As the world becomes increasingly digital, almost all businesses across industries see the need for a website and/or software to digitize their service and reach more customers. Software developers are projected to be in high demand in the market continuously. But when is it time for you to hire one of your own?
Different stages of business and product development will require a type of developer. Here’s everything you need to know before hiring a developer for your business:
The Different Types of Developers
In a macro perspective, developers are programmers and technologists who use programming languages to create software, be it a website or an app for mobile or desktop devices.
These developers often specialize in a certain field of software development. It is important to be familiar with the types of developers to help you best decide who fits your needs.
1. Software Developers
The term software developer spans the broad range of tech professionals that designs and creates computer programs of all sorts. This includes app developers and system software developers or those who create operating systems-level software.
2. Web Developers
Web developers specialize on creating websites and web applications. They can design and develop a website and monitor and maintain its performance.
If your business is relatively new or you are rebranding, it’s ideal to get help from web developers to revamp your site to generate and support better web traffic.
3. Mobile App Developers
There’s an app for almost everything, from communication to finance, navigation, video and music streaming, and even for scheduling stuff, meditating, monitoring your health—the list goes on.
All these apps on your phone are created by a mobile app developer. Such type of developer is highly skilled in creating interactive apps for Android and iOS. Therefore, they are what you need if you want to offer customers mobile access to your product or service.
4. Front-end Developers
Front-end developers are experts in making the interface of a computer program more interactive and functional. This may include front-end web designers and engineers and front-end mobile or tablet developers.
Front-end developers are also classified based on the language and frameworks they use. For instance, there are React.js and Angular developers, who have expertise in creating functional interfaces for single-page web apps, which many companies are widely using.
5. Back-end Developers
The back end of a website or app is where data is stored and retrieved from. This must also be developed and maintained to ensure that your front-end commands work.
If you need to create, revamp or improve your website’s functionalities and features or simply want to keep your website and/or app up and running, hiring a skilled back-end developer is a must for your business.
6. Full-stack Developers
Full-stack developers essentially offer a full package: they can do front-end development as well as back-end. Hiring a front-end developer can be an efficient choice if you build a website or app from the ground app or need an overhaul for your tech stack.
But if you need specific modifications for the user interface or for your system’s back-end, getting a developer with a specialization is a better choice.
Analyzing Your Business Needs
Hiring a developer, or an additional team member for that matter, entails costs on your business, hence it is important to hire the right one for the project or task you have at hand.
Before moving forward, the first thing you need to do is to take a step back and look at the bigger picture. Take a look at your business and the analytics to determine if specific areas are lacking or where improvements are needed.
Is it customer service? Marketing? Collaboration among team members? This way, you can identify what technology or program you should integrate into your business and what type of developer you should hire.
Prioritize the tasks based on your business goals. Asking the team where they need the most help can also determine the pain points in your processes and operations, thus helping you identify what tech stack or application you will need.
Utilizing Remote Options
Hiring developers can be a major decision for businesses. They are currently in demand and are highly skilled, hence it is their right to be highly compensated.
There are about 3.2 million developers globally as of 2020 as published by Statista, and their salaries are also highly dependent on location. If having a team of in-house developers seems costly, you can consider hiring remote developers.
As almost 100 percent of developers’ work can be done online, they can be fully efficient even when working remotely or in a flexible setting. There are also collaboration tools and platforms for developers, so there’s no need to worry about working with a development team that’s scattered globally.
Many experienced developers work as freelancers or in a project-based arrangement, which can help you save up onboarding, especially if you have short-term projects and specific tasks.
In general, opting to hire freelancers is also beneficial as it gives you an opportunity to discover talent from all over the world. This means you have more choices and can meet more developers from different locations with different specialties. Hence you have a higher chance of finding the right developer that fits your business needs.
Keeping the Team Informed
Hiring a developer will help you digitize your business better. They can pave the way to creating the product, website or program that can be the turning point of your company or can distinguish you from competitors.
But all these will only be possible if they have the data and information they need, hence they have to be connected to your internal team.
Foster communication and collaboration among teams to let the developers execute their work better while internal teams adapt to the changes that the developers are bringing to the operations and processes.
Proper and open communication enables more effective management of changes within any organization. It will keep all work processes flowing, avoiding employees being overwhelmed or stressed out.
Find the Best Developer for Your Needs
Hiring a developer can help you put your digital business vision to life. Don’t get left out in this fast-paced tech-powered world. Get the right developer that suits your business needs and goals and get ahead of today’s competitive market.
