5 Simple Steps To Hiring Java Developers Who Last: Insights Of An IT Services Firm
Hiring Java Developers who last beyond 2 years (the average employment duration of developers in a single firm) is rare. Find out how to hire right!
Table of contents
- Introduction: Hiring Java Developers
- 1. Look for past experiences and projects
- 2. Test the developer’s technical skills
- 3. Test the developer’s communication skills
- 4. Assess their problem-solving and decision-making skills
- 5. Test their self-driven ability
- Using these steps, you can hire a team of java developers easily.
- How To Hire Leaders As Developers?
- How To Retain Talent?
- Conclusion
- Bonus: Hiring Right With Offshoring
- Freelance Java Developers: Yay or Nay?
- Why Freelance Isn’t The Way Forward?
- Freelancers & Development: A Scenario
Introduction: Hiring Java Developers
Hiring the right java developers means hiring java developers who exceed your expectations. Hiring right means getting the right mix of skillsets you desire. Lastly, hiring directly is getting your work done without unnecessary costs.
Suppose you are looking for a good java developer. In that case, you can hire them easily by following the steps:
1. Look for past experiences and projects
Look for past experiences and projects.
Ask for references.
Ask for a portfolio of their work, preferably with links to their website or blog where they can be reached easily.
Check out the GitHub profile of the candidate, as well as any other social media sites they may have created (e.g., LinkedIn).
2. Test the developer’s technical skills
Ask them to write a simple program that you can test. This will let you see what they know and how they think, which is particularly helpful if your application is complicated or overly technical.
Ask them to solve a problem that’s been on your mind lately or has been plaguing you for some time now. You want them to come up with an idea that can help solve the issue at hand, but don’t ask for an exact solution; it might be better if the developer creates their concept, which will show off their creativity and drive rather than just following instructions from one particular angle (like “make this particular function work correctly).
Test their knowledge of algorithms—this includes sorting data sets by fundamental column values (e.g., date), determining whether certain conditions apply based on multiple variables in an equation (e.g., does this person have enough money left over after paying bills?), etcetera!
3. Test the developer’s communication skills
Communication is key to any business. A developer must be able to communicate with their team members, clients and managers well for them to succeed in their role. This means that developers should know how to write good emails, use the right tone of voice for different situations (e.g., when talking about technical issues), have good listening skills, and so on. You can test a candidate’s communication skills by asking them questions like
“What kind of communication style do you prefer?”
“What would your ideal work environment look like?”
“How would you resolve issues in your team?”
If they don't answer this question with any detail at all or give an answer that doesn't make sense (such as "I'm not sure"), then it's clear that they don't understand what makes good communication possible—which means they may not be ready for IT services work!
4. Assess their problem-solving and decision-making skills
Ask the developer to solve a problem.
Ask them to make a decision.
Ask them why they made that decision and how they came up with it, if necessary.
Ask them to justify their decision regarding business goals and objectives and other relevant factors like ROI or cost savings potential.
5. Test their self-driven ability
Design a test where developers have to solve a problem on their own.
Call them for an interview and ask them to provide feedback on improving the interview experience.
Developers should be able to take the initiative and not wait for instructions from you or your team. Developers should also be able to solve problems independently, making them less dependent on others in the business who might have different priorities than yours.
In addition, developers should be able to learn new technologies quickly so that you don't need to invest in expensive training courses every time a new technology is introduced into your company's system.
Using these steps, you can hire a team of java developers easily.
Look for past experiences and projects.
Test the developer’s technical skills.
Test the developer’s communication skills.
Assess their problem-solving and decision-making skills by asking them to solve an easy task with a limited amount of time, for example, “How many times can I type the word ‘hello’ before hitting enter?” or “What is the highest number you can add to this list without copying anything?”
The best way to test their self-driven ability is by setting a time limit to complete this task and then asking them how they did it.
How To Hire Leaders As Developers?
A leader is irreplaceable in all respects. Thus, a developer as a leader must never forget how they differ from their team.
A team of java developers consists of a front-end developer, a back-end developer, QA testers, project managers, and so on. However, each team has its leader.
Your clients expect results. You expect results. Thus, a lead developer must delegate.
These are the ways to check your java developer’s capacity as a team lead:
Test their communication skills.
Ask them to resolve a simulated scenario.
Make them answer an escalation email.
Test their technical skills.
Ask for their feedback.
Test their flexibility.
The idea is to look for innovators, problem solvers, and managers. Anyone who can do all of the above will flourish.
How To Retain Talent?
Over 1 in 5 employees are planning to quit their jobs by 2022.
Keeping this statistic in mind, it is essential to note that employees are looking for fulfillment in the workplace. This is how you can keep your java developers happy:
Offer a remote workplace.
Provide employees with 100% flexibility.
Ensure On-Time Payment.
Offer benefits for the employee and family.
Invest in the growth of the role.
Provide appraisals with performance reviews
Offer good perks.
Build a good company culture.
Invest in their career growth.
Bring an excellent onboarding experience.
Perform standardized team bonding activities.
Invest in career development.
Conclusion
While hiring a developer is not rocket science, it would be helpful if you took a few simple steps to hire the best developers. This will help you get the right team to work on your projects efficiently and effectively.
However, we have a few tips to get you started with hiring java developers who last.
Bonus: Hiring Right With Offshoring
If hiring developers and retaining them isn’t your cup of tea, offshoring may be what you need. Hiring is striking a balance between expectations and cost. However, retaining talent is another ball game.
To hire the right people, you should hire dedicated people. When you hire dedicated resources, you get these things without any added cost:
Easy Onboarding
Contract Hiring
Remote Work
Managed Services
Pay After Work and more.
When you hire dedicated java developers, everything changes. You have your own team and complete control.
Want to know more about the difference between dedicated and in-house teams? Read our blog on dedicated vs in-house developers.
Freelance Java Developers: Yay or Nay?
2020 was the year that made companies around the globe say goodbye to the traditional office set-up. Some employees were able to transition to a work-from-home setup, while others had to settle for a hybrid arrangement.
Unfortunately, some lost their jobs altogether. To cut costs, organizations had to get creative, and employees had to find ways to make ends meet. That's where freelancing came in.
Thanks to gig platforms like Upwork, Freelancer.com, and Fiverr, there was no shortage of talent to choose from.
It was a convenient way to get things done without having to leave your house. All you had to do was find a task, and within minutes, you could hire a freelancer to take care of it for you.
However, as tempting as it may be to go the freelance route, there's one group of professionals you should never trust in the gig economy: Freelance Java developers.
Why Freelance Isn’t The Way Forward?
According to a survey by the Freelancers Union, almost half (47%) of freelancers have experienced a payment dispute at some point in their careers. (As a client, you may already know why)
And when it comes to programming in Java, freelance just doesn't cut it.
For starters, you might end up with a beginner who's not quite up to par. Plus, it's all up to the individual freelancer, whereas with in-house hiring, you have a certain level of control.
Communication can also be a challenge with freelancers, as they're not fully integrated into your team. And let's not even get started on the security and privacy issues.
But it's not just about trust and reliability. When it comes to development, it's a continuous process, and it's difficult to maintain a chain of accountability and control with multiple freelancers. Knowledge transfer becomes a headache, and there's no guarantee that the work will be error-free. And when things go wrong, it's tough to have a team of freelancers on hand to fix them.
Plus, it's almost impossible to build a dedicated team of freelancers that can match the commitment of an agency.
And let's not forget about quality control. Freelance programmers can struggle with code quality, collaboration, and originality. In short, they're good for one-off tasks and fixed project durations, but you never know what you're going to get.
Freelancers & Development: A Scenario
To give you an example of how things can go wrong with freelancers, let's say you've hired a freelancer to work on a new feature for your app.
You've given them all the necessary information and made sure to communicate clearly throughout the process. However, when they deliver the final product, you realize that they didn't follow your specifications and the code is full of bugs.
You try to get them to fix it, but they're not responsive, and you end up having to hire someone else to redo the work.
Not only have you wasted time and money, but you've also delayed the launch of your feature.
So, in conclusion, if you want the best Java developer on your team, you're better off hiring someone full-time. Trust us, it's worth it, and we aren’t just saying that as your partner in hiring developers.