Hiring developers is a critical challenge for any startup, especially for those in non-tech industries. As a startup owner, you must be juggling a million things like formulating a vision, managing finances, assessing risk, and even hiring dedicated developers.
On average, startups spend 40% of their funds and 6 months searching for and onboarding just one dedicated developer.
But it doesn’t have to be. The right approach can save you time, money, and resources while ensuring that your startup thrives. Let’s explore how to find and hire the best developers for startups.
What are the Top Challenges to Hire Developers for a Startup?
Being at a nascent stage of business, startups face hurdles like limited capital, time constraints, lack of hiring expertise, longer hiring cycles, and little brand presence to hire the right talent to join their team. Let's discuss these challenges one by one in detail:
1. Budget Constraints
Most startups operate on a limited budget during the startup phase of their business journey. In addition to salaries, onboarding technology experts as full-time employees requires infrastructure, work systems, employee benefits, and hiring partner costs.
Thus, hiring programmers to join the in-house team becomes an expensive affair, which the startups can't afford.
2. Lack of Hiring the Expertise
Startups rarely have a full-fledged HR department in place. They operate with a small HR team and lack the proper tools and technical expertise to hire the developers they need to grow their business.
3. No Brand Recognition and Affinity
Since many startup owners and budding businesses lack brand recognition and awareness, hiring programmers is tough. As resources usually opt to work with known brands, finding and retaining the right developer talent for the business becomes a challenge for new businesses.
4. Long Hiring Cycle
The average cycle to hire developers for startups in Western countries ranges between 45-90 days. The long hiring cycles delay the overall project development, which leads to increased time-to-market.
Due to these challenges, hiring offshore software developers for startups has become a more practical solution in today's dynamic market.
Benefits Of Hiring Talented Developers For Startups
1. Cost-Effective
The first and most prominent benefit of hiring dedicated developers from offshore locations is the saving of as much as 60% in your overall development costs. By hiring offshore talent, you save on
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Hiring costs
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Infrastructure and workstation setup
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Employee benefits
2. Fastest Turnaround time
Hiring top-notch tech talent for a startup in an offshore destination ensures a quick turnaround of your project as a team of dedicated experts works solely on your software development project.
3. Perfect for Short and Long-term Projects
Hiring offshore programmers comes with zero commitment. Depending on your project requirements, you can hire them for weeks, months, and even years.
4. Flexibility
When hiring programmers for startups in an offshore development setup, you enjoy the flexibility of hiring multiple developers in a fixed, monthly, and hourly engagement model to meet your development requirements. You can also create a hybrid engagement combining any two or all three models.
5. High-Quality Solutions
With a team of highly skilled programmers working dedicatedly on your project, you get high-quality development with uncompromising code quality.
The factors as mentioned earlier clearly depict that hiring skilled and dedicated development talent is the right way for startups to accelerate their software development.
Recommended Read: Benefits of Indian ODCs to Startups & SMEs
The Right Approach to Hire Developers for Startup
Hiring skilled developers for startups can become tedious if you have not done your homework. Before you even think of onboarding a resource, ask yourself these key questions: How many developers? Do you need senior software engineers or junior developers, or would a mid-level position work? Which programming languages? Full-time or hourly? What specific technical skills are essential?
Why do developers want to work with startups?
62% of developers prefer remote work opportunities at startups that use their specialized skills rather than working for higher-paying positions in large multinational companies that offer roles in less preferred tech skills. Here are the top four reasons for skilled developers choosing startups:
1. Better growth opportunities
The first reason developers like to work with startups is that they offer better growth opportunities. As startups evolve quickly, job descriptions and responsibilities also change. This gives programmers a chance to work and grow their skills in different areas.
2. Building a solid tech stack
Startup owners need a strong technology setup to build their company. This is a great opportunity for developers to tackle significant problems and choose their technology from the start.
3. Freedom to showcase skills
Another reason that software developers choose to work with startups is the autonomy they would not get from big brands. As the company is small and has fewer people on the team, it provides open doors to people for self-leadership and to take the front foot.
4. The mission of the company
Job seekers often consider the company's mission and purpose before applying. Startup owners have a solid mission to resolve huge issues that enable the developers to work with them to their complete potential.
Along with these advantageous reasons for working with the startups, we have also prepared a checklist to enhance the hiring experience for the startups. Let's dive in!
Here is a Quick Checklist to Enhance your Hiring Experience
1. Define the project requirements clearly- Create a clear document that explains the purpose and functions of your project. This will help you outline what you need and what you expect from the startup developer you hire. Be specific about their required experience, the results you want, and the deadlines you have in mind.
2. Create the project's scope of work- Once you have defined the purpose of the software development project, the next step is to create the scope of work that startup developers will be assigned. The following steps can help you create a detailed scope of work:
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Examine what you are building, who you are building it for, and what real-life problems does your solution solve?
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Decide which platform your solution will be operating on. Linux, iOS, windows, android, etc.
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Find out which tech stack developers you need to build this solution.
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Establish a budget for the project based on the time and effort of resources, future expansion, technology upgrades, and feature updates.
3. Find the source for hiring software developers- One of the most critical aspects of hiring software engineers for startups is deciding the resource hiring source. While there are many options available, two standout choices are:
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Dedicated Developers
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Freelancers
Let's take a look at a quick comparison of both the hiring options in the table below:
Dedicated Developers Vs. Freelance Developers - Hiring Model
Still confused about whether to hire freelance developers or dedicated ones? Well, the best choice depends on your project's needs, budget, and timeline. Since the startups are new in the market, it's advisable to opt for reliable offshore development companies such as Your Team in India to hire developers for your startup.
How to Find and Hire Developers for Startup?
While hiring software engineers for startups, companies need to keep in mind that the resources you seek are evaluating you against your competitors. And you need to ensure that your brand stands out.
LinkedIn research shows that company culture is one of the main aspects that people consider before joining an organization.
As a startup, you have the liberty to build a more open and human-centric work environment. But building a great culture is of no use if you are not communicating it to the world.
Here is how you can communicate
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Use social media to your advantage. Build a strong presence on professional networks like LinkedIn, Google my business, and Twitter by regularly sharing co-curricular activities and testimonies
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Host webinars and video conferences
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Build a strong college reach-out plan to a build brand presence
Now that we have established the basic tech knowledge on how you can build a favorable brand presence let us discuss the steps to hire software engineers for startups.
8 Effective Steps to Hire Developers for Startup
Hiring a startup developer needs a strategy to be followed. To refine the entire hiring process for software developers, we have compiled a step-by-step process for startups. Let's dig in.
1. Define your Business Requirements
Before diving into development, clearly outline your business needs. This includes defining your product delivery goals (MVP or full product) and your target audience and operating systems (iOS, Android, Linux, etc.). A well-defined scope is crucial for successful project execution.
2. Decide on the Location
The second step in hiring remote developers is deciding the offshoring location where you wish to hire the resources for your project. Though the cost is an important factor, it should not be the only thing to consider when choosing the location. Factors such as:
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Developer Population
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Availability of resources in emerging technologies
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Technologies that are available in the market
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Government stability and foreign policies
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Geopolitical landscape
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Employment landscape
3. Decide on the Engagement Model
Once you have shortlisted the location, decide which engagement model of hiring an offshore team you would want to implement. You can choose from - Fixed costs, monthly rates, or hourly rates.
Suppose your project has a straightforward requirement with little to no scope for deviation. In that case, the fixed cost may be the right choice, but if the development requires constant updates and changes, opt for a more flexible setup like monthly or hourly engagement.
You also enjoy the flexibility of hiring resources part-time when you can hire in-house developers or offshore developers.
4. Finding the Right Developers
When hiring freelancers and remote developers for your startups, you will come across various options like job boards and portals, freelancer platforms, professional networks, and offshore development companies. Unless you have the required expertise in technologies and market knowledge, it is preferred that you opt to work with trusted offshore partners to build a successful and scalable team for your development project.
With a pre-vetted large talent pool, offshore software development companies can provide you with extensive options of resources to choose from for your project.
5. Skill Assessment
Once you have shortlisted the candidates, carry out extensive background checks and skill assessment tests of the candidates.
Evaluate their experience based on the number of years in the industry and industry served, number of successful projects delivered, and learning graph or how often and how well they have made an effort to stay up to date on the new and emerging technologies.
This process will help you weed out the candidates that don't match your business needs, leaving you with a more refined group of individuals to choose from.
6. Interview the Candidates
Interviews carried out in person or over video calls are a great way to assess the technical knowledge, team, managerial, and soft skills of the developers. Through interviews, you can assess the personality of the remote developer and gauge if they are the right fit for your company as per the job description.
7. Onboarding and Training
When hiring dedicated developers, company induction and training are very critical as the team would be operating remotely. You must plan detailed sessions where the hired developers are trained on the project, work process, hierarchy, workflows, and frameworks.
8. Kick off the Project
Once you have selected and trained your selected developers for a startup project, it's time to start your project development. Build well-defined delivery timelines and feedback mechanisms to ensure seamless communication between in-house and offshore teams.
Checklist of Skills to Look for while Hiring a Startup Developer
1. Check for the development experience of the hired software developers.
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How many projects have they worked on?
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Which industries have they served?
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The complexity of the projects that they have delivered successfully
2. Examine if they have knowledge and expertise in working on startups or similar projects.
3. Evaluate their knowledge of various coding languages and knowledge learning curve.
4. Ask for samples of work delivered on projects previously. Check if they followed international coding standards while working on the projects.
5. Find out which development methodology they follow and have worked on in their previous projects.
6. Assess their communication skills and attitude towards work. Can they handle negative feedback, and are they open to new ideas and creative solutions?
Mistakes to Avoid when Hiring Developers for a Startup
Hiring developers for a startup can be costly if you overlook several mistakes. Many startups face these challenges when hiring developers, like rushing decisions, undervaluing experience, or not considering culture fit. Find out how to avoid these mistakes below.
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Focusing entirely on cost- Though cost saving is one of the most evident advantages of hiring offshore developers for your startup's in-house team when shortlisting a candidate, it should not be the only criteria in your mind. Irrespective of which market you hire the resources from, a quality programmer can never be cheap.
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Giving more weightage to a degree over experience- Hiring a certified programmer should be a prerequisite for any business, but it should not be the only factor in consideration. One should pay close attention to the experience of the developer in terms of the complexity of projects, industries they have worked with, and most importantly, their learning curve.
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Ignoring soft skills- Ignoring soft skills like communication, team player, managerial skills, and empathy is one of the fatal mistakes that cost the company in the long run. These play an important role when interacting with a remote team. A lack of these skills can lead to mismanagement and cause friction among the team members.
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Ignoring cultural fitness – When working with remote developers, it is important to assess if they fit well in your company culture, as at the end of the day, they need to work with your in-house teams and follow your company policies to deliver the output.
Reasons Startups Hire Software Developers in India
India is ranked amongst the top destinations for hiring offshore programmers for startups and enterprises. With 12% of the world’s software developers and an English-based education curriculum, India has the 2nd largest IT population with impeccable communication skills.
Here are some of the top reasons to choose India as your offshore destination to find developers and hire them for your project.
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India is home to many emerging technologies like VR, AI IoT, Robotics, Automation, etc.
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Hiring in India is cost-effective. Hiring programmers in the biggest IT hub city, Bangalore, is 140% more economical than in California.
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Indian developers are empaths and don’t mind going the extra mile to meet timelines
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Being exposed to international working standards, Indian developers easily adapt to new working styles.
Also Read: 11 Reasons To Hire Software Developers From India
How Does YTII Help Startups With Their Software Development Needs?
Your Team in India is a pioneer offshore software development company with 12+ years of experience. In the last decade, we have assisted brands across the globe in successfully augmenting their development teams and scaling their operations with potential developers.
Partnering with YTII gets you
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A truly dedicated team for your project where we align the developers directly under your supervision
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100% real-time visibility of your ongoing work on the project
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Full IP protection and data security with our extensive NDAs and enterprise-grade security across systems
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7-day risk–free trial with the hired developer for your startup before you kickstart your project
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Senior tech lead and project manager who will help you navigate through bottlenecks and challenges
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Easy scaling of a remote team and quick resource replacement
With such benefits by your side, many startup businesses like Plena Data, Finding You, and GoHire have successfully launched their product.
Now that you know everything there is to know about hiring developers for your startup, get your offshore development journey started with remote programmers.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
How to Build a Hiring Plan for a Startup?
1. Clearly Defined Roadmap: Why, when, where to hire a developer, and how to move ahead with recruitment.
2. The Mission Statement for Every Role: Attract candidates that are aligned with the business vision.
3. Detailed Job Description: It should include KPI and a good understanding of what is required of the role and how it will contribute to the business.
4. Clear Interview Process: The candidate should know what is to be expected of the entire experience.
What Should be the Ideal Team Size of Your Startup?
When, Where, and How can SaaS Startups Hire Offshore Developers?
When looking for remote programmers, startups can hire developers from:
1. Offshore Development Companies
2. Job Portals
3. Social Networking Sites
4. Freelancer Listing Platforms
What qualifications should I look for in a developer for a startup?
How can I find the right candidates for my startup?
Additional Resources
- Best Technology Stack For your Startup: A Complete Guide
- Services to Outsource When Launching a Startup
- 7 Things Startups Should Know About Outsourcing!
- How To Hire Offshore Developers - Complete Guide
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