10 Tips to Hire Developers For a Startup

So you just started your business? It should be a pretty exciting time for you— creating a startup is a tremendous professional achievement. However, it's also one of the most challenging and overwhelming stages in life, as the success of your startup entirely depends on your future steps. Will your startup become a unicorn, or will it die shortly? If you want a happy ending, you need to learn how to build a team of professionals who will help your business strive.

In this article, we'll tell you exactly how to choose the best web developers for startups by guiding you through all the essential steps. So let's not take any more of your time and give you all the answers!

How to Hire a Developer for a Startup

Here are the 10 tips that will help you choose the best developer for your newly starting business:
 

1. Find a developer for your startup

Well, first of all, you need to know where to look for developers. You can find an IT specialist for your startup in different ways: through references, job posts, or freelancing platforms. As a startup, we don't recommend hiring a full-time, in-house professional, as you'll have to pay for all the benefits, taxes, insurance packages, and masterclasses.

That's way too costly! With freelancers, the case is different. You still get to work with highly experienced specialists but are not required to show too much commitment. So try to look for good developers on freelancing platforms.
 

2. Don't trust the resume too much

Now let's say you're already on a good freelancing platform and are trying to choose the best IT specialist. How do you do that? Well, most employers will start with the resumes and qualifications, blindly trusting the CV and choosing the developers based on it. We say — skim through the resumes, but do not rely too much on them when making your decision.

For startups, it's not important how many years the developer has worked in the X company. Instead, what's important is how quickly and efficiently the professional can handle a wide variety of unique problems, which takes us to the next tip:
 

3. Ask them to solve a practical problem

What kind of issues will your developer be solving on a daily basis? You probably have a couple of real-life examples of those tasks, so try to assign them to your potential candidate and see what solutions he'll offer. If he succeeds, then he's competent to work for your startup!
 

4. Check their soft skills

Remember, you're going to work with a human being, and not a coding machine. It's crucial for your candidate to have good communication skills so that he can integrate easily with your team. Make sure he's not going to cause any unnecessary conflicts because of the absence of soft skills.
 

5. Make sure they know how to meet deadlines

The perfect developer for a startup is the one who knows how to deliver the task on time. For startups, time is vital. You might be launching new features and functionalities every month, so you need a person who can keep up with that speed.
 

6. Be clear about your requirements

Do you know precisely what you need from your developer? If yes, then be clear about it. Define what their scope of work will look like and the skills you require from them.
 

7. Look for a person with a variety of skills

At startups, most of the specialists do a couple of things at once. In other words, you probably don't need to hire a professional that is too narrowed down on a specific job.
 

8. Hire someone who can accept feedback

In startups, everyone should be open to constructive feedback. You don't want someone who will get upset with every piece of slightly negative feedback. So check that before hiring!
 

9. Keep in mind your budget

In some cases, when you finally decide to hire the developer that is perfect for your startup, you get to know that their salary expectation is way too high. And as a startup, you'll most probably be short on budget, and will be forced to reject the potential candidate, although you've spent weeks on the hiring process with them. That's why we advise you to ask about your candidate's salary expectations soon enough.
 

10. Don't stress too much
 

Yes, finding a good web developer is a little challenging, but don't overthink it. Just go with the flow, and hire the professional that you think will match your startup culture the best.

Now you know exactly how to hire a developer for a startup. So log into our platform and get the work done!