Vishal BhatiaAs you know, if you need a web / mobile developer then there are more people than you can ‘shake a stick at’ professing to be just that on the army of freelance websites out there.
Trouble is, a little bit like buying ‘pills, potions, and supplements’ from a far off distant land via the internet – you just do not know what you’re getting!
It’s not as if there’s an international freelance web / mobile developer governing body standing over making sure they’re up to scratch!
And frankly in all our experience working with serious companies and entrepreneurs to deliver top class web / mobile projects, one of the biggest complaints we hear (and the biggest reasons they ultimately choose us) is that finding top developers is a NIGHTMARE. In fact it costs them more to hire cheaper low quality developers than it did to hire the best! Why? Because when you don’t know what you’re getting you end fighting endless problems, lack of communication, lack of knowledge that just costs you more.
So here’s what you do …
We’ve hired a LOT of developers and we’ve learned the HARD WAY how to find the best. I could probably sell this information for a ton of money but you can have it free. Why? Because I don’t want you to face all the stress we had learning this and we need to bring this industry up to par!
So, here’s how to identify a GREAT developer… Four QUICK TIPS – enjoy…
Tip #1 – A GOOD Interview Questionnaire
We use a questionnaire to interview a whole bunch of developers when we’re looking to hire a great developer. Once we find 3 or 4 really good developers for a particular role we’re trying to fill, we give them a small desk project. In 3 or 4 days they’ll come back with the project completed. We very closely monitor to look for the quality of the work, how much attention to detail they have paid, did they follow all of the instructions or not, and how proactive were they in communication.
Once we finalize one of the candidates, and we chose the winner, we let them work for a few months, and keep a close eye on them. In a few months we make them a permanent employee.
Tip #2 – Work with Companies with Proven Track Records
If you’re looking for a developer, work with a company with a proven track record. Look at the different designs and websites they’ve done in the past. Make sure that the team you’re working with is equipped with multiple skill sets. If the developer is working in a team where there are other skill sets like designers, mobile app developers, etc., then if you have an occasional need for a design or a mobile app, you can just ask him to go get it done. If he’s working in a team environment, your project can keep moving.
Tip #3 – Work with Companies with a Very Sound Understanding of Marketing
One thing you definitely want to look for in a company you’re hiring, is the management of the company should have a very sound understanding of marketing. As entrepreneurs, we’re looking to build websites that actually sell. One of the big mistakes people make is they will hire a developer who has no understanding of marketing, who will do a really good job of building beautiful websites, but they won’t convert. You really need to find somebody who has the right frequency that you have so that you don’t get disappointed once you get a project done.
Tip #4 – Work with ‘A Player’ Developers
You really need to be aware of the difference between an ‘A Player’ developer and a ‘C Player’ developer. A ‘C Player’ developer is very good at creating job security. We’ve seen it over and over. What they’ll do is they’ll write a whole bunch of code, and they’ll make sure that only they can understand it. What happens is most of us entrepreneurs who are not really technical will look at the look and feel of the website, and if they’re satisfied, they’ll keep moving. They’ll realize only when the developer leaves the company or they bring new developers on board, that nobody else can work with this code because it’s a complete mess. What I recommend is that even if you hire the best developer you can, make sure you occasionally hire a third party company who can give you an unbiased opinion of how the code is written. That way, if you start growing your product, 6 months down the line you don’t find out it’s not at all scalable.
Nothing difficult but in our experience the difference between projects being a complete disaster and completing on time, on budget and delivering big profits FAST…
Talk soon,
Vishal.
PS: Here’s how we helped this client:
“I was fed up with freelancers. Poor communication, wasting time and money, being frustrated and anxious about my projects. So I hired a dedicated developer from Dedicated Developers to sort things out.
Since then my business has more than doubled, I’ve leap-frogged 2 years in development time worth $6 to $8 million, customer satisfaction is at an all time high and I’m less stressed than ever before. I couldn’t recommend them more.” Dr. Bradley Nelson
