If you are starting a new development project, you should know that there are aspects that you need to understand before you put your hands on them. This includes hiring developers, which should be easier if you apply certain tips. We also suggest that you do a lot of research on this topic to reduce the uncertainty and handle inconveniences. This given the latter can emerge during the mentioned process and others while your development progresses.
What Can a Web Developer Offer in 2021?
Alongside the new modality, technology is fast-growing to offer quicker solutions in the digital world. Thus, you need to hire a web developer who is prepared to assume new challenges in microservices. He/she should also be ready for ore customized features, edge computing, eCommerce, and, of course, big data structure. If you want to develop a website or an app and you need a certain type of developer, you must be aware of the skills that a developer can offer you throughout the year and maybe the next ones.
According to Indeed, a worldwide employment website, a qualified developer must have the knowledge and management to operate in cross-platform frameworks. This includes adaptability to different types of projects with a small or wide scope. You should look for a developer with specific language skills if you want to offer microservices in your project. But you should also make sure that they have a background in different languages to provide you with different types of solutions if it is required. In addition, hiring developers who have specific knowledge about big data will be more meaningful for your project. This regarding data storage and security, but this is not essential to meeting your software quality requirements.
More Specialized Skills
While in the past web or app engineers were more specialized in managing one side of the platform, now they can also offer a more complete service to both sides. It is important that you ask them what their level of expertise in UX and UI design is if they have it, especially with front-end developers. For example, the work of an angular developer not only involves coding but also improving the user experience with structural design solution effectiveness and esthetical visual design. This will also be helpful for you in terms of your budget.
In terms of relative performance skills, the developer should also have the soft ones to work in a team. These include collaboration, initiative, effective communication, motivation, and critical thinking.
You might also like our blog post Hire Developers Specialized in .NET, learn all about what this framework can offer you.
Planning Management Considerations for Hiring Developers
Define the Project
Establishing your own project parameters is necessary before even thinking about what type of team members you need. This encompasses the objectives, resources, and requirements of the development to make decisions about it. Then, you must propose a project board to designate the functions, have a map of tasks, and check the timelines.
Once you have that in mind, you will be able to offer a realistic job description and project brief when hiring a freelance developer to discuss and agree to the terms related to expectations and deliveries. This process of involving the engineer in the task setting will increase the chances of having a better teamwork relationship. This could also benefit the result of the development.
Define the Type of Developer
For web or app development, you must know that there are three types of developers. The first one, the front-end developer or angular developer, works on the part that the user sees to design the functionality and visual layout of the platform. The back-end developer, in turn, focuses on the website or app structure regarding its speed, services, features, and solving and improving technical issues. The third one, the full-stack developer, works as the frontend and backend engineer, so it is more specialized.
We suggest you count on a full-stack developer if your project is simple; otherwise, if the development is more complex, hire two team members instead of just one that covers both functions. Also, consider the type of the developer regarding its time availability. In this case, the engineers could be working full-time or as contractors or freelancers.
The skill and time required by the developer rely on the scope of the project and, therefore, its level of challenge.
Agree Time and Deadline Details
Other planning management skills include time and deadline considerations to discuss once you are hiring developers. The remote modality involves time differences that are important because of the adaptability of a good team communication flow. So, looking for workable hours for all the different zones and focusing on technologies that reduce these gaps will give you an advantage.
Asking your developer to agree on deadlines that work for both you and the project will help make it go forward. Additionally, being aware of the task times of development will also provide you with some slack on the engineer’s deliveries. Absolutely, will help you to how to manage inconveniences if they emerge.
Invest in Tech Tools
You must invest in your IT management services and technical tools. But it is also important to go beyond operational functionality. In this sense, you should balance working tasks and working relationships to develop soft skills like leadership, good communication, empathy, and adaptability as well as set dates and responsibilities.
Define the Budget
As with other resources, having the project board in hand will allow you to determine the budget and what you can invest in, and whatnot. You can decide how many team members you need and what functions you must cover. In other areas, you can also choose the payment modalities based on hourly pay or fixed fees. In fact, you can also allocate some of the budgets to cover additional benefits. This can include when you hire a web developer and throughout the project to keep your team motivated.
2021 Trends of Websites Made by Web Developers
To gain more background about exactly what you need to meet the current demand, we suggest you investigate website trends. By using this approach, you will also know what skills and knowledge your developer team needs when you are thinking about hiring a freelance developer.
Wix and Three Digital Trends
According to Wix and Thee Digital these are the points to take into consideration for 2021 when you develop a website:
- Asymmetric layouts provide more dynamism for both the engineer and the user. Although having a visual balance does not have to be a concern if the expert is balancing the elements, the download speed is vital to keep visitors interested.
- A report shows that 40% of internauts abandon websites if they take longer than 3 seconds to download.
- A demand for microservices is a reality alongside minimalist or maximalist features.
- A simpler design will support a simpler user experience. However, a more complex website composition will take the value to another level in the creativity. You will also have wide options available to develop the platform or to navigate through it.
- Multimedia elements remain in demand. So if your angular developer allows more formats, it will let you connect with a wider audience and not simply interact with the target audience.
- Original graphics and art to create a visual proposal.
- The abstract designs boost your brand value and identity.
- Animations to add effects that catch the users’ attention.
- Web color scheme based on pastel tones or a more minimalist one based on basic color values. This would be black and white.
- Accessibility features in your platform will improve the experience of regular users. (Like contrasting colors, large text, and alt text descriptions to images and will improve the overall usability )
- The scrolling effects are a matter of concern considering that they can potentially affect the browsing experience.
- A parallax scrolling takes special relevance in creating a three-dimensional view with a slow and fast-paced background and foreground.
More Trends to Come
Thee Digital also reveals its list of website trends for 2021, which you should check before you hire a web developer. As previously mentioned, website load time and speed, accessibility, micro animation, organic shapes, minimalism, web color schemes, text for images, and interactive 3D content are also mentioned. Like other trends to consider, the smart content load should be focused on only downloading the content that the user will see and not wasting the server resources on other offscreen elements.
Having said this, it is better to develop a website in which the content begins to appear as the user scrolls down the page. This will avoid him/her a longer loading time. In an increasingly digital world based on microservices, customized content based on browsing history and geolocation will improve the conversion rate of the user. This given it will predict and offer what they expect to consume. The rise of technology has also allowed for more automatized processes like implementing inputs through machine learning and artificial intelligence. As a result, chatbots are becoming more popular and more advanced for e-commerce or platform use cases.
Looking to add more tools to the interface, voice-activated interfaces to ease users’ search, virtual reality (VR) to help them make decisions, and data visualization insights to create interest are also things to consider when using your platform. In terms of user visualization, there are some of the elements that you can include. These include material design to offer more realistic icons and text-only hero images to eye-catch and offer important information. Additionally, you can have bold and vintage typography to call attention to new combinations and dark mode design for a modern website look.
How and Where Hiring a Freelance Developer
Once you have covered all these details, it’s time to decide how and where to hire a web developer. Although this job modality for project goals will allow you certain flexibility and save you money, you must protect your project and your data. If your developer is involved in other projects, we suggest you sign a Non-Disclosure Agreement or NDAs. So, you can make sure your development details are not publicly disclosed or sold to other companies. This may also help you feel more confident while hiring a freelance developer. Because you will be able to offer more specific information during the project and not just through stages, which could delay other processes.
Additionally, you should consider testing the candidate for what you are looking for. This will also work as a filter to easily complete the task. After you interview a candidate, you can test focusing on programming skills and coding to see if their expertise, cognitive level, and specific knowledge are exactly what you need. In your budget, even include some payment as a benefit for taking the test. As we mentioned, this should be according to its nature and level of difficulty or if the candidate asks for it. Having this in mind will help you avoid inconveniences that have nothing to do with the development of the project itself.
One Last Recommendation to Hire a Web Developer
When hiring developers, you can do your own research on different platforms on the Internet. Remember to compare the advantages and disadvantages of each site. So you can choose the ones that fit best with the objectives, scope, and requirements of your project. Additionally, you should consider the application of a test regarding what you are looking for. This will also work as a filter to ease the task.
After you have the interview with the candidate, you can send a test focused on programming skills and coding. In that way, you can check if its expertise, cognitive level, and specific knowledge are exactly what you need. In your budget, even include some payment as a benefit for taking the test. this should be according to its nature and level of difficulty or if the candidate asks for this. Having this in mind will take off your shoulders inconveniences that have nothing to do with the development of the project itself.
Apart from these, it is important to note what the focus of the platform is regarding the web engineer profile and how the payment process is done. Some sites offer spaces to contact candidates while others serve as the only nexus between the developer and the leader. In the second case, there aren’t important the email or task setting platforms that your team uses throughout development. The selection process to hire a web developer will rely on the time you invest in looking for candidates and the time and steps that the platform takes to find them according to your specifications. The other approach is to get expert advice on hiring a developer.
Final Thoughts for Hiring
Counting on a business that specializes in this matter will save you additional concerns about tracking because the consulting firm will do this for you while also weighing the selection process of the candidate. Additionally, you can count on expertise in other areas of the project if need be.
To hire a web developer and throughout the early stages of your platform development, you can count on Advancio to help you build your team in a successful way.
