How to Hire Remote Full Stack Developers For Startup Projects?
For Startups, especially when they are starting out, it is exceptionally hard to hire developers. They are already short on employees and budget and technically in no position to compete with established companies in the market. Hiring developers get more difficult when they actually start their hiring process as developers prefer to pursue established organizations for their career.
What’s the solution? Well, in the last few years, many startups have changed their outlook on the hiring process. Instead of hiring in-house developers, startups have started hiring remote developers and outsourcing from development companies. Another thing that startups do, in order to save their budget, is to hire full stack developers. Full stack developers know both the front end and the backend development process of applications. Hence, instead of hiring specialized developers, full stack developers are a cheaper alternative.
In this article, you will learn how to hire full stack developers remotely for your startup. But is saving budget the only parameter to hire these developers? Not really. There are several benefits that come with full stack developers. Let’s discuss some major reasons why startups should hire full stack developers remotely.
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Reasons To Hire Full Stack Developers Remotely
Ever since the Covid-19 pandemic hit, the job markets have suffered immensely. IT companies have been laying off employees amidst the chaos. However, full stack development still remains a much-demanded job in the industry. Up to 3 million Full stack developer jobs can be expected in the near future.
Around 48% of developers have already assumed the role of a full stack developer. The majority of the new-age startups also hire full stack developers on a remote basis to build projects in a cost-effective and timely manner.
As a startup, before hiring developers, you should first have a predefined notion of the skills and expertise your developers should have and how they are going to impact your projects. This preliminary task is highly important as you cannot afford the wrong hires. Period!
Let’s get on to some reasons you should hire full stack developers remotely:
Set Up The Tech Stack
Most startup owners, unless they are from a tech background, have little to no knowledge of the app development process. It makes sense as the role of an entrepreneur is to solve problems and sell such software solutions to the intended market. It is not their job to write programs.
Hence, it can get tough for them to get a good recruit as they lack the tech knowledge to evaluate developers and to set up the required tech stack needed to build their apps. Therefore its a need to hire full stack developers who can assist with all the technical requirements.
Fast Growth
The market is more competitive than you can imagine. More than 3,000 apps are released in Google Play Store on a daily basis! How are you going to compete with that? How is your app better than others? What is your growth strategy?
As a startup, you need to get into the market fast. Test your MVPs and prototypes with a limited audience and fine-tune it before the actual release. If you are having investors, you need to have something to show them as well. A good team of developers will help you achieve that.
Hire full stack developers to build a scalable, user-friendly app to quickly progress in the cut-throat market. Even if you are from a tech background, you need to be sure you are not getting distracted by the managerial works of your startup.
Stay Within the Budget
What blood is to humans is what cash is to startups. Especially the early-stage ones! Either you are bootstrapping or have capital from investors, you need to manage your expenses meticulously. One wrong move can empty your bank accounts for nothing. And that is especially true when you are hiring developers to build your product.
You need to be rigorous and heedful in your process to hire full stack developers. You need to pick the right candidates who can build a scalable app fast with the least amount of hiccups. Choosing and hiring such developers is like finding a needle in a haystack. That’s one reason why major startups prefer remote developers and outsource agencies as they ease up the hiring process.
Lack Of Local Talents
With the increase in digitization, more and more companies are operating their businesses online. This has caused an increase in demand for IT experts. However, the growth of expert IT professionals falls short to meet the demands.
Moreover, startups need to hire experts as they have to make a strong foothold in the market but hiring from local talent doesn’t serve as a viable option. Either there is a lack of talent or developers prefer big companies with a better package. When you hire full stack developers remotely, you need not worry about such things.
The world is a big place and you can find suitable developers with the least pay in different regions. You can also outsource from reputed development companies like Optymize.
Steps To Hire Full Stack Developers For A Startup
Let’s get on to the steps you can take to hire full stack developers for your startup effortlessly. It’s a no-brainer that you first need to plan out your hiring process. This guide will help you make an efficient step-by-step plan.
Step 1 — Specify Your Needs
Every startup has a unique requirement and it impacts the type of developers you need to hire. Grab a pen and paper and write down all the specifics of your business. Is it a new app you are inventing or updating over an existing one? How quickly do you want to launch it in the market? What could be the budget? Is the tech stack needed? And so on.
You need to be clear-headed with all such questions. Maybe you already have a core team and need additional support. Have clarity on the operations and their time constraints. Once you have all the details listed down, you can get on to the practical steps to hire full stack developers.
Step 2 — Determine The Employment Model
Now that you are clear with your needs and made a plan, it is now time to choose the right hiring model for your startup. You need to look at the expertise level of the developers and the budget to hire them.
There are multiple models to hire full stack developers remotely:
- Project-Based Model- If you have a small project with pre-defined requirements, this model is apt for it. You will have to pay a fixed price to developers, there is a lack of flexibility as you can’t evolve or change the project requirements later.
- Dedicated Team Model- If you cannot define your project requirements and feel that they can change over time, prefer this model. You will need to hire a team of developers on a contract basis.
- Extended Team Model- Choose this model if you already have a core team but need additional support or are filling skill gaps. Your in-house team can be the in-charge and coordinate the outsourced team.
Step 3 — Choose A Region
Unless you are outsourcing from a development company, you will have to select a country to hire full stack developers from. Some countries are cheap, but there could be a language barrier. Time zone can be a concern as well. You need to ensure that these three requirements work in your favor.
If you cannot put a finger on a country, you can opt to outsource developers. There are many reputed marketplace platforms and development companies that provide easy hires with 24/7 support. Optymize is one such marketplace where you can hire the top 3% of the best developers in the world at the best rate.
Step 4 — Finding the Right Talent
Before you hire full stack developers for your startup, you first need to find the right candidates. It can be tremendously hard if you don’t know where to look. You may end up collaborating with costly agencies or developers that do not fulfill your needs.
If you are searching on your own, there are a few places you can look at. To hire freelancers, sites such as Upwork, Fiverr, and freelancer.com are top places to search for developers. You can even share a job post to attract the right developers. You can decide whether to pay hourly or sign a contract. You can also assess their skills based on their previous work.
To work with a dedicated team, check out sites such as Clutch and Software World. These sites help you find reputed and trustworthy agencies to hire full stack developers. After finding a list of suitable candidates and agencies, it is time to verify their expertise.
Step 5 — Verify The Expertise
After you have selected the individual developers or the development agency, the next step is to verify their expertise and check if they are the right fit for your project and company. For sure, if you are hiring freelancers on short-term notice, you may not give this step much heed.
If you are selecting developers from freelance sites such as Fiverr, check the reviews and previous projects undertaken. This will give you an idea of the expertise level and the kind of skills the candidate possesses. You can filter out candidates on the basis of the skills and expertise you need.
Same way, you can check the previous clients of the agencies listed in Clutch and read their testimonials, services offered, and the expertise they keep. You can even ask for direct feedback from them if required. You can also browse through LinkedIn and Github to know more about the firm and developers.
Some of the skills you should check to hire Full Stack developers-
1. Technical Skills
A full stack developer is well-versed in all areas of software or web development. When you are going to hire full stack developers, be sure they are well versed with-
- Front-end tools- HTML, CSS, JavaScript, Svelte, Vue, Angular.
- Backend languages- PHP, Ruby, Python, Java, and their frameworks.
- HTTP and REST API.
- Database- SQL, PostgreSQL, MySQL, and MongoDB.
- Server setup and maintenance.
- Website hosting and deployment.
- Planning and Integration of different development processes.
These are some essential technical knowledge a full-stack developer should have. You can assess their abilities on the basis of the tech stack you require for your project.
For example, if you are making a web application that requires HTML, CSS, JavaScript, and Python, then ensure you hire full stack developers with expertise in the said domains.
To determine your expertise, you can take technical assessments. Conduct interviews or a coding test to find suitable candidates.
Besides the technical expertise, you should also ensure that the developers possess communication and professional skills. Most of the success of a team relies on clear communication between the team members, clients, and investors.
When you hire a dedicated team, you get good teamwork, flexibility, transparency, and rapid results. Developers are also self-organized and can tackle issues independently. But when you hire individual remote developers, it can be a hurdle to build proper communication channels between them and make them work as a team. For that, you may require a technical team leader.
2. Soft Skills
As I said, proper communication is important to understand the project requirement, work with other development teams, and discuss the process with the clients. You need to hire full stack developers who can work according to the market’s choices, exchange feedback, analyze issues, and work as a team.
Some essential soft skills you should evaluate in the interview round-
- Ability to handle uncertain situations.
- Passionate learner.
- Analytical and reasoning abilities.
- Adaptable to technical and market issues.
- Good communication skills.
- Improve themselves constantly.
- Work efficiently.
- Write clean codes.
- Finish work within the deadline.
Step 6 — Conduct Interviews
Nothing is better than live interviews to assess skills. You can have the developers talk about their experiences, projects undertaken, issues they faced and how they overcame them, and other related questions to get an idea about their expertise level, passion, and soft skills.
To assess their technical skills, you can ask some real-life scenarios, questions related to your tech stack, or a coding challenge. You can ask some tough questions to observe how they may handle work stress.
Run interviews with each selected candidate and compare their responses. Choose the best-suited candidate with knowledge in the required tech domain, who can work under pressure and has desired soft skills. After that you can onboard the candidates, discuss the salary structure, work requirements, and deadlines, and sign the contracts.
Step 7-Onboarding
Once the candidate has accepted the job offer, the next important step for you is to help them through the onboarding process. In this regard, ProofHub proves to be an invaluable tool.
With ProofHub, you can have open discussions and real-time conversations with the candidates. This makes it easier to share important company documents and allows seamless communication within their new team. Additionally, it encourages effective collaboration and ensures that everyone is well-informed and working together.
ProofHub also simplifies document sharing by providing a central platform to share project-related documents, guidelines, and resources. This eliminates the need for email exchanges and makes it convenient for candidates to access the necessary information.
By using ProofHub, you can improve the onboarding experience by promoting effective communication, efficient document sharing, and smoother team integration. Ultimately, this helps the new team members transition successfully and establishes a strong team collaboration foundation.
Upgrade your onboarding process and create a positive work environment with these 3 thoughtful ways to welcome new employees!
Conclusion
I hope this guide has given you some clarity on how to hire full stack developers for your startup. The idea to hire full stack developers remotely is not new. Since Full Stack developers are trained in all major areas of tech development, they are a preferred choice over specialized developers. They are also cheaper and can manage teams of specialized developers as well.
Remote hiring has seen an upsurge after the pandemic hit. Remote jobs help increase productivity, reduce costs, and manage development. It can also help you find the most suitable candidates for the job role easily and provides freedom to both the company and developers.
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