How to Hire a Software Developer [A Step-by-Step Guide]

The global developer population in the world is expected to reach 28.7 million people by 2024, as per the report by Statista. This means it is quite intimidating for you to find the right developer who works dedicatedly on your project to bring the best out of the freshly-minted idea.

Therefore, as a leading software development company, we have decided to write this article on how to hire a software developer to address many questions that our readers ask.

This blog will help you get answers to the following queries:

So what are we waiting for? Let’s quickly get started to find all the answers.

2 Prerequisites Before Hiring Software Developers

There are a few things that you should always be aware of before you hire software developers for your project. In this section, we are going to discuss exactly the same prerequisites you need to take care of while hiring developers. Let’s discuss these prerequisites in detail.

1. Analyze and Gather Your Requirements for Your Project

First being first, if you are not clear about your software development requirements, you will fail to find the right software developer for your project.

All you need to do is gather your software development requirements. Outline what exact features you are looking to integrate into your software, which programming language or tech stack you want to use, and where you want to deploy your software.

Once you know your requirements and the complex problem you are looking to solve with software, start building a candidate’s profile. For this, outline the skills, knowledge, and experience of the developers clearly.

Believe it or not, this increases your chances of hiring the right software developer. Consider the following aspects to outline a candidate profile:

• The objective behind hiring a software developer
• Required technical skills
• Optional technical knowledge if required
• Experience of a developer or the level of seniority required

So defining your requirements will ultimately help you outline a detailed picture of the candidate, whether you are looking for an experienced developer or a fresher, a developer with specific tech stacks, and so on.

Moreover, to properly define requirements for your software, you can use standard SRS document template. If you don’t want to invest your too much time for creating template form structure, we can help you. Here is our template for software requirements document.



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2. Provide a Budget and Estimate Timeline to Make Your Project Live

Apart from the custom requirements, you need to define a budget as well as the time to market your software. The fast you launch your software, the more you increase your chances of getting noticed in your industry and are able to save on software development costs.

As developers generally charge on an hourly basis, deciding how much time it will take to make a software will help you cut down on development costs. While hiring software developers, you can discuss the delivery date with them and come to a conclusion on the estimated timeline.

If you are ready with the requirements and have estimated the budget and timeline, then check the following section to discover how you hire software engineers.

Follow These 5 Steps to Hire a Software Developer for Your Project

Finding the right software developer amongst millions of developers is an intimidating hiring process. Even the slightest mistake could lead to wasting a lot of time and hard-earned money.

Therefore, we have come up with the easy 5-step-process that will help you find an ideal developer for your project. Check the first step to begin your search for the right software engineer.

1. Find Software Developers for Your Project Idea

If you are in a dilemma about where to look for top software developers, then end your worry now because there are many destinations for finding a great software development team. Either you can outsource your requirements to freelance software developers or development agencies.

Check these websites to get pre-vetted developers for your project.

• Upwork
• Clutch
• Toptal
• GitHub
• LinkedIn
• Reddit

If you are facing difficulty in finding skillful developers for your project, then read our blog post on the best places to hire software developers. By going through this post, you learn about the different reputable websites that offer software experts to hire as per your project requirements.

2. Examine the Software Developer’s Portfolio

Screening and vetting is the next step that you need to take to hire software developers. To do this, you need to go through the portfolio of the developers. You will easily find portfolio details on the portals along with the description of the developers.

Here are the following things that you need to look at in a developer’s portfolio:

• Relevant experience in the particular industry
• Relevant tech stacks and skills for your project
• Number of projects built for your project niche
• Check for the reviews and ratings if mentioned in the portfolio

3. Check The Testimonials of Software Developers

One effective way of gauging software developers is to read or skim through the reviews and testimonials received by their clients. You will get an idea of whether the developer has experience working on similar projects or not. With this, you will be able to assess the scale of work they can handle and identify their working style and approaches.

Generally, you will find reviews and testimonials on such websites as Clutch and Upwork, along with a few project details. In fact, if you find the reviews are not good enough, you can also sort out other top software development companies and developers based on the reviews they have received from their past clients.

4. Approach Developers to Conduct Interviews

After evaluating software developer candidates’ profiles thoroughly, contact each one of them personally. Talking to them will help you identify their technical skills, soft skills, specific niche experience, and working style. You would also be able to reach a mutual point where you can decide on an estimated software development cost and timeline.

Therefore, schedule an interview round with the developers at their convenience and be ready with the questions that you would like to ask during the interview session.

Here are some of the questions that you may consider asking the developers.

• Do you sign an NDA before commencing a software development project?
• What programming languages do you prefer?
• Can I see your work samples?
• Who will own the source code of my project?
• Which software development methodologies do you follow?
• How would you come up with a solution when faced with any technical challenge?
• How do you ensure the quality of software?

You can also ask some other questions that you feel are essential for your project before hiring the software development team.

Hiring a software development agency over freelance developers is recommended because you will need a complete team to develop full-fledged software.

A software development company has a complete team that consists of business analysts, UX/UI designers, developers, quality testers, and a project manager who supervises the project and coordinates with the clients.

In fact, Space-O is also one of the leading software development companies in Canada, having experience working with over 100 clients for various industry verticals. So far, we have delivered many top solutions like Undrgrnd Futbol, Super Shot 24, vTuber, and The Observant Mom. In fact, we have 65% repeat and referral business as we offer quality services.

5. Hire Software Developers

Once you find the right software developer for your project, go ahead with hiring them. Further, you can discuss your non-disclosure agreement (NDA) and complete other paperwork processes to kickstart the software development process.

Signing the agreements will protect your ideas, crucial business strategies, and source codes. Once the developers sign the agreements, take a meeting with them to share your expectations along with the project requirements. Also, you can discuss the pricing model and the estimated delivery date for transparent communication.

Finally, you have hired the best software developers for your project.

Want to Hire The Best Software Developers?

Space-O is a top software development company in Canada that offers flexible hiring models to suit your custom requirements.

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Now that you know how you can find and hire software developers for your project, let’s move ahead to see how much it will cost to hire a junior or a senior software developer.

Cost of Hiring Software Developers

According to Indeed research, the average base salary of a software engineer in the United States is $93,809 per year.

On the other hand, a Canadian developer charges $98,726 per year.

The cost of hiring dedicated software developers is mainly influenced by 2 significant factors:

1. Location of the software developers and
2. Experience of the software developers

Suppose you are hiring developers from the countries like the USA and Canada; you tend to pay more to the developers. On the other hand, countries like India, Ukraine, and the Phillippines cost you significantly less. So apart from the location, the experience of the developers also influences the cost of hiring developers.

Hourly Rate of the Software Developers Based on Different Locations

We have classified developers’ per-hour charges based on the various geographical locations. To make it easier for you, we further classified this into the experience of the developers.

If you know the developer’s per-hour charge, you can easily find out the software development cost. All you have to do is multiply the per-hour rate by the estimated timeline.

For example: If the developer is taking 600 hours to develop a complete software and they are charging $40 for an hour.

In case you are approaching a software development company to hire dedicated developers for your project. Then you might have an option to choose from various hiring models, also known as a flexible hiring model. Let’s discuss the same in the next section.

4 Types of Models for Hiring Software Developers

If you are unaware of the type of hiring model, then don’t worry. To help you define various hiring models, we have classified them in a single comparison table. This will guide you to find the best model for your custom project requirements.

We have also explained all the hiring models briefly, so you get clarity about which model is the best for you.

1. Dedicated Team Model

If you are someone who doesn’t have enough time to monitor the progress of the project, then this model will work best for you. This model will let you hire the best developers who will work dedicatedly on your project.

The dedicated developers will work on your project under minimal guidance as they have vast experience managing complex projects. All you need to do is communicate with the project manager once in a while and get the work done as per your needs.

2. Fixed Price Model

Under this model, the developers will work on a fixed budget so that there is no scope for negotiations later on. You just need to share your idea with the developers in a defined manner and decide on a fixed amount for the final product.

Leveraging this model will help you lower the risks and requires minimum supervision from your side. As the developer knows the importance of time, they will endeavour to complete the project within the estimated timeline and decided budget.

3. Hourly Price Model

Hiring developers on an hourly basis helps when you have small project requirements that can be fulfilled within a few hours. If you have existing software and want to fix codes, backup or restore and crash recovery, or maybe simply want to upgrade the software with new features, then the hourly price model is the best option.

Hire full stack developers or remote developers on the number of required working hours. All you need to do is share your requirements with the hired expert developers to help them with the project details. You can extend this collaboration if you need more assistance from the developers.

However, if you want to learn about hiring remote developers, reading this post on how to hire remote developers would help you. This blog provides a complete overview of the process of hiring a team of remote developers or an individual remote developer.

4. On-site Team Model

If you want to work closely with a software development team but don’t want to hire them permanently, then choose this model. With this model, get a complete team on-site, communicate with the team one-on-one, explain your requirements, and get the work done.

It will be easy for you to manage the software development team that works from your premises and under your guidance. Hire developers and ask them to come on-site for your project. This model works perfectly for you if your project requires constant feedback and approvals.

We have discussed all types of hiring models in detail along with the comparison. Now, it will be easy for you to choose one of the hiring models that will help you get your work done within the estimated timeline and budget.

Now, let’s quickly check the top tips for hiring dedicated developers.

10 Tips for Hiring Dedicated Software Developers

If you are in a dilemma about how to hire full-stack developers for your project, then implement these 10 tips for hiring software developers at your startup.

• Consider outsourcing your requirements to lower development costs
• Clarify your expectations before hiring the team
• Track your hiring process to ensure you hire the best developer
• Keep the job description realistic to discover the right talent
• Check on the work experience of the software developer
• Identify your must-have technical requirements for the project
• Look for soft skills for easy and transparent communication
• Ensure that the team choose the best software development methodology
• Look for a flexible software development team that is ready to accept challenges
• Consider a trial period to assess the skills of the developer before fully committing to them

Looking for more answers on making the process of hiring software developers easy? Check the next section, where we have discussed some of the most asked questions. Let’s have a look.

Hire Our Software Developers Today for Your Project

In this guide, you got to learn 5 steps to hire a talented developer, along with the flexible hiring models, tips, and the cost to hire developers. We hope that this will make it easy for you to find and hire the right developer who delivers the best software product for your custom needs.

Contact us if you are planning to hire a dedicated developer who has vast experience working on various tech stacks and building top software solutions for various industries. Once you contact us, we will set up a simple interview process so that you get your dedicated developers onboard in no time.