Great Web Developer: Qualities to Look For
One of your most critical hires is getting a great web developer — someone who builds your company’s online reputation and allows you to interact with your customers virtually. If you get a low-performing individual, you end up risking your company and wasting time and money for that bad or mediocre output.
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Since there are thousands of web developers available for hire online, identifying the good ones who also follow best programming practices will be a pain. It can also be difficult to test or get actual portfolio from developer applicants with the expertise you’ll need to get your business to the next level. Most of their previous work portfolio aren’t theirs legally. In this case, you should prepare a way to test their competency effectively.
Hence, if you still decide to find out their competency manually, it will be challenging, expensive, and time-consuming.
Designers vs. Developers
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First things first, we need to distinguish between what a developer is and what a designer is also. A designer is an individual who creates a website visual, overall look, and assets such as images, icons, etc. Adobe Photoshop and other software applications for graphic design are their expertise. Designers prepare a mockup of what your website looks like in the end.
A developer, on the other hand, writes codes and builds the functionality around what the designer has created. They are more focused on how your website works and interacts with your visitors. Fantastic web design is great but pointless if it doesn’t interact with your potential online customers.
Full-time or outsourced developers?
After you have identified your need for a developer, check whether it is a temporary or full-time hire. Take a look at your budget also and how much you are willing to spend.
It’s probably a project-driven one-time hire if you want to get an immediate website with some data up and running. You may consider a full-time developer if your project will require maintenance, support, or future features to add gradually.
For WordPress sites, most companies opt to outsource the work to someone outside the company. You set everything up, and provide the content of the website according to your instructions.
Outsourcing is a smart idea because you can tap professionals with talent that operate beyond your local workforce and have no physical office. This arrangement increases your workforce skills and drastically reduce operational expenses.
We do have a recommendation as to where you can hire dedicated web developers which you can look into as reference.
Qualities to Look For in a Web Developer
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Here’s a list of qualities to look out for when hiring web developers that add value and impact to your business:
ALL AROUND TRUSTWORTHY
Web developers aren’t there only to perform a job. They’re ideally your partner since they bring expertise and tools into your table to give inspiration and transform your great vision into real targets.
However amazing that will be, you will never feel comfortable working with them if your “spider-sense” tells you that you can’t trust them. Increasingly, that partnership becomes complicated as the lack of confidence breaks down the dynamics. Trust is earned over time and maintained by both parties. Both sides must commit to delivering with utmost respect and professionalism.
PASSION AND A POSITIVE ATTITUDE OVERALL
Great developers do not allow their ego to receive feedback, whether good or bad. The sense of accountability and ownership inspires them to perform their work with excellence and passion. They are self-motivated and focused.
However, keeping them needs you to participate in the dynamics as well. Recognize the developers’ strengths and commend or reward them when they perform well.
ABILITY TO LEARN QUICKLY WITHIN TIME CONSTRAINTS
Great developers are often incredible self-learners and are not shaken easily by project changes. Furthermore, they can find valuable work resources, and address issues fast to keep up with timelines.
GREAT WITH COMMUNICATION SKILLS
Excellent communication skills are often linked to successful projects. Check their general interaction. Do they speak clearly? Can they answer all your questions? Do they seem like individuals with whom you want to work? You’re going to converse with them a lot, especially with remote teams, so make sure the experience is productive and enjoyable.
EXCELLENT AT TIME AND TASK MANAGEMENT
Top-tier developers are incredibly reliable. They possess solid ethics for time and task management. For offshore devs, there are tools that they can use effectively while mobile and on the go.
Task response times are also great. You don’t want to wait several days to hear from them if you need to modify something about the project. The significant skill is the capacity to estimate, communicate, and perform the time required to finish a job.
AWESOME FLEXIBILITY
Regardless of the programming language in which developers specialize, code may be unpredictable. When problems occur (mostly suddenly and often time-sensitive), they must be able to adjust them and react to them.
AN EXCELLENT TEAM PLAYER
Another excellent quality is the ability of web developers to help other developers in the team improve. They allocate time to provide teammates with assistance, teaching others new methods and strategies in getting the work done effectively.
USER EXPERIENCE-FOCUSED
An ordinary developer does what he is told to do while a great web developer thinks about the software’s end-user and works to solve problems with them. As he works, he wants to know how vital every feature he builds is and pushes back if a feature doesn’t create any value for the end-users.
OTHER THINGS TO CONSIDER
In conclusion, expertise can be overrated: It should not be the only factor to employ a web developer with strong technical skills. Companies need someone with flexibility, a positive attitude, and some leadership skills who could become more creative and innovative with enormous business value.
The significance of these characteristics, however, depends on the size of the business: Large companies often seek a particular competency and skillset because their positions are more static and defined. However, in a startup scenario, the ability to solve problems, learn new innovative ways, wear a lot of hats and work in small teams becomes more prioritized.
About Jonathan Adolfo
As the Business Development Officer for Syntactics and the Executive Director for the CDO ICT Business Council, Jonathan is certainly an IT expert and enthusiast. With years of experience in the industry, he's built up his knowledge and skills and is sharing these through insightful blogs and articles.
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