an advertisement, even a person unrelated to your expectations, and you will spend time scanning them anyway. Popular sites are Upwork.com and Freelancer.com. The number of responses to your offer can be vast, and many requests are suspiciously cheap. However, knowing the market average prices, deciding on a coding offer in the $5-10 per hour often determines the inferior quality or not getting the project. So how do you solve the problems of too many mismatched resumes and a time-consuming process? 

Virtual recruiter 

As new applications facilitating various aspects of business appear now and then. It was only a matter of time before they seemed dedicated to recruiting. A great solution may turn out to be, for example, our product – Bench by Applover. By combining a machine learning algorithm and the experience of our recruiters, we can find developers who will have the right technical skills and be consistent with your company culture. Bench also takes care of all the paperwork so you can focus on the essentials. This solution will work well for entrepreneurs who have implemented software projects in the past – relieving the company and taking care of all the paperwork, but also for organizations undertaking their first software project – allowing them to select candidates with high qualifications and matching the preferred style of cooperation. 

A technology-specific job board

Another, maybe less advanced solution is to decide to conduct recruitment activities on portals dedicated to technologies. A tool that (probably) every programmer is familiar with is GitHub. However, not everyone knows that GitHub also has a good, easy-to-navigate job board perfect for those looking for programming or related jobs. Sites that specialize in a particular programming language are also present, like Codeable.io – in WordPress.

Successful cooperation

The hiring process is behind you, you’ve signed the documents, and it’s time for the new remote employee to start. There are a few rules that are worth remembering. I have also created a list of 13 essential tools for remote software development; maybe some of them are unknown to you and will help you organize your work. 

1. Arrange for proper onboarding

Even if you discussed the project outline and rules of cooperation during the recruitment interview, it is worth onboarding the new employee to all the details. Introduce the tools through which you will communicate, where and how work time should be tracked, assist them in setting up servers, provide the essential logins, and introduce them to the team. Also, be prepared for more questions at the beginning of the cooperation. It is good to introduce your new hire to an appointed buddy, who will not only ease the integration process but also help to onboard a new employee faster. The right candidate, taking care of making sure the tasks are done, will be looking for solutions and all the necessary information. 

 2. Clarify working hours 

An issue worth considering before signing the documents is reporting on the progress of the project or discussing shuffles. A freelancer is expected to complete the assigned task, not necessarily be available during standard office hours. Remote developers may be in the same time zone as you, but you may opt for nearshoring and thus a more extensive time difference. Set specific meetings that fit each party to avoid misunderstandings. 

3. Include all details in the task description 

A characteristic of remote work is less availability. It can be due to the time differences mentioned earlier, but also to the preference of some software developers to mute all notifications for the duration of coding to avoid distraction. Organizing a quick call is not always an available solution either. Therefore, when preparing a task list, include every possible detail and aspect about that stage. If the task relates to a significant step in the project, hold a discussion meeting. Ask the developer to describe everything in their own words to ensure that no detail is missed in the project. 

Is it beneficial to hire remote developers? 

Nowadays, many people from various professions work remotely, and typically office programmers work great in this mode. The aforementioned financial savings is one of the main benefits that convince entrepreneurs to hire employees remotely. It is also worth emphasizing that it allows access to a larger candidate database or focuses on efficiency and billing only for completed tasks. Of course, cooperation with remote developers may not be successful in your case, but the principles mentioned in this article should make it easier for you to implement this topic.