Hiring Mobile Developers
According to Statista, the global market revenue for mobile applications is expected to reach 613 billion by 2025. Mobile app developers are in high demand due to the high demand for mobile apps. But how do you find a versatile mobile app developer? What abilities should you focus on? Furthermore, what steps should be taken to make the most of this collaboration?
In this article, we will discuss how to hire mobile app developers in order to create the most robust and appealing mobile apps, as well as the rules to follow in order to make app development even more beneficial.
How to Hire a Mobile App Developer: Hiring Options
Before you begin the hiring process, determine your hiring options and choose the ones that are most relevant to your company. In fact, you have three options: hire freelancers, hire a staff augmentation team, or completely outsource your project to a software vendor. Let’s take a look at the advantages and disadvantages of each model.
Hiring Freelance Developers
When there is no need for full-time team members and the project duration is short, freelance developers can be a good fit for small scale projects. Freelancers can be hired for a set period of time to complete specific activities or tasks and are paid directly once they are completed. There are numerous platforms for hiring freelance developers, such as Upwork, Fiverr, and Freelancer.com. They save time on candidate search and allow payments to be processed directly through their platform.
Working with freelance developers has the primary advantage of saving time and money over building an in-house team. However, freelancers may work on multiple clients at the same time, which may compromise the quality and speed of work as well as cause security issues such as data leakage or IP rights violation.
IT Staff Augmentation
If you already have an in-house team but want to focus them on other activities and projects, or meet a deadline faster, you can hire mobile app developers on an outstaffing basis from a staff augmentation company.
This type of engagement entails augmenting an in-house software development team with specialists with the necessary level and experience for your project. Staff augmentation has a clear cost structure; you pay for actual work done at the hourly rate of the developer.
IT Outsourcing
Consider working with a mobile app development company if you have a complex long-term project but lack in-house resources or are a startup company. This type of involvement has numerous advantages. First, you gain access to a pool of developers who specialize in mobile app development. Second, you won’t have to spend time on team management because the outsourcing provider will handle the entire project delivery process. Finally, you are guaranteed to receive a high-quality product within the agreed-upon time frame.
Where to Hire Mobile App Developers
While there are numerous ways to engage with mobile app developers, you may be wondering which countries to look for developers in. Consider Egypt, the most popular outsourcing region for Western Europe and even the United States.
Many EU and US companies hire mobile app developers in Egypt. So, why should you choose Egypt to develop your mobile project? The following are the primary advantages:
- Significant cost savings
- Access to IT Talent Pool
- Best Technical Expertise
- Compliance with International Standards
- High Quality and Security
How to Hire an App Developer: Step By Step Process
Mobile app developers are in high demand these days, but finding the right candidate for your project is not easy. Before hiring a mobile developer, there are a few steps you should take.
Here’s an example of a checklist to get you started:
- Outline the project scope and prepare the requirements;
- Decide on the project management and engagement model;
- Look for the developers;
- Conduct interviews with the developers;
- Set up time and budget frames for project delivery.
1. Define mobile app requirements
The first and most important step in developing an effective mobile app is to thoroughly examine your business requirements. This will assist you in better understanding your product and determining what type of mobile app developers you require. Define the requirements for your project, such as which business goals your future app must achieve and how it should do so, as well as which essential functionalities and technologies mobile app developers should include in your app. This will help you focus on the key functionality you need to include in your app and determine the type of mobile app you need to create: native or cross-platform, as well as the budget involved in app development.
2. Choose an engagement model
The following step is to choose one of the engagement models that will work best for you. If your project is only temporary, consider hiring a freelancer or adding a few team members from a staffing agency. Hire an IT outsourcing company or a dedicated team if you have a long-term initiative. Also, before hiring a mobile development team, determine your budget.
3. Define the skill set
If you decide to hire a mobile developer, make a list of the hard and soft skills that will be required for your project. The following are the key technologies that every Android, iOS, and hybrid app developer should be familiar with.
Among the soft skills important are:
- Communication and negotiation skills
- Time management
- Proactivity
- Problem-solving capabilities
- Teamwork
4. Conduct Interviews
Once you’ve received the developer profiles and chosen the best ones, schedule an interview with them to assess the developer’s hard and soft skills.
What questions should you ask app developers?
- What is your previous mobile app development experience?
- What tasks were you responsible for at your last project?
- What programming languages, technologies, frameworks and tools are you familiar with? Which ones are you expert in and which ones do you use on a daily basis?
- How do you structure your everyday work?
If you hire an IT outsourcing company the questions can be the following:
- How will they communicate with you? What communication means will be used? How often?
- What do they use to track the project development progress? How do they report on progress?
- Who will be responsible for the project management?
5. Setup timeline and budget frames
Mobile app development is typically a time-consuming process. It can take several months to a year, depending on the complexity of the project, the number of developers on your team, and the features you want to include. However, there are numerous other factors that could affect the timeline. Timing is critical if you are a startup and want to get your project to market faster than your competitors. In this case, it may be preferable to create an MVP that includes only core functionality, leaving minor features for later after the release phase. You will be able to test drive your project and receive early customer feedback to help shape its future development.
For any customer it is also important to get a high-quality product at a reasonable price. However, the exact price of an application might vary depending on the project target audience, needed functionality, further enhancement, support and maintenance.
Conclusion
Hiring the right mobile app developers is a critical component of creating a successful app. A bad choice of person or company can cost you a lot of time and money. As a result, you should prepare thoroughly before making contact with potential app developers. You can hire freelancers, use staffing agencies, or outsource the entire project development to an IT outsourcing firm. Whatever you choose, keep your business and technical requirements, timeline, and budget expectations in mind. You should consider the experience, hard and soft skills of mobile app developers.
This thorough planning will help to reduce potential risks and unexpected costs for your mobile app development project.
