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Software developers are now crucial to organizations of all kinds. Developing crucial software applications successfully helps organizations to serve their stakeholders and customers. Project managers need to succeed in software development projects, and quality development teams help them.
Organizations might often not have in-house teams though. In such circumstances, they hire individual developers or outsourced teams. Dedicated development teams make a big difference in complex and high-visibility projects.
You will likely find too many options to hire dedicated software development teams. After all, many freelance platforms and software development companies claim to make hiring software developers easy! They might offer different dedicated team models including remote teams.
An outsourcing company might go well beyond offering dedicated software developers. It might promise to manage the entire set of software development processes from beginning to end.
Another software development company might offer a cooperation model where you manage the project. The company offers a project team that will work under your direction.
However, having too many options can make the hiring process complex. The good news is that hiring a dedicated team doesn’t need to be hard.
The best option for any startup or enterprise-level company that is looking to undertake anything but the simplest project is to hire dedicated development teams from a software development company such as DevTeam.Space.
Before we delve deeper into the pros and cons of each type of platform, let’s take a closer look at the technical skills that you will need from your dedicated development team.
Programming skills required in a software development team
You need to look for several key skill sets when hiring software development specialists. The nature of a particular project determines these skill requirements. Focus on the following skillset requirements:
1a. Programming languages
Depending on the project, you might need programmers with one or more of the following programming languages skills:
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- JavaScript, HTML, and CSS: You need JavaScript, HTML, and CSS developers for front-end web development.
- Java/Python/PHP/Golang/Ruby: Back-end web developers need one of these skills.
- Java/Kotlin: You need Java or Kotlin developers for native Android development.
- Swift/Objective-C: Look for Swift or Objective-C developers if you develop a native iOS app.
- Python/Julia: Hire Python or Julia programmers for artificial intelligence (AI) and/or machine learning (ML) development.
- Python/R: You need Python or R developers in a data science project.
- Java/C: Look for Java/C programmers in an IoT development project.
1b. Frameworks, libraries, and runtime environments
You might need to look for software engineers with skills in specific frameworks, libraries, and runtime environments. The nature of your project determines it. Consider the following examples:
- In a web development project, you might need to hire software developers with skills in web frameworks like React.JS or Angular.
- Such projects might need programmers with skills in libraries like jQuery.
- Do you want to use JavaScript for backend web development too? You need Node.js developers then since this JavaScript-based runtime environment helps with backend development.
- In a cross-platform mobile development project, you might need software engineers with React Native or Flutter skills.
- You might need software developers with knowledge of Python libraries like Scikit-Learn in AI/ML projects.
1C. Database management systems
You might need to use one or more database management systems (DBMSs) in your project. The choice of the database depends on your business goals.
E.g., you will use an RDBMS (Relational Database Management System) to develop high-visibility apps to manage the core business processes. You could need developers with MySQL or PostgreSQL skills.
On the other hand, you might need a NoSQL database for modern web app development projects. Look for software engineers with skills in MongoDB or Apache Cassandra
1D. Software development tools
Dedicated teams need to know the relevant software development tools well. E.g., dedicated software development should know Android Studio in an Android development project. In an iOS development project, dedicated software team members should know Xcode well.
Quality assurance specialists should know the relevant test automation frameworks. QA specialists in an Android development project need knowledge of Espresso. They should know XCTest in an iOS development project.
App development teams should know the relevant DevOps tools. They should know about continuous integration (CI), continuous deployment (CD), and continuous development.
Advanced skills in a dedicated development team
When hiring dedicated development teams, look for the following advanced skills:
- The knowledge of software architecture and key architecture patterns;
- Code review skills;
- API development skills;
- Knowledge of coding best practices;
- An understanding of software development processes;
- Software quality management skills;
- The knowledge of software development lifecycle;
- Familiarity with important software development methodologies like agile, waterfall, etc.;
- Proficiency with source code management tools;
- The knowledge of coding performant and scalable apps.
Other software development skills to look for when you hire dedicated developers
Evaluate whether the dedicated software teams have the following important skills:
A. Application security
The right dedicated team should know how to code secure apps. Look for the knowledge of the following:
- The key web and mobile application security risks;
- Securing APIs;
- Using encryption;
- Implementing authentication and authorization;
- Security and compliance testing.
B. Error handling
When you hire a development team, you need to evaluate the experience in error handling. Experienced dedicated teams should be able to pinpoint the root cause of errors quickly. Such teams should be able to implement corrective actions.
You should hire dedicated teams with the knowledge of preventing errors. Defect prevention is a key aspect of the software development process. Hire dedicated developers with experience in debugging and conducting root cause analysis.
C. Testing
Avoid hiring dedicated development teams that work in silos. You need testers to know enough about coding and DevOps. At the same time, developers need to understand testing too. This will enable developers and testers to work closely in dedicated software development teams.
D. Competencies that a dedicated developers’ team should have
A dedicated software developers’ team should demonstrate the following competencies:
- Passion for excellence;
- Commitment to the client, project, and organization;
- Problem-solving skills;
- Communication skills;
- An ability to see the bigger picture;
- Collaboration skills;
- Teamwork.
Good service providers tend to screen their developers thoroughly, and they evaluate these competencies. Teams that work effectively save money for organizations. We at DevTeam.Space assess these competencies for developers in our community.
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How to find the best software development team?
You now have clarity over the skill requirements, therefore, you can start the hiring process. Take the following steps:
4a. Choose the right kind of hiring platform
You want to hire developers for the success of your project since you don’t have an in-house team. That makes it imperative to choose the right hiring platform. You have two options, namely, freelance platforms and hybrid software development companies.
The option of hiring from freelance platforms can be tempting. You can get a low hourly rate. However, we don’t recommend this approach for complex projects. The reasons are as follows:
- Freelance platforms offer individual developers. That’s not the same as a full-fledged team! You will need to hire project managers, business analysts, UI (user interface) designers, developers, testers, and DevOps engineers separately. This can take a lot of time!
- Freelancers work part-time on your project. You might not get enough bandwidth from them.
- Freelance platforms don’t provide any project management support.
- Freelancers might leave your project mid-way, and you will need to hire replacement developers.
We recommend you hire dedicated teams from a hybrid software development company like DevTeam.Space. We have plenty of experience in the dedicated development team model. Our dedicated team services include project management support.
We provide a detailed and transparent contract. Our dedicated team approach is flexible. We can provide skilled people for key roles like business analysts, developers, etc. You can also hire highly capable and committed remote development teams from us.
4b. Interview the developers
You opted for a hiring platform, and you have received job applications. Interview the candidates. Cover the technical skills relevant to your project during the interview.
Use our interview questions and answers. We provide them for all key technologies, e.g.:
- Java interview questions;
- JavaScript interview questions;
- Node.js interview questions;
- Python interview questions;
- Swift interview questions;
- Angular interview questions;
- ReactJS interview questions;
- SQL interview questions;
- C# interview questions.
Ask questions that will help you to gauge the relevant experience of the candidates. Don’t confine yourself to theoretical questions alone.
4c. Onboard the dedicated software development team
You have selected competent developers. Now, you need to onboard the new software development team. Provide the relevant project documents and explain the project.
Ensure that the team gets access to the project repositories and the technical environment. Provide access to the code repositories.
Introduce the new team to your internal team. Explain the various roles performed by the in-house developers. Your existing team should also understand the different roles in the new team.
Explain the product development processes followed in your organization. Describe the project management processes and project management software used in your company.
Set up a communication process with the new team. Explain the project plan and milestones, furthermore, establish accountability.
Tips for interviewing software developers
The following interviewing tips could help you to hire competent developers:
A. Hire a development team with sufficient experience
You will need to manage the work of a software development team unless you have signed an outsourcing contract based on the fixed-price model. Therefore, you need a sufficiently experienced team.
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Hire a team with a judicious mix of experienced, mid-level, and junior developers. Your labor costs will go up if you hire only senior developers. Hiring only junior developers will expose the project to high risks. Arrive at a balance.
B. Make sure that you hire a competent team leader if you hire a remote team
Various market research reports on the IT industry consistently point out that remote teams are here to stay. You will likely explore the possibility of hiring a remote team. Why not? After all, remote teams can deliver great success!
We recommend that you hire a capable team leader if you opt for a remote team. Managing a remote team can be hard work. A competent team leader makes your life easier.
C. Focus on the relevant skills during the interview
Programming languages like Java, Python, and Swift are powerful. They offer many capabilities and features. However, most application development projects might not require some of the little-known features.
You should evaluate whether the developers have the relevant skills. Don’t try to assess the knowledge of highly specialized features offered by a programming language. You might not even use those features in your project!
Samples of questions when interviewing software programmers
Ask questions to assess the hands-on app development knowledge. Check out the following examples:
A. How do you contribute towards establishing an effective CI/CD environment?
This is an open-ended question. Expect the candidates to talk about the collaboration needed among developers, testers, and DevOps engineers. You should also expect the candidates to talk about the key DevOps processes, methods, tools, and practices.
B. How will you mitigate application security risks?
As a response to this open-ended question, you should expect candidates to describe the mitigation measures for top application security vulnerabilities. They should cite tools and practices like encryption, digital signature, API security, and security testing.
C. Provide examples of architectural decisions taken to deliver non-functional requirements effectively.
This is an open-ended question for architects, team leaders, and senior developers. Expect the candidates to talk about how they implemented various architectural patterns. They should describe how their architectural decisions helped to improve non-functional requirements (NFRs) like performance, scalability, maintainability, etc.
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If you are looking for competent developers, DevTeam.Space is a great place to start. We have a large community of field expert developers and can connect you to the most suitable programmers for your project.
You are more than welcome to contact us by filling out a DevTeam.Space product specification form to ask about our developers. After filling out the form, one of our dedicated account managers will get back to you to answer any questions you might have.
