How to interview developers?

Having a good developer is essential for high-quality work and timely completion for a project but finding a skilled and qualified developer is tedious and hard to know if he is the right candidate for the job Often, companies and recruiters end up selecting the wrong and unqualified tech candidates, wasting their time, energy & hiring costs. However, you can easily avoid this costly pain point by partnering with a PEO (Professional Employer Organization) for talent sourcing or adopting the right strategies, and asking the right interview questions while hiring developers.

Here you will find a list of useful tips to interview developers and find a successful candidate:

Be specific about what you're looking for

This rule is important not only for hiring a developer, but whenever you plan to hire a new employee for your remote workforce or distributed team. You should know exactly what skill sets you are looking for and what kind of person best fits your project. "Developer" is an umbrella term used for all types of tech talent candidates. While hiring, you should know whether you are looking for a website developer, an app developer, a backend developer, a front-end developer, or some other developer specialized in a specific coding language. Once you decide on the technical expertise needed for the job, make sure to check their soft skills. There are different programming languages, such as Python, Java, Scala, C++, Ruby, and others, that developers use to develop apps, software, websites, and other products; as well as different responsibilities within a team to see if they’ll be mentored or have a leadership role

When shortlisting applicants, carefully read their resumes

Once you advertise a position for your remote workforce or distributed team, you will receive a lot of applications. These applications include candidates with both relevant and irrelevant skill sets. Therefore, shortlist the resume very carefully. In the first step, you have determined the kind of developer and skill set you require. For instance, if you are looking for a front-end web developer, then shortlist resumes with experience in front-end web development and expertise in the relevant programming languages such as HTML, CSS, and JavaScript.

Set a test assignment relevant to the vacancy

Now is the time to check their programming and project handling skills. To do this, prepare a very brief but conceptual assignment to test their abilities. Email the test to the shortlisted candidates and ask them to complete the project without any external assistance within a limited time.  

Check their code skills

So far, you must have filtered out more than half of the applicants. Once they complete the task and send you the last version of the code, it’s time to check their coding skills. Merely completing the assignment is not enough; the thing is that the candidate needs to code with efficiency and quality, as it plays a critical role in the product. So, hire a specialist or ask the technical lead to go over the assignment to check their programming skills.

Carefully interview the candidate

This is the last stage in the entire process, and you can divide this stage into two groups: technical interview and HR interview. In the technical interview, ask a specialist to ask technical questions to gauge the applicant’s technical knowledge. Prepare a list of technical questions to ask the applicant.

In the HR interview, look for his other qualities or soft skills such as motivation for programming, interest in his job, and other qualities necessary to be a loyal employee and worthy addition to your remote workforce or distributed team. Once you're sure, give them an offer.

That’s all. After applying all these strategies, you will have a candidate with all the required skills and qualities. As you see, finding the right tech talent is not as easy as it seems. You will save both time and energy if you partner with a company that does this for you. It will give you a lot of time to focus on your company and your growth.  

Axented has a perfect solution to take this load off your shoulders. With its platform Axelerate Talent Sourcing, you can easily find the right candidate for your team by using our Recruitment-as-a-Service tool.  

‍