As the world continues to become more tech-centric, software becomes increasingly vital to businesses. Whether you are with a major corporation or beginning your own startup, it is vital that you can work with technology. This is where software developers come into play. Software development has become an extremely lucrative and sought-after position at businesses worldwide. Unfortunately for startups, this means that finding the right software developer can be extremely challenging with so much demand for the position. In this article, we will cover some tips for hiring a software developer at a startup.

What do software developers do? What kind of software developer best suits your startup? How do you effectively market your open position to software developers? How can you accurately assess potential candidates?

Here are some must-know tips for hiring a software developer at a startup.

What Do Software Developers Do?

In computer technology, there is both hardware and software. Software is programs or applications that execute specific tasks or perform specific roles on a computer. Software developers are the ones in charge of designing, building, and maintaining these programs. These developers are a huge part of almost any business today because they can design helpful applications and programs to assist in day-to-day business activities.

Software developers bring a unique blend of creativity and technological insight. They have to be able to code and program using several different programming languages. However, they must also have the creative instinct to design programs in a way that solves a problem. This unique blend of skills can make it very difficult to find an ideal candidate for your startup.

What Kind of Software Developers Best Suit Your Startup?

When selecting a software developer for your startup it is important to have an idea of what kind of software development you need. There are 3 main categories of software developers to choose from:

• Front-End Developers – Anytime you visit a website and navigate around the page, you’re making use of the work of a front-end developer. Everything you see from aesthetic design, layout, and interface is the work of a front-end developer. These types of developers typically need to understand 3 different types of programming; HTML, Javascript, and CSS.

• Back-End Developers – Back-end developers are the ones who make front-end software development possible. They construct the server and database where the front-end data is stored. Back-end developers typically know programming languages like Python, Java, and C#.

• Full-Stack Developers – The best way to describe full-stack developers is that they can do both front and back-end development. They generally have a comprehensive knowledge of all the above programming languages. Full-stack developers are generally harder to acquire because they are so highly sought after.

How Do You Effectively Market Your Open Position to Software Developers?

When trying to effectively advertise an open position with your startup to software developers, your biggest tool is a strong job description. The most important things to highlight in your description are necessary technical skills, necessary soft skills, and workplace environment.

It should be obvious, but you need to ensure your job description accurately details what technical skills are required for the position. Make sure potential developers know what kind of developer you are looking for. Listing which programming languages you require is a good way to catch the attention of strong candidates. Furthermore, you should also try to describe accurately what soft skills will be needed for the position. Do they need to be able to work within a team? Should they be open to interacting with customers? Should they be prepared to work from home? All of these soft skills are important information that candidates will be interested in before joining.

Finally, ensure that your description accurately details the environment of your workplace. Is the environment more casual or professional? What can they expect from a daily routine standpoint? Providing a good description of the workplace environment can help candidates when they are making final decisions. Also, this should be implicit knowledge, but make sure that you are offering a competitive salary.

How Can You Accurately Assess Potential Candidates?

The final, and potentially most important tip for hiring a software developer for your startup is to have an effective method for interviewing candidates. Most software developers will have a portfolio of work that you can look at, which is very helpful. However, the only true way to know if they are a good fit for your startup is through an interview.

The interview needs to first assess their technical knowledge. Usually, it is best to have a developer on your team lead this interview, but if that’s not possible then just make sure you have researched programming beforehand. The potential hire needs to be able to prove that they have a strong grasp of all the technical skills required for the position. Having at least a basic grasp of programming languages is a good starting point for this.

Lastly, the interview needs to be a test of personal fit with your startup. Just because someone has the technical knowledge for the position doesn’t mean they will be a good fit with your startup. Have a strong understanding of your environment and the people who make it up before you commit to interviewing candidates for the position. At the end of the day, you know your startup the best, and you know the company’s the best fit.

Hopefully, this article helped answer your questions and gave some valuable tips for hiring a software developer for your startup.