Remote development is becoming popular among businesses today. It provides the flexibility of work to remote developers, helping deliver successful products faster. Finding the right team of remote developers is challenging but hiring someone to work remotely for you becomes even more daunting. With the remote revolution unstoppable, companies of all sizes are exploring the "remote work" style and seeking the best remote talents worldwide.

According to the Gartner report, remote mass workers in the US could stay after COVID-19.

However, hiring the right remote workforce can be a challenge for many techs and product companies that have never worked remotely and find it hard to cope with this new normal.

If you are still unsure about reaching out to a global talent market, this article will guide you through checking every skill set required for remote developers. Let's have a look at all of them.

Skills That Make Remote Developers True Professionals

If a firm hire remote developers, they will likely be expected to possess the necessary skills for the project to succeed. Locating an experienced and competent remote programmer is feasible, but finding one suitable for your development business might be difficult.

It's important to understand that there is no such thing as the ideal talent or the perfect company. The company that recruits aims to attract and recruit top talent, Including professional capabilities, technical skills, and personal characteristics, referred to as soft capabilities.

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So, what specific soft and hard abilities should a recruiter look for while choosing remote developers?

Hard Skills: Technical Expertise and Professional Competency

The remote developer must have strong programming abilities. Of course, this is the beginning, but it isn't the only thing to consider. A technical background is unquestionably required but does not stand out.

Knowledge of the needed technology, methods, and coding skills are essential for complex abilities. In addition to assessing applicants' technical capabilities and professional experience, it's necessary to ensure they're versatile. Evaluating candidates' competence and analyzing their technological knowledge are two crucial tasks.

After this step, we will explore the evaluation of competence and assess a candidate's technical skills and competency. Now, let us ensure that while essential complex abilities are considered, they aren't the only factors considered when hiring a remote developer.

Furthermore, if your options are limited to a few individuals with nearly identical hard skills, go for the person who has greater soft abilities, especially when we're talking about remote work. And here's why.

Soft Skills that are Directly Related to Remote Work

A robust soft competence set is critical for hiring remote experts. This is what distinguishes one candidate from another.

It might take a long time and require much attention to detail, teamwork, and communication with clients. Not everyone is suited for such work, no matter how talented they are at programming. After all, personal skill development isn't much more challenging than learning an entirely new coding language.

So, what should you be looking for?

Time-Management

The ability to arrange the workflow, stay on schedule, and manage duties and timetables is something that employers value. Time management skills are even more crucial in remote collaboration than they are for a potential team member regarding software development. Getting things done on time, meeting deadlines, and adhering to timelines are critical requirements in software engineering.

Self-Motivation

Every remote expert should have this natural ability. They must be able to motivate themselves at the right moment, stay connected with the project at all times, and provide excellent results. The greatest remote developers possess both self-motivation and professionalism traits.

Teamwork Skills

Although remote employees do not directly interact with other team members, they may work together on the same project and for the same objective. As a result, remote developers must be outstanding teammates and tolerant of discussion and brainstorming. Team spirit is crucial to any collaboration since it allows people to make the greatest judgments while choosing the finest ideas.

Communication Skills

In order to attain productivity, communication should be smooth, and there should be no language difficulties. Remote workers also need to know about all of the tools, channels, and platforms involved in team interaction.

Continuous Learning

All professionals in the software development sector must have lifelong learning habits. This is due to the continual introduction of new technologies and creative solutions and the acquisition of new languages, coding, and proper implementation. You'll get a product with prospects if you do this. Look for developers that are proactive and forward-thinking.

Discipline and Work-life Balance

Autonomous working necessitates a high level of employee self-organization and freedom. Such experts must have excellent self-discipline, persevere in the face of difficulties without outside help, and maintain their effectiveness without continuous supervision. They must also be able to clearly distinguish between work and personal life activities. This method aids concentration because it helps you focus on one thing at once.

Top Strategies to Hire Remote Developers

Find out the most effective ways to hire dedicated remote developers. From finding talent globally to developing effective networks, this guide gives you the insights to streamline your remote hiring process and build a successful distributed team.

Offer Detailed Work Description

If you want to hire a remote developer for your project on a short-term basis, you should make it a point to offer all the important information related to the project in the first place. You should talk about expected deliverables and related tasks, too. You can even come up with some questions that are either completely technical or related to their availability for the project.

Come up with a Robust Screening Process

Once you start getting the applications, you need to speed up the hiring process by taking the necessary steps. One way to start this is by drafting an email that offers more information about the company and comes up with many screening questions. These questions can be based on specific technical tasks that come as a part of the job profile. If you want to find the question you should ask developers, this article is a way to go.

You can even ask them to build a test project to assess their skills, quality, and work experience. However, you must pay them for the time they spend on this. At this stage, only those who are motivated to work for you will continue with the process, and the rest will drop off.

Look for Soft Skills

If you have found two to three candidates who have performed well in the above process, then it is time to examine their soft skills. Just looking at their education and experience is not going to tell you how they will perform as a remote software developer. You need to look for soft skills like time management, the ability to work in a distributed team, and communication skills.

How to Hire Remote Software Developers In Your Team

Now that we have understood our needs from the developer and have taken into consideration the challenges as well. The most crucial thing is to find and hire the best person for the job. The drill for the remote developer team remains approximately the same. This blog section will help you get on with the hiring method quickly.

Prepare A Job Description Stating That You Want To Hire

The first step in hiring skilled remote developers is to prepare a job description. This will help you and your team analyze the company's needs and available positions.

By necessity, your job description should include the essential and required qualifications. You will also have to mention the skill sets needed for the role. Skills could consist of the language they are well-versed and experienced in, any course they have taken and applied to, and having worked in a remote setting.

The job description should also include the necessary experience in their previous jobs. With that said, your role preference could also have completed projects in their last jobs. Also, have a column mentioning the average hourly rates for remote working you are ready to hire for and any compensations and perks your company adheres to.

Last but not least, you must mention that you are looking for an employee who is comfortable working remotely.

Search For Best Remote Developers

The next step is given: when you have already prepared your job description, you are all set to post it on various job-hunting sites to hire remote software developers. This gives you an opportunity to move ahead with the job application process.

- Post Job Descriptions on Job Hunting Websites

There are a variety of job hunting websites available on the internet that can help you hire a remote workforce. Upwork, Indeed, LinkedIn, Monster, and Wellfound are a few such websites. You must post your job description and the last application date in clear fonts. Soon, you will start getting applications from the candidates from where you can download their resumes and start screening.

- Approach Possible Candidates On Social Media

Social media such as LinkedIn and Facebook have proven very beneficial for those who are trying to find work. You can approach these candidates on their accounts and speak with them. On social media, you will be able to screen a person's work experience, skills, and completed projects. On these platforms, you can get a word with the candidates and find your developer.

- Screen The Applications

When you are done posting a job advertisement on the websites, you are likely to receive hundreds of applications. You cannot spare time to interview each one of them. That is when you will have to take a step to read their resumes and figure out the one who is selected for an interview. This step would require you to match the qualifications, experience, and skills needed for your project. If they match correctly, you can move ahead with their applications.

- Background Check

After receiving the resumes and details of the possible employee, you have everything you need to begin your background check. This will require you to check their details with the references they might have provided. You can also check and screen their social media for authenticity. If they have provided their completed projects, you must also check them out.

Telephonic Interview

This type of interview is just an introduction call to tell the candidate more about the job and the work schedule. In a telephone interview, you make sure that the applicant has read the job description clearly and is ready to move forward with the application. You also make sure that the remote worker is ready to agree to your conditions.

Technical Round

The technical round interview would include a test of the candidate, during which you can stay in the video call and ask them to code or solve a bug in front of you virtually. Otherwise, you can also create an automated test for the applicants to give. This will test their skills and the authenticity of what they mentioned in their resumes. This test will provide you with confidence about the candidate you choose.

Virtual Interview

The next round of an interview is to check the personality and soft skills of the candidate. This will let you know if the software developer can work in a team and take instructions or not. Human resources can conduct this virtual interview. Although soft skills interviews are easy to crack and almost everyone fits your choice, find a person who is humble and has the determination to work.

Make An Offer

If you have made it this far, then you have already found the perfect remote developer for your project. After completing the interview and screening procedure, you will have to curate an offer letter for the employee. Your offer letter will consist of all the necessary details about the job, salary, perks, employee benefits, leaves, bonuses, and termination.

Cost to Hire a Remote Developer

The cost of hiring a remote developer can vary greatly depending on several factors, including experience, location, and the type of project.

Level of Experience

For example, the most significant factor influencing the cost of hiring a JavaScript developer is their experience level. Junior developers typically have less experience and can command a lower salary than mid-level or senior developers.

Junior developers generally earn between $50,000 and $80,000 per year. In comparison, mid-level developers can command a salary of $80,000 to $120,000 per year, and senior developers can earn upwards of $120,000 to $200,000 annually.

Location

Location is another key factor that can impact the cost of hiring a JavaScript developer. Developers in major cities like San Francisco, New York, and London tend to have higher salaries than developers in smaller towns or rural areas.

For example, a junior developer in San Francisco can earn a salary of $80,000 to $100,000 per year, while a junior developer in a smaller city can earn a salary of $60,000 to $80,000 yearly. Additionally, hiring remote developers from other countries can significantly reduce the cost.

Type of Project

The type of project can also impact the cost of hiring a developer. For example, a simple website project might require a junior developer and a budget of $50,000 to $80,000, while a complex web application project might require a senior developer and a budget of $120,000 to $200,000.

Conclusion

When you hire a remote developer, it requires careful consideration of their core skills and capabilities to succeed in a remote working environment. The essential qualities to look for are the ability to communicate effectively, technical knowledge abilities, self-motivation, problem-solving and time management skills, the ability to adapt and learn, teamwork and collaboration, focus on detail, and cultural compatibility.

If you select remote developers with these essential capabilities, you can form an offshore development team equipped to meet projects with difficulty, produce top-quality work, and effectively collaborate regardless of distance. Remote developers with these capabilities can work in a team to meet deadlines, work together effectively, and contribute to your project's overall performance.

Ensuring you find the right remote developers is more than technical expertise. Examining their aptitude, self-discipline, and capacity to collaborate remotely is equally crucial. Establishing a culture of remote work that promotes open communication, trust, and accountability can contribute to the performance of your team of remote developers.

When you carefully evaluate and select remote developers with the core capabilities mentioned, you will be able to create a productive and strong remote-based development group that delivers outstanding results, takes advantage of the advantages of remote work, and aids in the growth and development of your business.