Find the Perfect App Developer: 5 Valuable tips before hiring

Which is more difficult- Coming up with a great app idea or finding the best app developers? Well, the topic is worth a great debate but one thing is for sure- for an app idea to become a great app, you need at least good developers, if not the best. Hence, much thought and scrutiny need to be put in place while choosing the app developers. So, we thought of sharing five valuable tips on how to find your dream team of app developers.

Tip 1: Choose the app development location

For an entrepreneur, this might be a little shocking. But app developers are not exactly widespread worldwide. From a global perspective, there are locations where you could find a huge concentration of app developers. In North America, Silicon Valley has the largest supply of information technology consultants. If the focus is on Europe, most developers are in London or Berlin. When it comes to Asia, India stands tall and is well known for outsourcing. App developers from India and Ukraine can provide the same quality of development but at lower costs compared to developers from the USA, UK or Europe.

Tip 2: Check out the samples, portfolios, profiles of the app developers

Before you hand over your dear project to a developer, it is always important to have seen his/her work earlier. It is always nice to check out the profile of the candidate, list of their works and their references if any. With a large number of app developers being registered on freelance websites such as Odesk, Elance, Guru, People Per Hour, Fiverr Etc , it would be easier to find and hire developers from these sites. The community of designers and design teams can also be a great resource for finding some of the excellent app builders. Behance and Dribble are examples of such communities.

Tip 3: Shortlist candidates.

Finding an app developer would not be tough. However, meeting an app developer that can meet your expectations is definitely hard, if not tough. Going for app developers who are offering the cheapest rate or similar offers, is out how your dream team needs to be selected.

Before you shortlist the worthy candidates, you need to understand your requirement and whether you need to hire freelancers or an organization/team for same. Our recommendation is that unless it is a small chunk of development/task that has no other dependencies, it is better to choose team/companies for your app development. This is large because the better management of development process is possible with a company than with an individual freelancer. In case you never had an IT management experience, this could prove to be a herculean task of managing the individual designers and developers. A company or developmentteam on another hand usually have communication protocols, quality control and a methodology of operation in place.

Tip 4: Interview the selected candidates

Once you have the shortlisted candidates, it is time to analyse their capabilities. Apart from their portfolios, it is important to analyse their skills, expertise, and experiences. If app creators do not have responsive and informative sites, chances are that they do not as well build great products! It is important we have a set of questions to understand how these developers/company works to meet our expectations. In order to do a proper evaluation, it is important to focus on the important aspects of your business and app. You need to understand what needs to be there, what need not be present and importantly what could be  optional/additional features. Without this vision, entrepreneurs can never have a good realization of their vision even at the hands of a great developer. Client references can also give a good picture about the app developers. Most top developers have their own standards, tools, techniques to ensure a consistent and excellent service. We need to understand their approach and see if it could match our requirements. Each and every single detail needs to be evaluated before collaborating with the app developers, which include the methodology in place, the communication channels, the progress reports, charts, and estimations. If you are unable to judge the technical skills , it is better to entrust this activity with someone you can trust. The person needs to have decent skills and have good experience in reviewing work samples of the app developers.

Tip 5: Selecting the perfect developer

As per our Project Manager Hariom: Finding the right app developer is like picking a co-pilot: expertise and communication are key. And we believe truer words have not been said. Once you are about to finalize your skilled app developer, ensure that the developer can share the vision of your application. Remember just like a product has a market fit, developers also have a similar market fit. Make sure to hire a developer who has a genuine interest in your product and is not just looking for plain development. This will help in getting creative inputs based on their experience with similar apps. Finally, choose a developer who can fit your requirements perfectly. Please note app development is not a one-time activity. It does go through evolutions based on new trends or user feedback. So have a developer, with whom you stick around and build a relationship with. Hope these valuable tips help you to find the perfect app developers who can make your app a resounding success.