Hiring a developer in house, or outsourced can be one of the
most difficult tasks when getting into the tech industry. As someone that has no tech background, I
have made my share of mistakes that have cost me dearly. Here are 4 big things to look out for when
hiring a developer.
Not Skilled Enough
Many developers seem to think they can do everything and
anything. I have rarely heard a
developer tell me that they don’t think they can accomplish a task. Given unlimited time, they may be right, but
if you have hopes of seeing your project complete any time soon then this can
be a problem.
Make sure when hiring a programmer, that they have done a
similar project. You can even take it a
step further and ask for a recommendation from that former client and see if
they dealt with any problems.
Not Fast Enough
A CTO for one of my past companies said it best “when
managing developers, your job is to have a number that sits above each
developers head. That number is a
multiple. If they say the project will
take a certain amount of time, you need to multiply it by the number above
their head.”
When working with any developer, understand that their time
frame is rarely accurate. It is hard to
know what that multiplier is, but assume there is one and always assume the
project will take significantly longer than you have been told and allow for
that when planning your time line.
Business Savvy
This is a developer, not usually a businessperson. Never assume that a developer understands the
logic of what you are trying to do. You
need to hammer out every little detail of the project. Get as basic as mentioning that “Home Button”
actually links to your “Home Page.” Do
not leave anything left to assumption, that is where you don’t get what you
want and your bill starts to increase.
Transparency
I have heard MANY horror stories about programmers when
there wasn’t transparency. Recently, I
had a company approach me who had a developer “working” for 2 months and then
quit. Turns out they had done nothing
and now their hopeful launch date was a month out with no development work
done.
To avoid this situation, when you hire a developer, take the
opportunity to learn a little and ask for them to use project management
software and monitor what they are doing along the way. It may take a little time, but you will save
a TON of potential headache later.
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