The aftermath of the COVID pandemic has resulted in a tremendous
shift in the way businesses operate. The IT sector is no exception here
and has severely shifted from the more familiar version of 'on-site
development' to a newer, much more innovative approach of 'remote
development'.
In this approach, businesses can appoint a team of
programmers to work remotely on their projects. While new, this approach
has gained tremendous popularity in a short time span.
In this
blog, we will be discussing the key skills that businesses should look
for when recruiting remote developers for their projects. Let's start
the blog by understanding the basic differences between remote and
on-site development and what makes remote development stand out in the
market.
Remote Development: A Growing Trend
Up
until now, businesses looking to build a digital product have been
commonly hiring in-house development teams to accomplish their
objectives. This approach is more commonly known as the in-house
development approach and needs the developers to work on the project in
an office setting.
However, many businesses that adapted this
approach faced various challenges and hurdles during the COVID period
and were left with no choice but to move to remote or off-site
development. Today, despite having the option for on-site development,
businesses are willing to hire remote dedicated developers for their
projects.
You must be wondering, 'but, its having an on-site team
a better option?'. Well, sure, an on-site team of programmers can be
beneficial in terms of constant communication and supervision. However,
the remote development approach has been proven over time to provide
similar results with uncompromised efficacy. In the upcoming section, we
will learn more about the advantages of remote development.
Benefits of Going for Remote Development
As
we mentioned earlier, businesses have been practicing on-site
development for years. However, with the recent growth in the scope of
development outsourcing, remote development is taking over the IT
market. Here are a few ways in which remote development outshines
on-site development.
- Cost-efficiency
Developing
an IT product through the on-site model can involve numerous overhead
expenses, chiefly in the form of infrastructure and employee maintenance
costs. Depending on the scope and size of the product you wish to
build, these costs can be considerably high, reducing the overall
profitability of your project.
However, by going for remote
development, you can seamlessly cut down on these expenses and optimize
the overall cost of your project. In a nutshell, remote development
eliminates the business's responsibility to provide infrastructure and
other facilities to the development team, therefore reducing the
project's cost altogether.
- Flexible Development
Developing
a digital product requires exquisite flexibility, especially in the
case of startups. This includes flexibility in team size and skillsets.
However, with on-site development, it is challenging for businesses to
impart this level of flexibility in their project.
Remote
development, on the other hand, is known for being one of the most
flexible options. Here, you can modify your team on the go and bring new
talent into the project as per your changing requirements without
harming the efficiency of the development process. What's more? For
startups with limited funding, it is easy to scale the team size as per
their capital availability.
This factor is especially critical
and makes remote development an excellent option among businesses
looking for flexible development.
- Wide Talent Pool
To
develop a successful digital product, it is essential that businesses
use the best human talent. If you go for on-site development, you can
only access the locally available talent pool for your project. This
factor places various restrictions on your project and limits the type
of talent pool that you have access to.
However, with remote
development, you have access to a global talent pool to choose from for
your project. Simply put, you can connect with developers from all
across the globe and handpick the finest team for your requirements.
This way, you can ensure optimal completion of your project.
- Hurdle-free Project Completion
The
sudden onset of the COVID pandemic turned out to be disastrous for many
businesses, especially the ones with ongoing projects. This was
especially the case with businesses that had stuck to on-site
development and were forced to stop their project's development.
This
is just one example of the various hurdles that businesses face on a
day-to-day basis with the on-site model. Improper infrastructure (lack
of electricity), natural constraints (weather conditions that restrict
traveling), and human constraints often act as hurdles in projects and
often lead to extended development timelines.
However, most of
these challenges can be avoided by simply adopting the remote
development model. This is because, in most cases, the impact of such
hurdles is limited to a few employees and not the entire development
team. This factor significantly aids development efficiency and ensures
time-bound project completion.
- Increased Productivity
Numerous
studies conducted during the COVID period indicated that employees
showed increased productivity and delivered better results when given
the opportunity to work remotely, therefore giving remote development an
upper hand over on-site development. Consequently, it is a proven fact
that remote programmers tend to yield better results than programmers
working with the on-site model.
This is mainly because of the
fact that remote developers can work at flexible timings in an
environment that they are comfortable in. Therefore, by opting for
remote development, you can benefit from higher productivity and
improved working efficiency of the team that you appoint for your
project.
- Quick Hiring
Onboarding a remote
employee is a comparatively easy and seamless process and requires very
less effort. This is because, in remote development, a business can save
time that is otherwise utilized in employee orientation, induction, and
training if a business goes for on-site development and recruits a
complete development team for the project.
As a result, remote development is the best option for your project if you are looking to immediately kickstart your project.
These
were a few examples in which remote development outshines on-site
development. We hope that by now, you are convinced about the benefits
of this option. It is essential to note that in order to harness these
advantages of remote development, you must appoint the right developer
for your project.
Moving further, we will take a look at certain
qualities that you should look out for in a developer before appointing
them for your project.
7 Skills to Look for in Remote Developers
While
it is an established fact that remote development is a better approach
than in-house development in various aspects, it is essential to recruit
the most skilled developers to successfully complete the project. Here
are seven key skills that you should seek in a remote developer.
- Professional Experience
When appointing a remote development
team for your project, you must look for developers that possess
adequate experience in working on similar requirements. This way, you
will not have to invest additional time in briefing the development team
about your niche and can immediately inaugurate your project.
To
enforce this factor, you must check and verify the portfolio of the
developer before appointing them for the project. You must thoroughly
interview the developer to ensure that you select the most optimal
candidate for your project.
- Specific Tech Expertise
Apart
from expertise in working with similar niches and industries, it is
also important that you recruit a developer that holds adequate
expertise in the technologies that you wish to use for your project. Not
only that, having familiarity with the technology's libraries, SDKs,
IDEs, etc., is also equally important.
To add to that, you must
ensure to appoint a developer that writes neat, understandable, and
scalable codes for high-end results. This way, you can make sure that
your digital product is optimally developed with exquisite code quality,
further ensuring optimal user experience.
- Experience in Remote Development
While
technical skills and hands-on experience are an essential part of a
developer's skillset, having experience in remote development is equally
important, if not more. By recruiting a developer with experience in
remote development, you can ensure communication efficiency and
hurdle-free development.
This is because developers that hold
experience in remote development are capable of working independently as
well as hold proficiency in remotely collaborating with other members
of the team.
On the other hand, developers that lack experience
in remote development often need a high level of supervision to achieve
the desired results. This requires businesses to either invest
additional time in supervising the developers or hire a project manager
for the role. Therefore, we recommend you select a candidate with
experience in remote development.
- Communication Skills
Clear
and transparent communication is the key to ensuring that your IT
product is developed efficiently. Therefore, you must appoint a
developer that possesses exquisite communication skills and is able to
offer flexible communication models for the project.
One of the
most commonly adapted approaches here is working in a common time zone.
This factor ensures that the developer is available during certain
pre-determined hours for project coordination.
- Interpersonal Skills
It
is commonly known that creating a digital product is not a single
person's job and requires out-and-out collaboration between various
other team members. A developer usually has to coordinate with UI/UX
designers, QA engineers, and project managers to thoroughly understand
the project.
Therefore, you must appoint a developer that holds
world-class interpersonal skills for efficient coordination and timely
project completion.
- Time Management
Time to market is
an essential factor for businesses looking to develop a digital
product. Simply put, this is the time that a digital product takes to be
developed from the start to the very end of the SDLC.
To ensure
the time-bound delivery of your project, it is essential that you
recruit a developer that possesses remarkable time management skills.
However, it is also important to note that while focusing on time
management, the developer must also ensure optimal quality of the
codebase.
- Project Management
There are various
project management approaches, methodologies, and strategies that
developers use to work on your project. Some of the most common
approaches among all are agile methodology, Scrum framework, and
waterfall methodology.
These approaches revolve around
streamlining developers' expertise and skills with the project's
requirements and ensuring optimal results within a limited time frame.
You
must ensure that the developer you are recruiting for your project is
capable of working with these methodologies and techniques. This will
ensure that your project is developed with the highest efficiency and
quality.
These are just a few qualities that you
should look for in a developer before appointing them for your project.
Now that you know the type of developer that you must appoint, the next
question you would have is, 'how to recruit a remote developer?', right?
We
have you covered on this. The upcoming section will provide you with
different approaches through which you can recruit remote developers for
your project.
Bonus Information: How to Recruit Remote Developers?
There
are two ways through which you can appoint remote developers for your
project, which are, building your own team of remote developers and
outsourcing remote development to an IT company. Let's understand both
of these approaches in detail.
- Build Your Own Team
Here,
you have to build a team of freelance remote developers that you
yourself will have to manage. Alternatively, you can also hire a project
manager to supervise and manage the team on your behalf.
You can
use popular freelancer recruiting platforms like Freelancer and Upwork
to look for remote developers from across the globe and appoint them for
your project. However, the freelance approach is infamous for reduced
efficiency and quality. It is because of this factor that a majority of
businesses prefer outsourcing development to an agency, which is the
second approach.
- Outsource Through an Agency
Here,
you have to appoint a development outsourcing agency and share your
requirements with the team. Most agencies offer the option for remote
development, where you can build your own team of developers to work on
the project.
Moreover, you can also deploy the team to work in
your office premises with the on-site model for improved communication
efficiency and project coordination. This factor makes outsourcing an
optimal approach for businesses looking to recruit remote developers for
their projects.
Final Thoughts
Remote
development is an excellent approach to building a digital product at
present. By following this approach, you can easily impart high-end cost
efficiency, exquisite flexibility, a wide talent pool, hurdle-free
project completion, and fast hiring.
You can use the skills
mentioned in this blog as a checklist when screening and recruiting
remote developers for your project and easily determine whether the
candidate meets the required criteria. This way, you'll be able to
appoint the most skilled and capable remote developers and harness the
maximum benefits of remote development.
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