Hiring an app developer involves a strategic approach and criteria. First, define your ideal partnership model from freelancer, outsourcing, or in-house hiring. After that explore different ways to find app developers for your startup such as freelance platforms, tech events, social media, referrals from a trusted source, development agencies, etc.
When you are all set to build your house, you first think of the engineers, architects, and laborers. Similarly, you must find an app developer to build an app for your startup. Building an app doesn’t only need an idea but a team of skilled professionals as well. Yet, finding an app can be a daunting task if you don’t know what you are looking for. But don’t worry! In this blog post, we will guide you in detail on how to hire app developers.
Look! You need to follow some steps before finding the app developers so let’s look into those steps first.
7 Steps To Follow Before Finding App Developers
1. Define Your Project Requirements
The first and most important step before finding app developers involves defining your project requirements. Understand your projects’ goals and the problems you want to solve through your app. Ask yourself what you want to achieve with your app. Which benefits do you think your app can give to your users? You need to understand the market as well and how your app can stand out in the crowd.
2. Decide On The Partnership Model
After wrapping up with the initial step, you need to decide on the partnership model. There are three ways to hire app developers for your startup:
- Freelance
- In-house
- Outsource
Let’s understand each one of them in detail.
How To Hire App Developers On A Freelance Basis
Hiring a freelancer is one of the best options you can opt for to hire your app developer. This option is booming right now due to the outbreak of freelancing websites such as Upwork, fiver, freelancer, etc. With this method, you can find app developers according to your specifications. But everything has its pros and cons, similar is the case for freelancers, so let’s discuss them in depth.
Pros of Hiring Freelancers
- One of the major advantages of hiring freelancers is that they are hired on a contract basis so you do not need to pay for vacations.
- You do not have to provide them with the tools for your project.
- You can have access to talent worldwide.
Cons of Hiring Freelancers
- The onboarding process can be a bit complicated
- The freelancer may be less committed due to other project commitments
- They are only suitable for small or medium-sized businesses.
How To Hire In-House App Developers
Hiring app developers as your team members is the one common option. If you already have a team then fill the employee gaps by conducting a job interview, picking up the right candidate for the job, and onboarding them with the rest of the team members. Let’s look into its pros and cons:
Pros of In-House Hiring
- Employees are committed to their jobs.
- The in-house team has more input and involvement in your company.
- Employee integration into the company helps them to fit in better and work harder.
- Better understanding of how a company works.
Cons of In-house Hiring
- In-house hiring is costly as you have to offer workplaces and accommodations.
- Time and money spent on hiring and onboarding, medical insurance, and taxes.
- In-house hiring only has full-time employment options available.
- You can only hire local talent.
How to Outsource Developers
Outsourcing the app developers is the best option and is less expensive as you hire them on a contractual basis. In outsourcing, you also do not need to worry about the hiring and firing process. It is also flexible to hire outsourced developers because you can hire them according to your projects’ needs.
Pros of Outsourcing
- Hiring and onboarding expenses are less when you are outsourcing developers.
- Easy Access to talent worldwide
- You can opt for a team with a diverse range of expertise
- No responsibility for tools and documentation.
Cons of Outsourcing
- Outsourcing calls for managing the external team including setting expectations, monitoring progress, and ensuring clear communication.
- Communication issues may arise due to geographical distance and cultural differences.
3. Research And Shortlist Candidates
After deciding on your partnership model, start researching various online platforms.
Multiple online platforms are available where you can find the top talent for your startup. Upwork, fiver, Toptal, and Clutch are some of the most common platforms where you can easily find the reviews, portfolios, and ratings that will help you decide to hire the app developer for your startup.
Whereas, Networking is also one of the ways to find app developers for your startup. Ask people you trust such as friends, colleagues, etc for recommendations.
4. Assess Skills And Availability
After shortlisting the most appropriate candidate for your project, pay attention to the details such as tech skills, communication, and problem-solving approach. You can do this in several ways like conducting interviews to determine the potential candidates, discussing their development approach, and checking their compatibility by asking specific questions.
5. Sign the Contract
Now it’s time to do all the necessary documentation including the contract and NDA. These documents must contain details such as a timeline, the scope of work, payment terms, intellectual property rights, and the form of partnerships.
6. Set Clear Goals
Finally, this is the development stage, in this stage, you should be very clear about some specifications such as your goals and objectives should be shared with your development partner firsthand, outline your expectations, share your requirements with the team, set the communication channel, make sure all are on the same page, and transfer all the documentation and knowledge you have. These are essential steps to take after you hire app developers for your project.
7. Post-Development Process
The post-development process includes support and maintenance tasks such as fixing bugs or errors, updates, adding new features, or implementing new iterations of the existing features. For the best app performance, it is necessary to run regular monitoring and leverage an iterative approach to hit new challenges and match emerging needs.
How to Find the App Developers For Your Startup?
Let’s now discuss the most important concern: how to find the app developers for your startup.
1. Freelance Platform
Freelance platforms are one of the most convenient ways to find the top talent for your company. The freelance market is continuously booming with approximately 1.57 billion people being self-employed around the globe, accounting for nearly half of that 46.6% of the world’s workforce.
The above data shows that a huge proportion of talent is freelancing. This means that you can easily find the app developers for your startup on freelancing platforms such as:
- Fiverr
- Toptal
- Jooble
- Freelancer.com
- Upwork
- Flexjobs
- SimplyHired
- Guru
- Behance
- 99designs
- Dribbble
- People Per Hour
- ServiceScape
- DesignHill
- TaskRabbit
This is the list of the top 16 freelance websites where you can find your desired candidate for your project according to your project needs.
2. Social Media Platforms
Another convenient way is to explore social media platforms to find app developers for your startup such as LinkedIn and Twitter. You just need to write a perfect job post, mentioning all the requirements and specifications with proper hashtags such as #app developers, #mobile app developers, etc.
Insights of Social Media For Recruitment
- According to CareerArc’s 2021 Future of Recruiting Study: 86% of job seekers use social media in their job search.
- According to Betterteam: 94% of professional recruiters use social media to network and post jobs, making it one of the most in-demand methods of recruiting talent.
- A Society for Human Resource Management study says a majority of companies use social media for recruitment. 84% of organizations are currently using social media for recruitment and 9% of those are planning to do so that haven’t already.
- One recent survey found over 85 percent of employers said social media helps them find and engage passive job seekers.
How do you find app developers on social media?
1. LinkedIn
LinkedIn is one of the best online platforms to find app developers for your startup. It’s a professional network-building platform where you can connect and interact with other professionals. You can prefer this option to hunt for freelancers or agencies. It has a search filter making it easier to search for professionals according to your specific needs. Furthermore, if you have a company page on Linkedin, just post a job and you will get several interested candidates. Make sure to mention all the job role specifications in your job post such as required skills, the type of app you want to create, and the engagement models.
LinkedIn Recruiting Statistics
- More than 90% of recruiters search for candidates on Linked In to fill company job openings.
- Over 50 million companies have a presence on Linkedin.
- According to LinkedIn’s data, 46 million students and recent graduates are on the platform. This makes LinkedIn a prime target to find and attract entry-level college graduates.
- This is a growing trend as over 51% of college graduates use LinkedIn.
2. Reddit
Reddit is an online forum that can be a suitable option to find your desired developer. Join the communities, engage, and interact with other professionals to find suitable candidates for your job. You can find the people according to the specific skill set you are looking for such as javascript developer. You can also join app development or startup-related communities.
3. Git Hub
Git Hub is an amazing online software development platform. It enables developers to share code files and collaborate with fellow developers on open-source projects. It also serves as a social networking site where developers can openly network, collaborate, and pitch their work.
Finding app developers on GitHub may be a bit time-consuming and tough but it is rewarding. GitHub allows you to search for open-source code repositories and projects by programming language, location, and followers. You can find individual profiles of the developers where you can find developers’ email addresses on the profile and initiate communication.
4. Stack Overflow
Stack Overflow is a question-and-answer platform that unites computer programmers worldwide. This website serves as the storehouse of information about computer programming. This platform allows collaboration, problem-solving, and knowledge sharing among individuals, groups, and organizations. This is a great place to find developers as it provides a job board to hire talent. As a startup, create your company’s page and post job openings. To have access to the advanced search features, you have to pay for premium options. This will be an investment but you can end up hiring the right app developer for your project.
3. Networking Events
Networking events is the least common way to find developers but it can work out if you like attending the networking events. But what are networking events?
Look! Networking events are organized events aimed at fostering professional and business relationships. In these events, attendees can exchange ideas, broaden connections, and discover opportunities. Events like tech conferences, meetups, and hackathons are excellent to meet mobile app developers in person. These events allow you to share your startup idea with developers, get their feedback, and learn about their experience. You can also connect with other startup founders and learn about their experience working with the developers. Attending networking events can help you find the right developers and build lasting business relations.
4. Development Agencies
Hiring app developers from development agencies is a great option if you want to work with a dedicated team of developers to work on your app. These agencies have a team of experts who can handle all aspects of app development including design, development, testing, launch, and even marketing. They also provide ongoing support and maintenance for your app.
When choosing a development agency, make sure to look at their experience and portfolio to ensure they have the skills you need for your startup. Some development agencies have in-house marketing teams that can help you with user acquisition, social media marketing, and app store optimization.
5. Tech Blogs/ Corporate Blogs
Tech blogs are also one of the ways to find developers. Many developers do blogging to address and solve queries. You can easily find tech blogs from developers and drop them an email to check if they’re interested in working with your startup or not.
Also, you may come across any interesting corporate blog, just examine the company’s portfolio, preferred frameworks, and outsourcing options. You can also check online platforms or professional networks to get their accounts.
6. Colleges And Universities
Colleges and universities are also amazing places to find young enthusiastic developers. Many students may agree to work with your startup to support their studies. You can begin the development of your app with them in a cost-effective manner and later give them full-time opportunities. Many engineering and computer Science students look for internship opportunities and projects to gain hands-on experience.
Why Choose Quanrio For App Development of Your Startup?
Finding a skilled mobile app developer is difficult since there is a limited pool of professional app developers, and hundreds of industry-leading businesses compete for them. It is expensive and time-consuming to locate the finest app developers since there is a shortage of highly skilled developers. What is the solution then? Is it feasible to hire affordable app developers to produce apps fast without compromising on quality?
It is, indeed.
Quanrio offers app development solutions at the most affordable rates. We have a team of professional and experienced app development team who make sure to provide startups with the best possible outcome in the minimum time frame. So, what are you waiting for? Have queries? Reach out to us and our team experts will guide you to the fullest. Just drop us an email or make a phone call provided on our website.
FAQs
1. What should I know before hiring an app developer?
You must consider the following factors before hiring an app developer:
- Technical expertise
- Portfolio and experience
- Communication skills
- Time management and availability
By considering these factors, you can hire app developers according to your specific needs and requirements.
2. How much does it cost to hire an app developer?
The cost of hiring an app developer varies depending on several factors including geographical location, experience & expertise, project complexity, type of engagement, and duration of the project.
3. How long does it take to build an app?
The time required to build an app varies greatly depending on factors such as the complexity of the app, desired feature & functionality, team size & expertise, and the project’s scope and requirements.
4. Where can I find app developers for my startup?
There are various online sources where you can find app developers for your startup. You can hire freelancers from the freelancer platforms, or you can hire individual talent through social media platforms, for referrals, and attend networking events to find app developers for your startup.
5. How to find a good app developer?
Before finding app developers, you need to take the following steps: define the target audience, validate the problem, validate the solution, build MVP, measure KPIs, and analyze.