How to hire a dedicated developer in 4 steps
February 21, 2020 • 8 min read
Tired of unstructured work with freelance developers? Hire dedicated developers to manage directly and add order to your day-to-day work. Use this step-by-step guide to hire one dedicated developer or successfully set up an entire team of dedicated developers.
In this article, you’ll learn:
- How to hire a dedicated developer in 4 steps?
- What are the benefits of hiring a dedicated developer?
- Check-list to hire a dedicated developer fast
- FAQ about hiring dedicated developers with Grid Dynamics
- How to hire a dedicated developer in 4 Steps?
- What are the benefits of hiring a dedicated Developer?
- Check-list to hire a dedicated developer fast
- FAQ about Hiring Dedicated Developers with Grid Dynamics
How to hire a dedicated developer in 4 steps?
Step 1 — pick the outsourcing destination and vendor
Consider these three aspects while choosing your perfect outsourcing country:
- Availability of developers specializing in the technology you’re interested in
- Ease of doing business in the country
- Culture fit of the country
- Availability of developers specializing in the technology you’re interested in
- Ease of doing business in the country
- Culture fit of the country
If you’re looking for an offshore outsourcing country, take a look at our recent research on offshore developer rates that lists destinations with the most affordable developer rates.
If you’re based in Europe, check out our guide on nearshore software development with a more detailed analysis of development costs in the Easter European region.
To find a country that has the biggest number of developers using Java, JavaScript, Python, and other languages, we’ve analyzed the uneven distribution of engineers specializing in specific technologies.
Now that you’ve found the country with the biggest tech community, you can move on to choosing the vendor.
When choosing a vendor, think about:
- Travel distance
- Time zone difference
- Internet connectivity
- Travel distance
- Time zone difference
- Internet connectivity
Make sure that the vendor offers dedicated managers who will be a single point of contact between you and the company.
These can be project managers, account managers or HR business partners. Bear in mind that depending on the title, the specialist in question can have different areas of responsibility.
Consider the employer brand of the vendor. A vendor with a well-developed employer brand on the local market is more likely to attract talented dedicated developers in less time.
Check whether the company has any international certifications that verify high level of quality and security of their services.
Usually, team augmentation companies have a core administrative staff that has years of experience in the local market. So the rule here is the longer the company has been in the game, the better its specialists are at what they’re doing.
Step 2 — share all requirements with recruiters
The internal business processes of your company can be one of the reasons you can’t hire a dedicated developer fast enough. Before you even launch the hiring process, make sure that you reduce the bureaucracy that could be slowing you down.
Provide the vendor’s recruiters with as many details about your company and the project as possible — most importantly the exact tech expertise your existing team is missing.
The better you describe what you want to see in your dedicated developer, the faster the vendor’s recruiter will find a suitable candidate. And share your feedback on the unsuitable candidates too, it might give recruiters a better sense of direction.
Step 3 — personally interview the candidates
When you hire a dedicated developer, you invite a new specialist to join your in-house team. And who can know what kind of person your team needs better than you?
You might be more willing to concentrate on estimating technical skills and experience of the candidates during the interviews. However, for successful long-term cooperation, remember to look for someone who would fit well within your team culturally.
It’s pretty common for dedicated developers to become an integral part of in-house teams.
In view of this, we recommend looking for specialists that would contribute to positive team dynamics overall.
Step 4 — onboard like to your in-house team
Great onboarding is synonymous with the saying “well begun is half done.”
The work isn’t finished before you’re sure that the dedicated developer you hired with the vendor is effectively implemented in your working process.
Show interest in the way your vendor conducts onboarding of the new developers. Try to clarify how you can make the onboarding process move faster and more effectively. Giving all the necessary accesses beforehand and setting a team meeting to introduce the new developers are a good place to start.
Get outsourcing rates in Eastern Europe, Asia, Latin America, Africa as well as tips on how to choose the country for offshore development.
Download a guideWhat are the benefits of hiring a dedicated developer?
Improved code security
When it comes to working with a remote developer, the security of your code is the first priority. Dedicated developers are a safe option as on paper, they’re employees of the vendor that acts according to corporate security regulations.
Dedicated developers in outsourcing companies sign Non-Disclosure Agreements (NDA) which state the client as the owner of the piece of software they’re developing. NDAs also regulate cases of data breaching.
Direct communication
A dedicated developer is a part of your development team. Consequently, you’re the one who manages their workload and knows exactly how things are going.
Some vendors assign Human Resource managers to each dedicated developer they lease. They do so to increase the retention rate and to make sure that both sides are satisfied.
Level of dedication
There’s a reason call these developers “dedicated” — they’re working on your project exclusively.
Whenever you have an urgent task or want to change something about the requirements, you and your developer will be on the same page.
In contrast, a freelancer’s availability is unpredictable. Some freelance developers can work on several projects at a time. The majority of them find it hard to manage an urgent situation due to having tasks from other clients.
Check-list to hire a dedicated developer fast
There’s some homework you might want to do before you start looking for a dedicated developer. This way, you’ll save plenty of time and prepare for more effective cooperation.
☑ Assess your internal business processes and reduce bureaucracy to ensure a fast and efficient beginning of collaboration.
☑ Prepare the requirements for the first month. Make sure that your dedicated developer clearly understands your goals.
☑ Develop your communication strategy.
☑ Prepare all the collaboration and communication tools.
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Task management tool (Trello, Jira, Visual Studio Online)
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Video conferencing tool (Skype, Zoom, Hangouts, Slack)
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Source code repository (GitLab, Github, Bitbucket)
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Continuous integration tool (Jenkins, CircleCI, TeamCity)
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Messenger application (Slack, Skype, HipChat, Telegram)
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Task management tool (Trello, Jira, Visual Studio Online)
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Video conferencing tool (Skype, Zoom, Hangouts, Slack)
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Source code repository (GitLab, Github, Bitbucket)
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Continuous integration tool (Jenkins, CircleCI, TeamCity)
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Messenger application (Slack, Skype, HipChat, Telegram)
☑ Update your introductory documentation if it’s not up-to-date before the new developer joins your team.
☑ If you provide remote employees with your own hardware, download and install all the necessary applications beforehand and send it well ahead of time.
☑ Assign a mentor who will be reviewing the project and the development process with your new hire over the coming weeks.
☑ Tell your in-house team about the new person’s start date.
Everything you need to know about offshore software development cost structure: direct costs, ad-hoc costs, offshore developer rates, and more.
Download a guideFAQ about hiring a dedicated developer with Grid Dynamics
I’m only looking for one developer. Can you help?
- We help clients hire a team of developers or build an entire cross-functional team according to your requirements. However, you can start from a lower number of developers and can grow with time. We have a vast database of tech specialists so we can easily find a QA engineer, Scrum master, project manager, DevOps engineer, UI/UX designer, support engineer, or any other type of tech specialist.
- We help clients hire a team of developers or build an entire cross-functional team according to your requirements. However, you can start from a lower number of developers and can grow with time. We have a vast database of tech specialists so we can easily find a QA engineer, Scrum master, project manager, DevOps engineer, UI/UX designer, support engineer, or any other type of tech specialist.
Are there any cancellation fees if I decide to stop working with you?
- No. But we’d need you to tell us a month ahead so that we could wind up everything in time.
- No. But we’d need you to tell us a month ahead so that we could wind up everything in time.
How much time do you need to find developers for my team?
- Time-to-hire depends on the popularity of the tech skills you’re looking for, the seniority level, and the number of specialists on our local market. Remember to share as many details about your company and project as possible so that our recruiters find the best-fitting developers.
- Time-to-hire depends on the popularity of the tech skills you’re looking for, the seniority level, and the number of specialists on our local market. Remember to share as many details about your company and project as possible so that our recruiters find the best-fitting developers.
How do you make sure the developers you find for me will fit my needs?
- Right after you’ve given us your requirements, our recruiters start searching for the candidates that match your profile. Next, you pick several candidates that you want to interview. Finally, you conduct a one-to-one interview with each of them and choose the best ones.
- We organize as many interviews as you need to make the final decision. You can run code reviews and test assignments, as well as request references — whatever is necessary to make sure you’ve picked the right developer.
- Right after you’ve given us your requirements, our recruiters start searching for the candidates that match your profile. Next, you pick several candidates that you want to interview. Finally, you conduct a one-to-one interview with each of them and choose the best ones.
- We organize as many interviews as you need to make the final decision. You can run code reviews and test assignments, as well as request references — whatever is necessary to make sure you’ve picked the right developer.
What sort of HR/administrative support do you provide for your clients?
- Even when you hire one dedicated developer with us, we assign an HR/Client Manager. The manager will ensure that your developer has a great onboarding experience and monitor their job satisfaction level.
- We’ll lead all the legal and administrative aspects of cooperation so you won’t have to learn the local laws or deal with taxes and payroll.
- Even when you hire one dedicated developer with us, we assign an HR/Client Manager. The manager will ensure that your developer has a great onboarding experience and monitor their job satisfaction level.
- We’ll lead all the legal and administrative aspects of cooperation so you won’t have to learn the local laws or deal with taxes and payroll.
What are the costs associated with setting up a team?
- It may come as a surprise but there are no costs associated with setting up a team with Grid Dynamics.
- Our administrative operations manager will supply all the necessary software, hardware, office supplies, and furniture for your developers.
- It may come as a surprise but there are no costs associated with setting up a team with Grid Dynamics.
- Our administrative operations manager will supply all the necessary software, hardware, office supplies, and furniture for your developers.
How do you make sure my intellectual property stays secure?
- Each dedicated developer you hire with us signs a Non-Disclosure Agreement. According to the document, the client is the only owner of the code delivered by the developer.
- We apply standard security measures such as restricting access to our offices, antiviruses and firewalls, strict password policy, and system administrator support.
- Each dedicated developer you hire with us signs a Non-Disclosure Agreement. According to the document, the client is the only owner of the code delivered by the developer.
- We apply standard security measures such as restricting access to our offices, antiviruses and firewalls, strict password policy, and system administrator support.
Can I bring my team on business trips to my home office?
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Yes, we highly recommend you to invite out your dedicated developers. Knowing fellow team members in person makes communication more meaningful and improves the efficiency of the working process.
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You’re also free to visit one of our offices where your dedicated developers are based any time you want.
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Yes, we highly recommend you to invite out your dedicated developers. Knowing fellow team members in person makes communication more meaningful and improves the efficiency of the working process.
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You’re also free to visit one of our offices where your dedicated developers are based any time you want.