Hiring a remote developer adds to the list of countless challenges that a start-up faces in its initial phase. Let’s have a look at some of the aspects that a startup needs to keep in mind before hiring a remote developer.

With the global outbreak of the Coronavirus pandemic, our lives have accepted some drastic changes. One of these changes is the transition to remote work. Most of the IT companies have transitioned to the work from home policy to abide by the rule of social distancing. However, it is always difficult for a startup to make all the provisions to hire a developer remotely. Here are some of the important aspects that a startup needs to follow in order to hire a remote developer:

1. Choosing the Right Resource

For a startup, money is always an important issue. So, choosing the right candidate for the job is crucial. Discuss internally within the organization prior to selecting the candidate and understand his unique abilities and strengths. First compile the criteria that you require in the candidate for the project and select the right one based on location, skillset, or previous job experiences. However, do not forget to interview all the candidates in the queue as it will give you a chance to talk directly to all the prospective candidates and make a well-informed decision. 

2. Make Proper Arrangements for the Communication Channels

It is important to select the right communication channel and pay heed to its security and accountability before hiring a remote developer. If the developer and your organization have separate timelines due to geographical locations, you need to arrange the frequency of meetings and how your remote employee deals with it. Daily catch up helps in building a good relationship among the members of the team. Make sure you describe the project as easy as possible when engaging with your developer remotely. To create a team spirit, you also need to share a clear overview of project requirements. It is not easy to build a team spirit when operating remotely, but sharing your expectations and ambitions will ease out the process.

3. Choose the Right Tools and Technologies

Choosing the right tools and technologies when dealing with remote employees is mandatory. A startup should invest wisely in their tools as they somehow struggle with the flow of money in their initial days. Slack, Skype, Zoom, Odoo, and GSuite are some of the tools that can be relied on for this purpose.

4. Prioritize Time Management

Time management plays a pivotal role in successfully running a business. Hence, assign specified deadlines to complete the multiple project sprints and ensure that the developer is able to stick to them. It is ideal to break down the project into simple targets or sprints on a weekly or regular basis. This makes it easy to monitor the success of the project. However, while assigning the deadlines make sure you are setting realistic ones that are achievable. For a startup, it would be difficult to recruit a separate team to monitor the progress of the project. So, use Google sheets or Odoo to track the progress of the work.

5. Synchronized Workflow

Your confidence will be automatically enhanced once you have the right tools and a process in place to deal with your remote developers. Give some extra attention like rewarding team members for better performance and innovative insights, especially to the remote employees, as it will help to elevate the entire process of team building. Instead of following a rigid work culture, allow yourself and your developer to be flexible & innovative. Make sure you overcome the cultural and language differences of your developer and do not let him feel left out. Geographical and cultural differences can be overcome by mutual respect and setting common goals. Also, make sure to find a common ground to communicate with your developer irrespective of the difference in the native languages.

Apart from preparing yourself for hiring a remote developer, there are some qualities that you need to look for in your developer before hiring:

6. Good Communication Skills

Remote work demands that all workers learn good communication skills or else it becomes difficult to understand each other. A remote developer also ought to have excellent listening skills in order to exchange thoughts, conflicts, or something meaningful. Often developers use coding to address a particular issue that becomes hard to understand for those who have no idea about code or scripting. Therefore, someone who knows how to clarify these technological aspects to people, who are not professionals, is a developer with outstanding communication skills. Also, good communicators are good listeners- someone who has the patience to listen to others without interrupting and knows well about his responsibilities. Pay heed to these qualities in a candidate before hiring.

7. Good as a Team Member

While working remotely, it often becomes difficult to be a part of a team. There are various factors that create hindrances in developing a good team like location, timing, language, or culture. However, no project can be successful without a team contribution. So, always look for a candidate who is able to overcome any obstacle to become a part of a team. Also, he values the opinions of others and contributes to building a good team spirit.

Related: Choosing an Outsourcing Partner: 10 Questions to Ask

8. Go for a Self-Driven Developer

This is one attribute that most good remote workers have. The idea that your manager is not there to see how you are working is part of being in a dispersed squad. You’ve got an idea, a due date, and it’s up to you to make it happen. Being self-driven, though, is not just about being autonomous and doing your work. That also means having the desire to make new innovations and to put new thoughts to the table. With more ideas, more projects are to be created and fresh targets to be accomplished. With this skill, a remote web developer not only knows his work but goes beyond it, doing things differently that may also turn out to meet expectations. 

9. A Believer in ‘Survival of the Fittest’ Theory

If you ever ask a software engineer who has been in this profession for the last 20 years about the improvements in his career, he will probably tell you how that the whole profession has changed. Years ago, in software development, the Waterfall or Spiral model was the most common. However, methodologies such as Agile have achieved more prominence today. Since the world of programming evolves and changes quickly, developers need to be continually studying and upgrading themselves. In order to do their job as best as they can and to have the potential to build new things, they need to adapt and welcome this transition. Always hire a developer who has the urge to learn new things.

10. A Good Problem Solver

When you employ a remote developer, it’s because you have a problem that needs to be solved. This means you choose to employ someone who fixes your issues and presents you with realistic solutions to something that doesn’t work and not someone who brings a new challenge to each solution. As long as work exists, problems will occur. You need to see and understand how an individual deals with these issues while working remotely.

To Sum Up

A startup faces innumerable challenges as they pass through the process of establishing their business and hire resources. However, for a technology-based startup software developer becomes their primary resource, and hiring one remotely becomes an additional challenge. Henceforth, any startup should look into the pros and cons of hiring a remote developer and prepare them accordingly before taking up the challenge.