How To Recognize And Acquire A Good Developer

Tech talent acquisition overview and basics

The human resources department is an important part of almost any business. Usually, recruitment is an important part of the HR department structure. In this article, let’s focus on technical recruitment and tech talent acquisition. In today’s world, everything is somehow related to technology. Companies often look for IT specialists. There are hundreds of web and software development companies. There are also IT staffing agencies that can build even whole remote development teams for you. Well, someone has to do the hiring part for this to happen.
 

The Intricacies Of Tech Recruitment Process

Hiring an IT specialist is a tricky task. One of the most appealing and promising careers in the IT field is a career in programming. It is well-known that the number of different languages and technologies used in programming is outstanding. There are also many different job positions a programmer can land depending on experience, set of skills and job responsibilities. Long story short, tech recruiters often look for completely different people. Let us list the most common issues tech recruiters face as well as how they can face them.

Find A Rare Specialist

These days we have technologies like Internet of Things (IoT), Machine Learning (ML), blockchain and so on. They evolve and change so fast it is almost impossible to keep up. A modern project that uses such technology requires a solid specialist with a particular set of skills and experience. Obviously, the number of possible candidates is very limited. Moreover, most of them are probably already employed and work on a project alike. This one is pretty hard to deal with. There are a few things that can help to solve this problem:
 

• Interesting project. If your project uses the latest technologies, it is interesting and it offers a unique experience, you have much better chances to attract and acquire the right specialist.
• Appealing conditions. In case the project has quite a budget, you might be able to acquire a rare specialist by offering better conditions. This relates not only to a relatively higher paycheck but all the other aspects that can make it more pleasant for the candidate to work on your project (amazing office space, free snacks, flexible schedule and so on).

Conduct A Technical Interview

Once there is a list of potential candidates, a recruiter has to do the screening process that includes interviews. It helps not only to find out if skills from a resume are real but give a chance to check interpersonal skills as well. As mentioned above, there are so many languages and technologies out there, it is impossible for a recruiter to be able to solely conduct a technical interview. So, how do they actually make sure that a candidate fits the requirements?
 

• Get some help! As a rule, a technical interview is conducted with the help of a specialist with a relevant technical background. It can be a team lead, senior developer or CTO. Anyone who has the right expertise to check the skills of a potential candidate can provide the required assistance.
• Test or task. The best way to do a tech interview is to provide your candidates with tests or tasks. This way, you don’t stick to theory but get real results in practice. Obviously, this solution also requires some help from senior specialists in the same field.

What Defines A Good Developer?

It is a complicated question to answer really. Being skilled in the right technologies and having the right experience does not always cut it. A good developer constantly improves, learns new things and tries to keep up with updates. It takes persistence and patience to be a good programmer because you have to solve complicated problems and tasks. A good developer can also fail but it won’t make him stop trying. Good developers do not run away from problems. 

Usually, coders work in a team, so interpersonal skills also play a part here. A good developer has to be a team player. Sometimes it is better to hire an inexperienced but passionate coder and let him grow than hire someone with experience and no ambitions.

George Fironov is the Founder and CEO of Talmatic. He is passionate about people, technology and innovation. He dedicated his career to build professional teams that empower our customers with the latest tech expertise they need to be successful. Connect George Fironov