The 3-Step Software Developer Hiring Process
You know how it is: Hiring great software developers is hard. But with the right process, you will make better hiring decisions.
Today, you’ll learn how to set up a great software developer hiring process. Specifically, you’ll learn:
- How to start assessing candidates.
- What your interviews should look like.
- And how to use coding assignments to choose the right software developer.
Ready to learn more? Let’s dive right in.
Step 1: What Should You Look for in a Developer?
Why is it so important that you get your hiring decision right when hiring developers?
Good question. You see, “10X developers” can have a huge impact on your business. According to research, top performers are 400% more productive than average workers.
Plus, a bad hire will cost you money. The cost of a bad hire is at least 30% of that person’s first-year expected earnings.
That’s why you should carefully assess your new developer.
Your software developer hiring process has several steps:
- Step 1: A candidate submits their resume or CV and any supporting material. You review the submission.
- Step 2: You invite the best candidates to an interview.
- Step 3: You invite the candidate to complete a software developer assessment test.
After this, you’ll likely still have at least one more in-person interview before making a final hiring decision.
The first step in the process is to review your candidates’ technical AND soft skills. These are:
Technical skills
- A programming language and frameworks
- Problem-solving skills
- Integrated Development Environment (IDE)
- Databases
- Source control
- System design
- Cloud services
- Data security and data privacy
- Clean maintainable code
- Algorithms
Soft skills
- Teamwork and cultural fit
- Communication skills
- Adaptability
- Creative thinking
You’ll get a good understanding of a software developer’s skills by looking at his or her portfolio.
This often includes open-source projects, blogs, examples of code, and/or GitHub or StackOverflow activity.
With the portfolios you receive, you can start weeding out candidates and decide who gets to the first round of interviews.
And that takes us to Step 2.
Step 2: How to Interview Software Developers
The next step in your software developer hiring process is to interview developers.
A pre-screen interview (often done over the phone) can be used to:
- Assess the applicant’s communication skills.
- Ask about the applicant’s resume and clarify anything that needs to be clarified.
- Understand the applicant’s salary requirements.
Interview questions include:
- “Give me an example of a time when you were faced with a stressful situation that demonstrated your coping skills.”
- “Describe a time when you encouraged others to contribute opinions or ideas. How did you get everyone to contribute? What was the end result?”
- “Tell me about a time when you set a goal and were able to achieve it.”
After this round of interviews, you have a list of candidates you want to take to the next step in your process.
Step 3: How to Use Coding Assignments to Choose the Right Developer
What’s the third step in your software developer recruitment process?
Simple: Software developer hiring challenges.
After all, portfolios, work samples, and interviews will only tell you so much about a person.
But seeing how they cope with real-life tasks? That will give you a thorough understanding of how someone will perform if they join your team.
Your developer assessment test can be an in-person or a take-home test.
Whichever alternative you choose, there are a few mistakes that might hurt your hiring process more than it helps. These are:
- Using screening tools. Screening tools, such as algorithmic quizzes, are designed to filter out applicants. They are ineffective because most applicants don’t enjoy them and they’re not the best way to demonstrate someone’s skills.
- Making tests too long. Using unpaid, 20- or 30-hour long tests is a waste of both your and your candidates’ time. Ideally, applicants should be able to complete your assignment in one sitting.
- Not giving feedback. Taking on a free test is a big ask. So even if it means a bit of effort on your part, give feedback!
In-person coding assignment
An in-person coding assignment is completed at your premises.
You invite the developer to your office and they usually get a task that they solve on a whiteboard.
These types of tests have a few problems:
- They’re limited to local talent.
- They can be stressful and they don’t necessarily show how someone would perform in their professional role.
- They’re a bad experience for developers. According to Dice, 42% of applicants dislike whiteboard tasks.
Take-home coding assignment
The other option is a take-home coding assignment (you can read our guide here). Take-home coding assignments are completed at home and at the developer’s own pace.
The benefits are:
- They simulate real-world tasks better than other assignments.
- They are candidate-friendly.
- You reach a bigger pool of developers.
- You will likely be less biased because you only assess the work, not the situation.
Now, one of the biggest concerns for hiring managers is that take-home assignments can be misused because the tests are easy to plagiarize.
But with the right tools, take-home assignments are risk-free. Our own tool, CodeSubmit, ensures that candidates can’t plagiarize your tasks.
The point is: With the right coding assignment, you are much closer to making great hiring decisions.
How to Find a Good Software Developer
There you have it:
Now you know how to recruit developers and set up a great software developer hiring process.
What it comes down to is knowing what you’re looking for in a software developer and using portfolios, interviews, and coding assignments to find the right candidate.
Want to learn more about choosing the best software developer for your team?
Check out CodeSubmit to learn how we help you assess developers and make the right hiring decision.
And for non-technical roles, check out our sister company, Cactus. 🌵
