Kleinburg Brewery
- design
- / web
Hiring the right web developer can be a challenging task. This person will after all be the one to create the face of your company online, and allow your customers to interact with it. Therefore, it is very important to select the right candidate the first time around, otherwise you can be hurting your business and pockets, and let’s not forget about the valuable time lost and frustration that come with it.
Being a web designer and developer myself, I decided to put together some tips for you that will help you through the selection process.
1. Hire for their passion, not experience.
When hiring a web developer, their personality is the most important factor to consider. Most employers will put experience first, however, personality is what will make this project succeed. The right candiate needs to have the right persona that will fit within the group of people working together to gets this project complete. Therefore, even if you come across a web developer who’s portfolio is amazing, don’t forget to ask yourself if this web developer has the right personality to get the project done.
Of course, it’s easy for some people to fake it in an interview, so you may need to evaluate them in other ways to ensure they’re a good fit.
2. Test the new developer with a smaller project first
Even when you thought you have identified the right web developer, just to be 100% sure that he or she is the one, you may want to give them a small project to work on first. That way you can observe how they work, the efficiency in delivering the product, and most importantly how buggy the final product is.
This way you will be able to identify key components like, attention to detail, communication and how quickly your web developer can deliver.
3. Pick a web developer that is always up to date
In the technology world, where skills and programming can become obsolete very often, it is better to hire a web developer that is passionate and stays up to date, rather than someone who only knows one way to get to the destination.
If you are asking yourself how to find out, here are some tips. Look up your web developer on Google. Are they part of social media? If so, do they market themselves, with a blog? Maybe just post different articles or news they come across online and share it with their peers.
If you can’t seem to find any activity online, maybe ask them during the interview, where web developing will be in a few years for now.
You need to make sure you are hiring the right web developer that will develop you a website that can last you a long time with minimal critical updates.
4. Hired the wrong web developer?
Oh no! You hired the wrong web developer didn”t you? Now what?
Well… simple get rid of them as soon as possible! Do not let them get any further in your project, because most likely, your next web developer will need to start from scratch.
As a web developer myself, it is very difficult trying to debug someone else’s programming. It can take much longer than starting from scratch, and will end up costing you more time and money.
The fire-fast rule may be difficult to follow in small companies where there’s often a feeling of everyone being in it together and forming close friendships. But don’t let that stop you.