How to Hire Dedicated Developers for Startups: A Step-by-Step Guide

How to Hire Dedicated Developers for Startups: A Step-by-Step Guide

This is the harsh reality. If a firm looks forward to hire dedicated developers, it is a very challenging task for startups, especially those in their early stages. A single person often manages a startup that just kicked off its journey and cannot compete with larger organizations on benefits and pay. Even though it does, coders usually fulfill their careers at esteemed companies that offer more stable advantages and a space for growth.      

But there is no need to worry. Many early-stage firms have shifted to using another recruitment technique in recent years. They contract with third-party firms to handle their development needs. Well-known brands like WhatsApp and Slack outsourced their team of startup app developers when they first started out. 

Hiring dedicated mobile app developers as an outsourcing team is standard practice in the industry. 83% of small firms stated that they would maintain or increase their spending on outsourced business services in 2023, according to the 2023 Clutch poll. The IT outsourcing market is expected to expand even further in the upcoming years. The Business Research Company Report projects that it will increase at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 5.1% to $171.5 billion in 2028. 

By focusing on all these facts and figures, outsourcing appears to keep companies, especially small and medium-sized ones, on the runway. Hiring developers for your startup app development company is something you should consider if you want to stay ahead of the competition. This article will give you detailed insights on how to hire skilled mobile app developers, ways to combat recruiting challenges, and techniques to save money by onboarding suitable talents. 

What is the Right Time to Hire Startup App Developers? 

Hiring qualified developers internally takes a lot of time and money due to overhead, labour, and other expenditures. Because of this, a lot of offshore software development firms choose to hire skilled mobile app developers

A committed development team can be helpful in many different circumstances, including: 

The internal development team of a business might not have the knowledge and expertise needed for a particular project. This is where committed developers come into play. Companies can leverage the newest technologies by employing dedicated developers with extensive and robust technical knowledge. For instance, even though your staff is qualified and you are a successful mobile app development company, you still need experts in the industry to supply your clients with startup app development services

The best option is to hire dedicated Android app developers from any other country with lower labour costs to safeguard the company from surging costs because of the quick development requirements. This will help you minimise schedule and cost discrepancies. The developers just need to be paid a certain amount for their work hours. Moreover, you may effectively manage any modifications to the project requirements because remote developers offer flexibility for the project. 

For this very reason, the need for remote dedicated developers emerges, considering that the vendor handles all the responsibilities associated with infrastructure and administration and the risks that come along. 

Models for Recruiting Dedicated Developers    

Staff Augmentation 

The staff augmentation model is an effective hiring model involving the client getting a startup app development company with professional developers. This team will work as an extension of the client's primary team, concentrating only on their projects. A dedicated developer from the client's core team would be part of the dedicated development team to increase team effectiveness and communication. As a part of this model, the vendor offers all the required software, technology, and infrastructure to open the office, saving the client money on overhead and the expense of opening a new location. 

The committed team adheres to the core team's corporate culture, rules, and procedures. They fit in perfectly and adhere to the same rules as the other company's core staff members. The purpose of an extended team is to support internal staff, not to take their place. In this case, the extension team fills the skill gaps in your core team members, while the critical capability (business and technical) is located onshore. 

Managed Team 

This outsourcing model gives access to a professional team of skilled coders. As per this model, you and your outsourcing partner are accountable for the overall direction of the project and the startup app development solutions offered. It's a mixture of fully outsourced work and staff augmentation. 

As long as staff augmentation is considered, the managed team is entirely inclined towards you and the project. The managed team works independently from the in-house development team, where an outsourced manager takes care of the regular operations. While the managed team is on an autonomous operation, the outsourced manager routinely reports to and meets the in-house product owner. The teams are operating in a cross-functional fashion. The managed team model is not usual, as both partners are at risk and are held responsible for the ultimate outcomes. 

Project-based Model  

When your development partner supervises and oversees the entire software development process in accordance with your specifications, this is known as project-based outsourcing.

Project-based outsourcing is the most traditional of the three outsourcing methods. You hand your outsourcing partner the requirements. Your outsourced partner will manage the development process, ensuring that the final product meets your specifications and is delivered on time. With project-based outsourcing, your internal project manager or product owner will maintain communication with your outsourced partner even though you have the least degree of control. Your project and your outsourcing partner will decide how frequently you communicate. 

How to Hire Dedicated Developers in Easy Steps 

Hiring, recruiting, and infrastructural expenses are removed when one hires skilled developers working remotely. All one can do in this case is assess the concept, hire skilled mobile app developers, and complete the task. Nevertheless, due to the demand for IT-based offerings, it is cumbersome to seek reliable IT personnel, specifically when you don't have enough money and a timeline. You have risked your brand's image if you do not onboard suitable coders. Consequently, ensure to follow the strict rules to select the perfect software developers. 

Keep the expectations clear 

To define this, assess the company objectives, recognize the skillset, qualifications, and experience needed to turn the goal into reality, and consider the way a developer should guide you in designing it. Once you have determined the needs and how to meet the expectations, you should be capable enough to hire startup app developers who are willing to work with the company. 

Look for vendors for the review process 

Some countries will be more suitable than others in terms of language, cost, or geography. For instance, if an organization is located in Europe and you require a crew that speaks English, you should go for Eastern European developers. You might find some information by browsing the websites of IT companies. But chances are, when you do this kind of study, you won't find some things. If you want to see more of a developer's portfolio, you should ask to see it. Reviewing case studies assists in defining which companies are promising or not.  

It's time to compare the companies you have selected now that you have reduced the number of them. Examining customer reviews is the most effective technique because it lets customers express how they really feel about the benefits and drawbacks of the business. But keep in mind that anonymous reviews could be false. Try to approach them with distrust as a result. 

Reviewing and selecting vendors 

When employing skilled developers via an outsourcing vendor, some critical factors and technology competence must be considered. The running operations and interactions impact the vendor's quality of service. The more effective the communication process and fame of the company, the more reliable it is as a workplace and the more talented developers it can retain.  

Although it is never sufficient to develop excellent startup app development solutions, proficiency with technology, tools, and programming languages is required to build a decent product. Ensure the vendor has a solid grasp of your industry and can offer evidence of their experience by looking through their case studies, website, and customer testimonials. 

Remember to hire skilled mobile app developers who stick to the globally recognized standards, effective procedures, and management practices that can lead to top-quality results. When considering the choices, look into certificates, appraisals, and acknowledgments such as CMMI and ISO.  

Personal Interviews 

Whether face-to-face or over the phone call, keep in mind the technical expertise of the candidates and their professional and personal traits. Because you are awaiting new people to join you, you must take care that the skilled coders you're looking for have a suitable attitude regarding the projects they will get through. Ultimately, you are the only person who can recognize the kind of people that can ideally fit into your development team. 

Onboarding and Integration     

An expert vendor will undoubtedly guide you in maintaining the onboarding process so that you can include the new candidate in the operating team in the shortest amount of time possible. But here is what can be done to contribute to the smooth functioning of the process. To reduce the chance of misunderstandings, lay out specific expectations for the new people. Offer a listed set of tools and manage access for fresh developers working ahead of time. Be ready with the stepwise instructions manual on how to arrange the whole development ecosystem. 

Call a team gathering to introduce your new and committed developers and to let their internal colleagues know what their responsibilities will be on the project. Ensure that the new team members are informed about the current state of the project. Ensure they have access to all recent paperwork and are aware of the objectives. Ensure the new members of the team are updated on the status of the project. Also, they should have a deep understanding of the goals and be able to access the active documents. 

Hire experienced startup app developers  

In its generic form, the job of an outsourcing company is to locate, select, and integrate a remote development team at the client's location. For the developers, they will take care of all legal and administrative matters, such as hiring, payroll, taxes, sick leave, and benefits. Remote developers can be handled using different tools and methods you select, and you can access them anytime, where the outsourcing firm manages the complete administrative information. 

Share the requirements for work logging and reporting  

When it comes to the collaboration of the remote developers, the two majorly highlighted issues are the language barrier and the difference of time. Irrespective of the fact that English is a commonly spoken language in the field of IT, most developers might not be aware of the native English language. Make the development team familiar with the firm's communication practices and tools. To cut off misconceptions and unwanted annoyance, identify what kind of details should be transmitted via the channel and the time taken by the in-house team to answer back to the emails. 

Standard Motivations for a Startup App Development Company to Hire Experts    

Technology Stack Knowledge 

Startup-specific requirements call for swift, adaptable, and reasonably priced solutions. Even though there are no-code app builders and online website builders, you usually won't get very far without developers. It is common for startup owners to possess no or little knowledge about the development of software. Being newcomers to the market, their role is to transform ideas into problem-assessing software. So, a startup should hire skilled mobile app developers who are well aware of the technology stack used in creating a solution.  

Rapid Growth   

Nearly 62,000 applications were launched to the Play Store in 2023. That is the level of competition in the app store. As a startup, you should test and develop your idea fast after coming up with it. Everything must be completed relatively quickly. You must have something to present to investors if you plan to rely on loans for your startup. This entails creating an MVP. As an early-stage startup, you'll need a staff of developers if you want to advance quickly. You can't let your skill as a programmer distract you from monitoring business development because doing so will cause you to neglect other aspects of your company. 

Adhering to the Budget 

For startups in their early stages, cash is everything. Regardless of whether you're funding your business entirely or using investor funds, you must closely monitor your spending. Hiring developers is part of that as well. You have no option but to remain strict throughout the selection process. It is all about picking suitable candidates who can release the software to the market seamlessly without hindrances. This shows relying on a developer who has significant experience, especially in-app or website creation linked to the niche. 

Powerful Team 

You cannot operate with a skeleton-form structure for very long. Even though you are good at multitasking, you can only take on so much. Your team members will soon need to be assigned duties, including those pertaining to IT development. Therefore, in order to grow a team of developers as you go, you need to engage a developer for your firm who shares your values and aims. It is preferable to involve the team in the development process early on rather than adding them to the startup later on. A team with familiarity with both the product and business procedures is considered strong. 

Hire dedicated developers

Mistakes to Avoid While Recruiting Skilled Developers 

Price Over Value 

Several entrepreneurs associate with a dedicated team that offers top-notch service at a lowered price. You may find abundant developers for the minimum cost, but keep in mind that you wish to continue being in touch with them. Regardless of the development expense, it would help if you concentrated on creating a dependable, effective, and practical solution rather than a useless application. Furthermore, you will receive a return on investment (ROI) for every penny you spend on hiring.

Although your forthcoming project concept will have a budget, bear in mind that low-cost development may wind up costing you more in the long run. Therefore, consider value rather than cost when selecting a committed development team for your project. 

Commitment is Important 

When you hire dedicated developers, you wish to be certain that all the objectives are fulfilled. By recruiting skilled engineers from around the globe and refocusing your efforts on your objective, you wish to save time. To produce a high-quality product quickly, you must have strong communication with the individuals you hire. Find an expert who can assist you in realizing your concepts. Select companies that provide design sprints and workshops related to product design. With this approach, a prototype may be created and tested in five days. 

Believing that a project manager is not needed 

It is quite common for startup companies not to consider how crucial it is to assign someone to oversee the customer's and development team's communication processes. Usually, a project manager is in charge of giving each member of the team specific tasks and validating the process. Furthermore, it is his responsibility to interpret and communicate to the developers the needs of the clients.

To eliminate this error, it is crucial to recognize that proper communication guarantees the project's safety and that having a manager simplifies the overall operations. A project management specialist cannot replace an expert in IT. Completing all of the goals will be challenging without a chief technology officer or CTO, who is another essential member of the team.

Make it Right

Ultimately, do not make decisions based on the reputation and image of the mobile app development company. Just because the company is known and reliable is not indicative of the fact that it will surely meet the needs or comprehend long-term goals. Hence, you must not be complacent and conduct interviews with each developer you hire. 

Common Platforms to Hire Startup Developers 

There are a ton of websites that can be used to find developers to hire. Some may not have the same searching feature, but you may still utilize them to evaluate the experience and recommendations of potential new personnel. 

GitHub 

GitHub is a vast developer hub that hosts more than 50 million users for managing projects, sharing code, and generating software. Technically, you can find suitable developers for your startup with an appropriate strategy. Register on GitHub and educate yourself with the platform's search function to get started. You can find search syntax tips in the GitHub docs for your convenience.  

Upwork 

Upwork is a famous marketplace used by freelancers, which makes it a commendable choice for new companies to hire dedicated developers. On registration, you can post job and promote developers to offer relevant services. In this manner, one can screen people via profiles and proposals on the platform and recognize the expert to invite to an interview. Upwork is remarkable as it doesn't demand any specific tech qualifications or searching skills similar to GitHub.     

Stack Overflow 

Stack Overflow is a common platform for developers to share information, get assistance through quotations, and work in collaboration. As the platform explains, it is the place to empower the world to generate technology via collective knowledge. For startups, it's a wonderful way to discover skilled developers. One can assess a person's skill level by examining their problem-solving techniques and responses in discussion threads. You can still locate brilliant people, thereby participating in forums or contacting users who look like a good fit for your project. 

Gun.io 

Gun.io is a platform custom-tailored for newcomers in the industry looking to hire startup app developers. It provides freelance as well as full-time choices. What makes the platform captivating for people is that it analyzes developers according to coding tests from old employers, making sure you can gain access to more than 20,000 certified developers. 

There is an option to post job listings for free, and if you choose a freelance coder, you need to pay them on an hourly basis, showing a commitment of 10 hours weekly. In the case of full-time hiring, 15% of the developer's shared yearly compensation is charged as a one-time fee by Gun.io.         

Dice 

Dice is a customized job board that inclines towards tech careers. It is created in a manner that transforms the process of hiring developers into a simple one. Via the "for employers" section, you are allowed to post jobs or explore a database of more than 2.2 million resumes on a global scale. 

Final Thoughts 

Hiring developers is a challenging task for businesses in their early stages. We've tried our best to present you with a variety of approaches and resources in this article to help you hire dedicated developers for your firm. Naturally, we have stressed the significance of a thorough hiring procedure since, well, success is unlikely without it. Besides, the process isn't all that terrifying now that you know the advantages of accessing worldwide talent pools. 

But remember the benefits of remote work arrangements, the necessity of precise position descriptions, and careful screening. You may efficiently identify and hire the best experts to advance your initiatives by using specialized job boards and platforms.