How to Pick a Good Web Developer
A web developer can be one of your most critical hires for your equestrian or small business. After all, that’s the person who will create the online face of your company and enable you to interact virtually with your potential customers. THUS it’s especially important that you hire the right talent the first time out. Otherwise, you risk hurting your business, as well as wasting time and money seeking a replacement.
Here are nine tips that can help in the selection process:
1. HIRE FOR THEIR DNA FIRST.
When hiring a web developer, their personal DNA is the most important consideration. While experience is important, combining experience with someone understanding and compatibility of your company, is the bigger predictor of success.
- Are drive, determination, persistence, curiosity, important to you culture?
- Are you more low-key and relaxed about time management and deadlines?
Whatever characteristics make up your culture, you want to ensure that the web developer will fit in.
For example, a brilliant web developer who has worked at a large financial institution may not do well at a startup or even understand an equestrian business. Why? A startup typically requires traits like versatility, adaptability, risk-taking and a self-starter personality. A small to medium size established business will already have a image to follow. An equestrian business requires the understanding of horses, the people, what showing is and even the names of equipment. All of these issues may be less important at a large company with it’s corporate setting.
Step one, make a list of your company’s DNA requirements. Do you foster an environment of relentless drive? Do you want great team players? Do you want the developer to have participated in your activities. If you come up with five requirements, make sure the interviewee matches at least three. Hiring for DNA also can help you to start to define a company culture and ensure that your team will work well together.
Of course, it’s easy for some people to fake it in an interview, so you may need to evaluate them in other ways to ensure they’re a good fit.
2. HIRE FOR PREVIOUS EXPERIENCE
There is nothing like finding someone who has done the work for companies similar as yourself. Every project has a learning process and every market is remarkably different from another. A website is not just a website. It is a unique representation of your service or product. It needs to operate and reflect those kind of clients. To “think” like a viewer. Thus having done some project similar is essential to understanding your world.
3. HIRE FOR HONESTY
Let’s face it, the world is made up of a lot of people who think they know what they are doing. But no one, can know everything. No one can understand your clients as you do. So if a developer says you need this, without asking a single question about your business, your desires, even your favorite colors…walk away.
At the interview stage, is when they are their best in front of you. Will they then be honest when there is something they don’t know or understand if they don’t ask questions now? A excellent software developer, whether for the web or app, will figure it out and tell you that honestly, but first they have to understand your world.
4. HIRE FOR EDUCATION
There is something to be said for hiring someone who has done the work of getting an education. It proves that they can complete something difficult, without compensation. It also shows that they have a well developed background in both theory and the practical. That will become essential when there is a problem that is difficult to solve.
5. HIRE FOR COMMUNICATION
There is a big wave of hiring overseas because the costs are so remarkably lower than locally. However, it will end up costing you time and ultimately, money to redo a site, when you can not communicate with the developer you are hiring to represent your company. They have to speak and understand clearing what is important to YOU. Not what they can do, but what you want them to achieve. Without a common language and ability to communicate, this is impossible.
6. HIRE FOR STYLE
Web developers are also frequently Web Designers. Combining the two can be a great time and money saver. However is their “style” of design in alignment with yours. Some designer/developers can shift, according to the clients desires. While other are very ridge in their presentation. Look at the portolo and see if there is a wide shift in look, feel and color. The diversity of style from one developer, can be a massive plus, as they can adjust to you.
If the portfolio all look the same, that will only be a positive if you like the look.
7. HIRE FOR PERFORMANCE
Hiring a developer, whose sites have user issues, can do more harm than good. So make sure that you look at the sample site provided on a variety of devices, PC, Mac, iPhone, tablets and similar. While no site is perfect on every single browser and size of device, the majority need to “just work”.
8. THE INTERVIEW GOES BOTH WAYS
An important note is that while you are interviewing the developer, the developer is also interviewing you! Being ridged and micro managing a process, insisting on excessively small budgets, may have a perfect developer passing on the opportunity. So be flexible and understand that they know their craft.
9. AFTER THE HIRE : TRUST THEM
This is also where the honesty comes into play. Either you believe they do their job or you don’t. If you have any doubt that they do not understand your business or are not capable of doing the work, don’t hire them, no matter how much you may “like them”.
After you have pulled the contract signatures, TRUST THEM, to represent you well. If you have done your job in the previous tips, just get out of their way!
MultiMedia Designs, LLC
Digital Design & Technology Company
Office: +1.818.272.0819
Email: multimediadesignsllc@gmail.com
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