Jayalakshmi Iyer

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About Jayalakshmi Iyer

Jaya is a copywriter & content writer & has worked for businesses in over 27 different niches. When she’s not writing, she can be found obsessing over a book.

What is Software Quality Assurance (1)
For Employers

What Is Software Quality Assurance, and Why Is It Important?

This post sheds light on the basics of software quality assurance, why it’s important, the different approaches to software QA, and how IT differs from software testing.

Software quality assurance plays a vital role in the software development life cycle. Enterprises are constantly churning out software applications left, right, and center to keep up with the increasing demand. While releasing software applications is one thing, it’s crucial to ensure that the product works the way you want it to. 

People are not just looking for a wide selection of software choices; they also want quality products. In this post, we’ll understand what is software quality assurance, its principles, ways to implement SQA, the different SQA approaches, the importance of SQA, and how it differs from software testing and quality control. So, let’s dive in!

What is software quality assurance? 

Software quality assurance (SQA) is a methodology to ensure that the quality of the software product complies with a predetermined set of standards.

What is the purpose of software quality assurance? SQA is not just a step in the development process; it functions in parallel with the software development life cycle. Businesses must ascertain that every part of the software, internal and external, is up to the predefined standard. SQA tests every block of this process individually to identify issues before they become major problems. 

  • Externally, businesses evaluate efficiency, reliability, and cost of maintenance.
  • Internal characteristics tested by software QA processes include structure, complexity, readability, flexibility, testability, and the coding practices developers have followed to develop the software.

What are the principles of software quality assurance?

Principles of Software Quality Assurance

Principles of Software Quality Assurance

Now that we’ve covered the basics of software quality assurance, let’s look at the principles. If you want to implement software quality assurance effectively, you must follow certain principles. These principles not only ensure that SQA is conducted efficiently but also see to it that your software product meets the best quality standards. 

Let’s look at the key principles one by one.

  1. Defect prevention: It is always better to prevent defects and errors in the software product than to correct them later. And so, the first principle of SQA emphasizes the importance of identifying and addressing potential issues early in the software development lifecycle. Unlike quality control, SQA focuses on fixing the root cause of defects and errors, and not just the symptoms. 
  2. Continuous improvement: Here’s the thing: SQA is not a one-time thing. It is more like an ongoing process you need to integrate into your software development lifecycle. In other words, the second principle, i.e., continuous improvement underlines the need to consistently monitor and improve the quality of the software product.
  3. Stakeholder involvement: SQA must involve all stakeholders in the software development process, including customers, developers, testers, QA team leads, and project managers. And thus, this third principle talks about the importance of collaboration and communication between the involved parties to ensure a smooth software development process.
  4. Risk-based approach: Last but not least, SQA must focus on identifying and addressing the most significant risks in the software product. Simply put, this principle emphasizes the importance of prioritizing risks based on their potential impact on the software product.

How to implement software quality assurance? 

How to implement software quality assurance

How to implement software quality assurance

To implement SQA effectively, it is essential to follow a structured approach. You can follow the below-mentioned steps to implement SQA:

  1. Define quality standards: Clearly define the quality standards that your software product must meet. This includes defining requirements, acceptance criteria, and performance metrics. These standards should be agreed upon by all stakeholders, including the development team, management, and customers.
  2. Plan SQA activities: Develop a plan for the SQA activities that will be performed throughout the software development life cycle. This plan should include reviews, testing, and documentation activities. It should also specify who will be responsible for each activity and when it will be performed.
  3. Conduct reviews: Conduct reviews of software artifacts such as requirements, design documents, and code. These reviews should be conducted by a team of experts who are not directly involved in the development process. This will help identify defects early in the development process and reduce the cost of fixing them later.
  4. Perform testing: Perform different types of testing such as unit testing, integration testing, system testing, and acceptance testing. Use automated testing tools to increase efficiency and reduce the risk of human error.
  5. Monitor and measure: Monitor and measure the quality of the software product throughout the development process. This includes tracking defects, analyzing metrics such as code coverage and defect density, and conducting root cause analysis.
  6. Improve continuously: Continuously improve the SQA process by analyzing the results of the monitoring and measuring activities. Use this data to identify areas for improvement and implement changes to the SQA process.

What are the different software quality assurance approaches?

We have divided this section into parts based on the approaches to software quality assurance. 

Part 1: From a broader perspective, there are two different approaches to software QA:

  1. Software quality defect management approach
    The software quality defect management approach focuses on counting and managing defects. The level of severity can generally categorize defects. Software development teams use tools like defect leakage matrices and clear and concise control charts to measure and enhance the capability of their software development process. 
  2. Software quality attributes approach
    The software quality attributes approach works by helping software engineers analyze the performance of a software product. This approach focuses on directing the engineer’s attention to several quality factors. While some of these attributes may overlap or fall under another, there are five essential quality characteristics that you should consider:
  3. Reliability. Reliability reflects the system’s ability to continue operating overtime under different working environments and conditions. The application should consistently return correct results.  
  4. Usability. Software applications should be easy to learn and navigate. This user-friendliness and effectiveness of utilizing the product are called usability.
  5. Efficiency. This software QA attribute indicates how well the system uses all the available resources. It is shown by the amount of time the system needs to finish any task.
  6. Maintainability. It shows how easy it is to maintain different system versions and support changes and upgrades cost-effectively.
  7. Portability. This software quality assurance attribute demonstrates the system’s ability to run effectively on various platforms — for example, data portability, viewing, hosting, and more.

Part 2: In addition to the ones mentioned above, there are different approaches to SQA that organizations can use based on the type of their software development process. 

  1. Traditional approach: The traditional approach, also known as the Waterfall mode, includes a sequential process where each phase of the software development lifecycle is completed before moving on to the next phase. Similarly, SQA is performed at the end of each phase to ensure that the requirements have been met before moving to the next phase. This approach involves requirement analysis, design, coding, testing, and maintenance to ensure that the software product is developed with minimal errors and defects and meets the desired quality standards.
  2. Agile approach: The Agile approach to SQA is an iterative, incremental, and flexible approach that focuses on delivering software products in small increments. This approach emphasizes collaboration between the development team and the stakeholders for a seamless and quick development process. Agile SQA is quite popular and focuses on self-organizing teams, continuous integration and testing, continuous delivery, and continuous feedback to ensure a high-quality software product.
  3. DevOps approach: Next is the DevOps approach. This is basically a combination of development and IT operations to ensure that the software product meets the requirements of the customers. This approach emphasizes collaboration, automation, and continuous delivery to deliver the software product quickly and efficiently. Just like Agile, DevOps best practices comprise continuous integration, continuous testing, and continuous deployment to deliver a high-quality product. This approach is great for projects that require frequent updates.
  4. Six Sigma approach: This is a data-driven approach that focuses on reducing defects and errors in the software product. The approach uses statistical tools and techniques to measure and improve the quality of the software product. It is suitable for projects that prioritize reducing defects and errors.
  5. Lean approach: This is an approach that focuses on efficiency and waste reduction in the software development process. It emphasizes continuous improvement and the elimination of non-value-added activities. It is suitable for projects that require a focus on efficiency and waste reduction.
  6. Continuous integration and continuous deployment (CI/CD) approach: This is an approach that focuses on continuous integration and deployment of software products. The CI/CD approach emphasizes automation, continuous testing, and continuous delivery of software products. It is suitable for projects that require continuous integration and deployment.
  7. Test-driven development (TDD) approach: This approach involves writing automated tests before writing the code to ensure that the code meets the requirements and specifications of the software product. TDD SQA involves various activities, such as writing unit tests, running the tests, and refactoring the code, to ensure that the software product is of high quality.
  8. Risk-based approach: Last but not least, the risk-based approach to SQA involves identifying and managing the risks associated with the software product. This approach is made up of risk assessment, risk mitigation, and risk monitoring to ensure that the software product meets the established standards. 

In conclusion, there are different approaches to software quality assurance that organizations can use to ensure that their software products meet the highest quality standards. The choice of approach depends on the organization’s goals, requirements, and resources. 

What is the importance of software quality assurance?

Why is Software Quality Assurance important

Why is Software Quality Assurance important?

The importance of SQA in software engineering can be divided into the following:

  1. Ensures a high-quality software product: Software quality assurance ensures that the software meets the specified quality standards and requirements. This results in software that is more reliable, efficient, and user-friendly.
  2. Saves time and money: SQA ensures that the developers find bugs and errors at the early stages of software development. Therefore, they spend a lot less time and money fixing them. 
  3. Builds a stable and competitive software product: Software architects specifically vet each block in the software development process against industry standards. Granular testing for different requirements like reliability, functionality, usability, portability, etc., helps ensure that their product is high-quality.
  4. Protects your company’s reputation: Businesses need to ensure that their product works as intended before releasing it into the market. If the customers notice the product’s errors before you do, it will significantly impact your brand image and reputation.
  5. Ensures security and compliance: Software quality assurance helps organizations ensure that their application is efficient, secure, and trustworthy. Most importantly, it helps them meet regulatory and industry-specific compliance requirements, such as those related to security and data privacy.
  6. Ensures customer satisfaction: Your software application has to fulfill all the needs to satisfy the customers. It has to work smoothly without any malfunctions. With software quality assurance processes in place, you can ensure that your product delivers everything that your audience expects.

Thus, the importance of software quality assurance cannot be underestimated. Conducting a thorough SQA is a vital step for launching a successful software product.

What is the difference between quality assurance and quality control?

Quality control and quality assurance are two important concepts in software development that are often confused with each other. Both these concepts are related to the quality of software products but differ in their approach and objectives. 

Below, we have listed the key differences between quality assurance and quality control in software development.

Difference between quality assurance and quality control (1)

Difference between quality assurance and quality control

Final thoughts 

The role of software quality assurance in software engineering is to ensure that software products and systems are developed and maintained to meet the required quality standards and functional requirements. SQA is a critical component of the software development life cycle (SDLC) that involves continuous monitoring and improvement of software development processes to identify and eliminate defects and errors in the software product. SQA is a great way for businesses to ensure that they have tested every part of their product to the highest standards before releasing it into the market. 

If you’re a business looking to launch a great software product, you cannot possibly undermine the importance of SQA. 

But before you start with software quality assurance, you need to hire developers who can help you build a product in the first place. With Turing, you can hire pre-vetted, highly skilled, and experienced software developers at excellent prices. The best part? You get a 14-day no-risk trial. If you decide to stop within two weeks, you pay nothing. 


FAQs

  1. What is software quality?
    Software quality is the study and practice that highlights the desirable and favorable attributes of a given software product. The two primary approaches to software quality are 1. defect management and 2. quality attributes.
  2. What are the three definitions of software quality?
    The three primary aspects of software quality are functional quality, structural quality, and process quality.
  3. What are the main software quality characteristics?
    Six of the most important quality characteristics are maintainability, correctness, reusability, reliability, portability, and efficiency.

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By , Nov 16, 2023
Grandes programadores
Skills, Interviews, and Jobs

5 Cualidades de Los Grandes Programadores Remotos

Conoce 5 cualidades que ayudarán a los desarrolladores a ser los mejores y a impulsar sus carreras de desarrollo de software remotas.

¿Qué distingue a los grandes programadores?

Los buenos programadores pueden escribir un código que se ejecute sin errores.

Sin embargo, el simple hecho de escribir un buen código no hace que un programador de software sea exitoso. No se trata solo de ser un experto en un lenguaje o de tener una formación específica.

Aunque entender el código es el primer paso del éxito para los desarrolladores de software remotos, hay mucho más para convertirse en un gran programador.

En este post, compartiremos las aptitudes de un desarrollador de software que te ayudarán a convertirte en un gran programador y a impulsar tu carrera de desarrollo de software remoto. 

Los grandes programadores tienen una actitud positiva hacia el trabajo.

En comparación con el modelo de trabajo tradicional, el trabajo remoto tiene muchas ventajas. La ventaja más importante es la flexibilidad para trabajar desde cualquier lugar y en el momento que se prefiera. 

Sin embargo, esta ventaja extra conlleva una mayor responsabilidad.

Un gran programador tiene una ética de trabajo dedicada que se alinea perfectamente con el flujo de trabajo del equipo. Son optimistas con su trabajo y valoran a sus compañeros de equipo.

Los grandes programadores no necesitan una supervisión constante. Tienen las habilidades y la mentalidad adecuada para realizar sus tareas dentro del plazo previsto. 

Tienes que infundir confianza a tus superiores para que te confíen algo más que tus tareas. 

Por ejemplo, si encuentras un error en un producto, no te limites a resolver el problema y seguir adelante. En su lugar, da un paso atrás y analiza el problema desde todos los ángulos. ¿Dónde se originó el fallo? ¿Qué pudo causarlo? ¿Afecta a otras funcionalidades del software? ¿Cuánto tiempo lleva presente? ¿Qué impacto tiene en el proyecto?

Los programadores de software remotos con experiencia pueden utilizar los problemas que parecen inofensivos para obtener información esencial sobre las bases de un proyecto adoptando un enfoque analítico.

Los grandes programadores tienen una excelente capacidad de comunicación. 

Grandes programadores

Comunicación eficaz

La comunicación eficaz es una de las cualidades más importantes de un ingeniero de software calificado. Los ayuda a convertirse en buenos trabajadores en equipo y en una parte fundamental de las fuerzas de trabajo remotas altamente funcionales.

En un mundo en el que lo remoto es lo primero, las empresas esperan que los desarrolladores se comuniquen directamente con los clientes. Básicamente, si el desarrollador de software es el que puede ayudar a resolver el problema del cliente con la tecnología, es más prudente dejar que él se comunique directamente con el cliente.

Con este enfoque, los desarrolladores de software remotos deben ser capaces de explicar los conceptos técnicos de una manera práctica y comprensible para las personas no técnicas. 

Los grandes programadores entienden que una comunicación eficaz los establece como fuentes de información fiables en la empresa.

Manejo del tiempo.

Los grandes programadores entienden que el desarrollo de software implica un pensamiento técnico y creativo. El proceso puede incluir muchas variables y dependencias complicadas. 

Resolver problemas técnicos, pensar en soluciones creativas o aprender nueva información requiere tiempo. Por lo tanto, organizar eficazmente su tiempo para producir un trabajo de calidad es una de las cualidades más cruciales de un ingeniero de software profesional.

¿Qué hace un desarrollador de software?

He aquí algunos consejos de gestión del tiempo que los desarrolladores de software remotos pueden utilizar para convertirse en grandes programadores:

  1. Crear un plan. Ya sea para emprender un proyecto complejo o simplemente para empezar el día, arma un plan.
  2. Priorizar las tareas importantes. Termina las tareas más difíciles al principio del día y deja las más sencillas para más tarde. 
  3. Divide las tareas en partes más pequeñas. Si tienes un proyecto grande y complicado, divídelo en tareas más pequeñas. Esta práctica hará que el proyecto parezca menos agotador y mucho más manejable.
  4. Delegar. Si crees que alguien está más capacitado para terminar una tarea, delega en esa persona. Además, asegúrate de que los miembros de tu equipo puedan confiar en tu experiencia. 
  5. Períodos disruptivos. Es habitual encontrarse revisando el correo electrónico o el Slack cada media hora (o incluso con más frecuencia) cuando se supone que deberías estar terminando una tarea. Aunque las distracciones son inevitables, puedes gestionar mejor tu tiempo planificando los periodos de interrupción en los que puedes revisar tus correos electrónicos. 
  6. Evita el multitasking. Aunque muchas personas se enorgullecen de su capacidad para realizar varias tareas a la vez, no siempre es tan bueno como creen. Cambiar la mente de una tarea a otra implica al menos 15 minutos para volver a centrarte en la tarea en cuestión. Por lo tanto, si cambias constantemente tu enfoque de una tarea a otra, probablemente tardarás mucho más tiempo en completar tu trabajo. 
  7. Autodisciplina. Ya sea la gestión del tiempo o el aprendizaje de nuevas habilidades, convertirse en un gran programador requiere autodisciplina. Por lo tanto, si creas un sistema, haz todo lo posible por ceñirte a él. 

Los grandes programadores están abiertos al feedback.

Los grandes programadores aprovechan el feedback de los clientes y de otros desarrolladores de software remotos para obtener una visión profunda que les permita mejorar su rendimiento. 

Crear un entorno agradable en el que se acepten comentarios constructivos es fundamental para mejorar las habilidades de un desarrollador de software, tanto técnicas como sociales.

Por otro lado, es igualmente esencial ser proactivo a la hora de compartir tus comentarios con tu equipo. Ten en cuenta que el objetivo es desafiar a los miembros de tu equipo para que sean mejores desarrolladores remotos.

Conectar con los desarrolladores en una comunidad. 

Comunidad de desarrolladores remotos

Las comunidades de desarrolladores son una forma excelente de conectar con otros desarrolladores de software remotos. Brindan a los programadores una plataforma para resolver problemas, crear oportunidades de aprendizaje y construir una red. 

Los grandes programadores siempre están al tanto de las tendencias tecnológicas y tienen el hábito de aprender cosas nuevas que los ayuden a crecer. 

Por lo tanto, es vital encontrar una comunidad de desarrolladores que pueda guiarte para convertirte en un exitoso desarrollador de software remoto. Al brindarte acceso a personas con ideas afines, obtendrás un sistema de apoyo que puede ayudarte a centrarte en la actualización de tus conocimientos y en el crecimiento de tu carrera.

La comunidad de desarrolladores de Turing permite a los desarrolladores de software remotos compartir sus experiencias, ampliar sus habilidades y ayudarse mutuamente a construir la carrera de sus sueños. Se trata de una plataforma gratuita y diversa que puede ayudar a los desarrolladores de todo el mundo a avanzar en su trayectoria como desarrolladores con formación en habilidades técnicas y sociales, talleres de desarrollo profesional y reuniones.

En resumen: ¿Cuáles son las cualidades de los grandes desarrolladores de software remotos? 

Trabajar como desarrollador de software a distancia es una opción profesional gratificante. Sin embargo, necesitas desafiarte constantemente para convertirte en un desarrollador remoto de éxito. 

Para llegar a ser un gran programador en un mundo en el que lo remoto es lo primero, debes mantener actualizadas tus habilidades técnicas y desarrollar las cualidades que hemos comentado en este post. 

Si eres un desarrollador que busca oportunidades de trabajo remoto, Turing puede ayudarte. Puedes trabajar para empresas con sede en EE.UU. desde la comodidad de tu casa con una compensación inmejorable y un crecimiento profesional a largo plazo. 

Visita nuestra página de empleos para saber más.

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By Jun 27, 2022
Recruiting metrics hiring managers should track
For Employers

15 Recruiting Metrics Every Hiring Manager Must Track

What are recruiting metrics? Why should you track them? This post shares 15 metrics that hiring managers should track for maximum efficiency during & post-hiring.

Recruiting metrics are a critical part of a business’ hiring strategy. These metrics offer a tangible way for companies to evaluate the effectiveness and health of their hiring process. 

With the right mix of recruiting metrics, businesses can efficiently determine what is working and what isn’t. This mix helps hiring managers understand where they need to focus and allocate their resources. However, the number of recruiting metrics and data points available for recruiters to choose from can quickly become overwhelming. 

This post will highlight the top fifteen recruiting metrics that hiring managers should track to ensure maximum efficiency during and post-hiring.

What are recruiting metrics? What is meant by recruitment metrics?

Recruiting metrics are measurements used to evaluate the effectiveness of your hiring process and gauge the quality of recruits.

These metrics are crucial for hiring managers to make data-driven decisions and optimize their recruiting initiatives.

A recruitment process lifestyle includes planning, sourcing, screening, interviewing, recruiting, onboarding, and retaining engineers. The applicant management system (ATS) or the human resources management system (HRMS), an integrated suite of software tools, helps process and organize information about the recruitment life cycle. 

Let’s look at the fifteen recruiting metrics hiring managers should be tracking.

Fifteen recruiting metrics that directly impact your hiring process

  1. Time to Hire

    Time to hire is one of the most crucial and frequently used recruiting metrics. This metric measures how quickly and efficiently an organization can source and hire candidates.

    Time to hire measures how quickly your recruitment strategy takes to fill a vacant position. It generally reflects the number of days between a software developer applying for a role and the same developer accepting the job offer.

    This recruiting metric provides insight into two aspects of the hiring process:
    1. Recruiting efficiency. It shows how fast the HR team processes, assesses, interviews, and gets the candidate to accept the job offer. If the time to hire is long, it shows that the company’s current recruiting process is slow and inefficient.

    2. Candidate experience. A low time to hire provides the candidates with a better experience. Any candidate would prefer a company that takes two weeks rather than two months to hire a developer. 

  2. Source of Hire

    Source of hire gives companies information about what percentage of their new employees have entered their hiring pipeline through each recruitment channel or source they use. These sources could be job boards, websites, direct sourcing, or referrals.

    The source of hire (SOH) recruiting
    metric helps businesses distribute their resources along the most effective recruiting channels at a base level.

    Based on the type of ATS that a company uses, the system should automatically track the application source through which a candidate entered the company’s pipeline.

    This data plays a huge role in helping businesses strategize the allocation of their recruiting budget and resources more effectively.

    Here are a few ways source-of-hire recruiting metric helps companies:

    – They can pinpoint exactly where they can reduce expenses.
    – What are the most valuable recruitment platforms or agencies to direct more resources?
    – How to best allocate their advertising budget?
    – The efficiency of their hiring team.

    Businesses can also break down this recruiting metric based on team and job roles to understand their hiring process betters. 
  3. Cost per Hire

    Cost per hire is a crucial recruiting metric for businesses. It measures the total cost of hiring to fill a vacant position. This number includes all the expenses associated with filling an open job role, for example — recruitment event expenses, equipment, administrative costs, advertising costs, recruitment software platform subscription fees, relocation costs, and more.

    This metric can apply to internal promotions or transfers within the company and external hires recruited from outside the company.
  4. Application Completion Rate

    The application completion rate metric is vital for businesses with a complicated online recruitment system.

    Several organizations require candidates to manually enter a lot of information before applying for a job. This step leads to most developers dropping out of the application process due to an excessively long application process, inconsistency of the web browser with the application system, or an interface that isn’t user-friendly.

    By definition, the application completion rate compares the number of candidates that started filling out an application and the number of candidates that submitted their application.

    Based on the number of candidate interactions, this recruiting metric helps evaluate how successful your application platform and method are.
  5. Applicants per Opening

    Applicants per hire, also known as applicants per opening, is the number of candidates who have applied to a role. This metric indicates a job’s popularity in the labor market. A high number of applicants could indicate a high demand for jobs in that particular domain. On the other hand, a high number could also mean that the job description for that position was too generic or broad.

    Remember, the number of applicants per opening does not indicate the number of qualified candidates. While this may seem like a straightforward metric, it’s important to consider why you are measuring it and what the results mean. The number of people who apply for a job is an indicator of your recruitment marketing efforts.
  6. Qualified Candidates per Hire

    Qualified candidates per hire is a recruiting metric that measures the number of applicants who qualify past the first stage of your recruitment process.

    Depending on the process, this metric can be defined as the number of people who make it past the first step (screening stage) and are asked to appear for an interview.

    You can calculate this metric by dividing the number of qualified applicants by the number of people who originally applied for the position.
  7. Diversity

    Creating a diverse and inclusive workplace has been an important goal for companies worldwide in the past few years. Many resources get directed towards improving the gender and diversity mix.

    According to a report by McKinsey & Company, over $8 billion is spent every year on diversity training in the US alone. Candidates are proactively looking for businesses that focus on DE&I in the workplace.
    Companies that focus on diversity and inclusivity have also seen a significant increase in their profitability, productivity, and level of innovation compared to their competitors, who don’t have any DE&I goals.

    The diversity and inclusion metric helps keep unconscious hiring bias in check. The simplest way to measure diversity in your hiring process is to take the total number of developers you’ve hired and divide it by your DE&I goals. 
  8. Offer Acceptance Rate

    By definition, the offer acceptance rate reflects the percentage of candidates who have accepted your job offer.

    The higher the offer acceptance rate, the better the candidate’s hiring experience since this number directly reflects the attractiveness of your job offer.

    A lower offer acceptance rate decreases the company’s chances of recruiting skilled candidates. A lower rate also implies that your job offer isn’t competitive enough to attract the right developers.

    To calculate your company’s acceptance rate, take the number of developers who have accepted your offer and divide it by the number of developers you’ve made the offer to within the specific period. 
  9. Selection Ratio

    The selection ratio, also known as the Submittals to Hire ratio, compares the number of hired candidates to the total number of candidates who had applied for the job.

    The selection ratio provides insights into the value of assessment and recruitment tools. What’s more, this ratio can also provide an estimate of the utility of a recruitment system.
  10. First-Year Attrition Rate

    The first-year attrition rate is a highly straightforward recruiting metric that helps businesses identify the percentage of developers who voluntarily leave the company within the first year.

    Many companies spend a significant amount of resources sourcing and hiring candidates; however, having a full-proof retention strategy is as important as finding and hiring skilled developers. A high retention rate boosts the team’s morale and helps reduce the cost of recruitment.

    If your company’s first-year attrition rate is high, it could mean that your job description doesn’t match the actual job responsibilities at the time of hiring. On the other hand, a high attrition rate could also mean that the company doesn’t have an effective onboarding process or needs to optimize its strategy to retain remote developers. 
  11. Hiring Manager Satisfaction

    Hiring manager satisfaction is a crucial metric that reflects the success of the recruiting process. Companies must calculate this metric because hiring managers are heavily involved in the hiring process.

    Most importantly, when the hiring manager is satisfied with the new hire, they are likely to perform and gel well in the team. Simply, such a candidate is more likely to be a successful hire.
  12. Candidate Job Satisfaction

    Candidate satisfaction measures how a candidate views your hiring journey. Candidate job satisfaction helps track whether the expectations set during the recruiting procedure match the actual process. A low candidate-job satisfaction reflects mismanagement of candidate expectations. 
  13. Candidate Net Promoter Score

    The Net Promoter Score (NPS) gauges consumer satisfaction. However, this metric can also determine the satisfaction of candidates.

    The Candidate Net Promoter Score measures how candidates liked or didn’t like their experience with your hiring process, how they felt the company treated them, and what they’ll tell others about their overall experience with the company. Simply put, NPS denotes how your candidates rate their experience with your company.
  14. Percentage of Open Positions

    The percentage of open positions refers to the number of open positions for a department vs. the total number of open positions at the organization. A high percentage of open positions in a department denotes that those positions are in high demand. A high percent of open positions may also reflect that there’s a low supply of workers in the market for those positions.

    And thus, this metric can help hiring managers analyze the labor market and devise hiring strategies accordingly.  
  15. Sourcing Channel Cost

    This metric determines the cost efficiency of different sourcing channels. Hiring managers can calculate the sourcing channel cost by dividing the amount spent on ads on every platform by the number of candidates who applied through the job opening on that platform.

Recruiting metrics are a crucial part of the hiring process.

With the global software engineering talent shortage impacting businesses worldwide, a highly functioning recruiting process is crucial. With the aforementioned recruiting metrics, hiring managers can consistently optimize their recruitment process to deliver skilled developers. 

If you’re looking for a better way to source and hire remote software developers than job boards and social media platforms, Turing can help you. 

Turing is a deep jobs platform that enables companies to recruit skilled senior remote developers. You can take advantage of Turing’s tried-and-tested vetting process to have your pick of qualified remote software developers. 

With Turing, you can access the top 1% of 3M+ Silicon Valley-caliber developers with strong technical and communication skills who can work according to your requirements.

Traditional recruiting wasn’t built for a software-first world

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By Apr 19, 2022
Red Flags to Look Out for While Finding a Remote Job
Skills, Interviews, and Jobs

Watch Out for These 6 Red Flags When Looking for Remote Jobs

Are you looking for a remote job? Well, not every remote job you see online is legitimate. Here are 6 red flags to help you identify fraudulent job postings!

While online job boards can help you find your dream remote job, they also play host to fraudulent entities who post illegitimate job listings. These listings defraud vulnerable developers looking for jobs.

To protect yourself from such job listing, we’ve listed the most common red flags that you should look out for when looking for jobs online. 

Let’s dive in!

Remote software developer job red flags

  1. Unprofessional remote job posts

    One of the most obvious red flags for work-from-home positions is when the job description screams phony.
    The job posting isn’t well written. They contain a lot of errors or are just very poorly punctuated. Here are a few aspects that can help you separate legit remote jobs from a rip-off:
    1. Grammatical issues

    2. Spelling mistakes

    3. Punctuation errors

    4. Random capitalization

    5. Wrong verb tenses

      This isn’t just limited to the job posting, legit remote jobs imply professional recruiters who have the skills needed to do their job. So if they don’t seem professional or well-spoken when you talk to them, it is a sign of fraudulence.

  2. The remote job is too good to be true

    The second major red flag is when the job posting promises a crazy high salary but includes a vague job description.
    If you feel like a job offer is too good to be true, that’s likely the case. When an ad promises good money, and incredible perks but the details about precisely what you’ll need to do to earn this money are unclear, simply move on to the next job listing.
    Furthermore, legit remote jobs don’t offer the position lightly. So if the recruiter quickly offers you a brilliant job that you aren’t qualified for, it is another red flag.
    Legit remote jobs include many details to ensure only the most qualified candidates apply for the role. These details include:
    1. The job title
    2. Tasks that they expect the remote software developer to complete
    3. Skills and personality traits they are looking for
    4. A detailed introduction to the company
    5. Challenges they’re facing
    6. Sometimes, they also include official company email for correspondence
  3. Emails from personal accounts

    Hiring managers from reputed companies have email addresses that reflect the company they represent. Unless you’re sending an email to a virtual personal assistant’s ad, legit remote jobs should always have a company email address.It’s a huge red flag if you’re communicating with the recruiter by sharing your application to a personal email, or an ID with a long string of numbers.
    Sure, they may use a reputed platform like Yahoo or Gmail, but even fraudulent entities can create new emails on these reputed platforms without much effort. They may cite excuses like:
    1. Company servers are down
    2. They’ve been facing issues with viruses and spams
    3. The business isn’t established enough to provide official company emails yet

      Furthermore, hiring managers usually have information about the company like the company address, contact details, and the website in the signature. If you don’t spot these details, there is a good chance the company doesn’t exist. 
  4. They ask you to share confidential information

    Remote job

    Don’t share your confidential information

    Remote software developers should be skeptical about recruiters who ask for sensitive personal information before the onboarding process. Several job listings have the primary objective of obtaining personal information.
    Monetary theft, identity theft, and spoofing are the most common cybercrimes associated with fraudulent jobs. Remote developers should verify the organization and the hiring manager’s authenticity before sharing any sensitive data, and even then, they shouldn’t disclose any information until hired.
    They may ask you to provide personal information to proceed to the next step in the recruitment process, maybe citing a background check or credit report as the reason.
    Therefore, if someone asks for details like your credit card information, social security number, bank account information, driver’s license number, or others, simply move on to the next job post.
    Furthermore, be vigilant about jobs that ask you to pay to work. 
  5. There’s little information about the organization

    Companies sharing legit remote jobs should have an official website and social media presence. Generally, businesses share links to their site and social media handles within the job listing. At the very least, they include the name of the organization.
    If you fail to find an online footprint, it’s a red flag.
  6. Signs of email or website spoofing

    Some fraudulent jobs go one step further, create dedicated websites, or impersonate a legitimate company with nearly similar email addresses.
    A spooked website has a few telltale signs that you should take note of
    1. The website lacks standard branding

    2. The job doesn’t ask for much-needed prerequisites 

    3. The website or email is very similar to the actual company but includes special characters like hyphens or even numbers

    4. The website may have usual extensions instead of the standard .com, .net, etc.

    5. The website is not secure. While this may not always be a big red flag, these websites can put your personal information at risk

However, not all remote jobs are fraudulent. If you find the right job, it can be the best decision for your professional career.

So, how do you find a good remote job?

The best way to find legit remote jobs is to use trustworthy job portals. 

Turing matches remote software developers with authentic US-based enterprises. 

Hundreds of companies, including multinational corporations like DELL, Coinbase, Pepsi, and more, use Turing to find remote software developers.

Turing provides remote job opportunities for developers to work with Silicon Valley-based firms with unparalleled compensation and long-term career growth. 

Visit our Jobs page to know more!

Join a network of the world's best developers and get long-term remote software jobs with better compensation and career growth.

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By Mar 9, 2022
WordPress Development
For Employers

WordPress Development: Here’s What You Should Know

Out of 1.3 billion websites on the internet, there are 455M websites that use WordPress. Learn why so many websites choose WordPress development

WordPress is an excellent open-source platform.  It is the simplest and most popular way for businesses to create quality websites. WordPress development is the building and maintenance of WordPress websites.

As of 2022, there are around 1.3 billion websites on the internet. Out of these, there are currently 708 million sites that use WordPress. With over 2 million downloads every year, this number is expected to grow exponentially.

Though WordPress development was initially only meant for blogging and online publishing, businesses can adapt WordPress to build various websites.

Let’s learn why so many websites choose WordPress over other alternatives.

What is WordPress?

In technical terms, WordPress is an open-source content management system (CMS) licensed under General Public License (GPLv2) — this essentially means that anyone can use or modify this tool for free. 

From blogging to eCommerce and business websites, WordPress development is exceptionally versatile. It focuses prominently on flexibility and usability and is an excellent solution for companies at every scale, from small businesses and large corporations.

Here are a few examples of the types of websites you can build with WordPress development:

  • Blogs
  • E-commerce stores
  • Membership websites
  • Business websites
  • Forum websites
  • E-learning websites
  • Event websites
  • Professional portfolios
  • Wedding websites

The sky is the limit! There are endless possibilities for what kind of websites you can build with WordPress development. WordPress themes and plugins provide businesses with many design options and added functionalities.

Who is a WordPress Developer?

WordPress Development enables developers to create stunning websites

WordPress Development helps developers create quality websites

WordPress developer is an individual who specializes in designing and implementing websites for businesses using the WordPress platform. 

They have in-depth knowledge of the infrastructure and ecosystem of this platform and focus their efforts on improving the software or developing new products — WordPress themes and plugins.

It’s common knowledge that WordPress development doesn’t require coding knowledge. However, WordPress developers need to have expert knowledge of building a robust WordPress site to power a business’s needs. 

There are three specific types of WordPress developers.

  1. WordPress Core Developer. These developers specifically work on the back-end operations of the internal WordPress development software. They write code to improve the functionality of the WordPress platform.
  2. WordPress Theme Developer. Theme developers build custom WordPress themes. These themes could either be for individual clients or released on a third-party marketplace like themeforest.net. They also can share it for free in the WordPress Theme Directory. 
  3. WordPress Plugin Developer. As the name suggests, these developers create custom plugins. Like theme developers, WordPress plugin developers can create plugins for individual clients, release them on third-party websites, or share them for free in the WordPress Theme Directory.

Related Post – 6 Mistakes to Avoid While Hiring Remote Developers 

Advantages of WordPress Development

Advantages of WordPress Development

Benefits of WordPress Development

  1. Ease of use. WordPress is simple to install, use, and manage. While WordPress utilizes several coding languages to build the core platform, you don’t need extensive coding knowledge to work with this platform.
  2. Free. The software is available for free on WordPress.org. However, you do need to pay to purchase a domain name and web hosting.
  3. Flexible. You can create a variety of websites with WordPress development.
  4. Open-source software. No individual company or entity owns WordPress. And thus, it’s available for everyone to use.
  5. SEO. WordPress makes search engine optimization simple. Businesses can insert header tags and keywords into their website with minimal effort. It also offers several plugins like Yoast SEO that help keep your SEO initiatives in check.
  6. Extensible. Developers worldwide collaborate and contribute to improving the functionality of the software. These community contributors constantly alter the platform’s landscape and boost its performance. Developers can choose from the sea of theme and plugin options available to them or build their custom themes and plugins.
  7. Customizable. WordPress development themes are generally customizable. When you work with more advanced WordPress themes, they operate more like page builders and give developers complete control over the website layout and design.
  8. Support. You can upload images, video, audio, and documents via different formats on the WordPress platform. It supports a range of media types, even the more obscure ones.
  9. Security. WordPress has a dedicated website security team composed of core software developers and users. WordPress users face most security issues due to an error from their end rather than the WordPress software platform itself.

Related Post – Top 10 Reasons to Hire Ukrainian Developers 

So, why hire a WordPress developer?

Businesses prefer to leverage WordPress development to build their official websites. The CMS is hugely popular for its pixel-perfect, customizable themes and added functionalities its plugins offer. 

It gives them a platform to test and implement their creative ideas and keep up with the latest technologies and features. 

While the platform is one of the most straightforward tools available in the market, you need to find experienced WordPress developers to create and maintain your website.

WordPress developers know how to build a site that has a low bounce rate and works towards effectively garnering more leads. They keep the visitors intrigued with visual aid and implement various add-ons to keep the users engaged with your site.

They also have an in-depth understanding of tracking the effectiveness of your website via tools like Google Search Console and Google Analytics.

You can use Turing’s Intelligent Cloud system to find talented WordPress developers to join your WordPress development team. 

With Turing’s specialized vetting process, businesses can source and recruit experienced remote WordPress developers in a matter of days instead of weeks. 

You can head over to the Turing Hire page to know more!

Tell us the skills you need and we'll find the best developer for you in days, not weeks.

Hire Developers

By Feb 22, 2022
Remote software developers
Skills, Interviews, and Jobs

Nine Smart Questions Remote Software Developers Should Ask Recruiters

This blog post lists smart questions remote software developers can ask to gain a better sense of the company and end the interview with a lasting impression.

“Are there any questions you’d like to ask me?” This is a question every hiring manager asks while wrapping up an interview. Competent remote software developers understand that asking thoughtful questions here is an excellent way to set themselves apart from the crowd of candidates.

The questions you choose to ask can potentially change the entire dynamic of the interview and even alter the interviewer’s perception of you. 

You should have at least a handful of questions prepared before the interview so that if the interviewer has already answered a couple of questions during the interview, you still have a few more in the bank. 

We’ve listed nine intelligent questions you can choose from to gain a better sense of the company and your role and end the interview with a lasting impression.

Let’s dive in!

  1. What software development process does the company use?

    There are four types of software development processes businesses prefer to work with: Scrum, Agile, Waterfall, and Hybrid. To gain an insight into what the job would be like, it’s crucial to understand the details of the kind of software development methods and practices the company has in place. Here are a few aspects remote software developers should inquire about:

     – Code review. How does the development team review the code, and who is responsible for it? How is feedback provided to the remote software developers, and what kind of feedback can you expect?

     – Code changes and testing. Is there a process to test the code locally? How long does it take for a code in the repository to get implemented in the product?

     – Deployment. How often does the deployment process take place? 

     – Process change. Is the software development process subject to change? Has it changed in the past year? What kind of challenges do remote software developers face with the current process?

    These questions will help remote software developers understand the company’s engineering culture and the effectiveness of the processes they have in place.
  2. What does the day-to-day of this job role look like?
    remote software developers

    Programmer working in a software develop company office


    This question will give remote software developers a sense of what the position entails beyond the boilerplate job description and help them decide whether it’s right for them. It’ll also give developers an idea about what the company expects from them and make it easier for them to transition into the role.

    Would you be expected to attend a lot of meetings? How often would you have to report to your manager? Would you be working closely with other departments? Asking these questions will help remote software developers determine how they would spend most of their time.

  3. How quickly do you want to fill the position?
    This question will tell remote software developers what they can expect after the interview. The pace of the company’s hiring process will define how quickly developers can expect an offer after their interview. 

    Furthermore, this question will help remote software developers estimate how long they should wait before following up on their application or moving on to another opportunity.

  4. Beyond core technical skills, what soft skills will serve the organization and job role best?

    Businesses hiring remote software developers look for more than just the ability to write code. While a few qualities
    set an exceptional developer apart from the crowd, the recruiter can let you know the characteristics that their organization values above all else.

    You can choose to ask this question when you share your application so that you can structure your interview answers (maybe even your cover letter) to suit the company’s ideal candidate persona.

  5. What are some challenges I might face in this role?

    This question will help remote software developers gain insider knowledge about the job position and show the recruiter that the candidate is committed to working and overcoming challenges. 

  6. How does the organization measure success?
    remote software developers

    Programmer consulting with manager


    This question shows the hiring manager that the developer holds themselves accountable for their actions and is willing to work hard to achieve their goals. Ask about the metrics that the organization monitors and which metrics they prioritize over others. 

    However, this question doesn’t have to be limited to the job role. You can also ask how the management measures success for the development team and the organization as a whole. Again, inquire about the metrics they track in this scenario.

    Do they prioritize the speed of the development process, or maybe the number of features that the development team rolls out? While these can be good metrics to monitor, they don’t consider the quality of the code or the end-user experience.

    Another good metric to track is the defect escape rate — identifies the number of issues when the product has made it to the production stage. If the company prioritizes metrics like these, it shows what the management and leadership team value.

  7. Could you provide some background about the department or team with which I’d be working?

    This question gives remote software developers an idea about the company structure and the team’s dynamic. They will have more insight into their role and their potential co-workers. 

    To get a clear picture of the team’s composition, you can ask something like —
    How big is the software development team, how is it structured?  If the company has a huge development team, then it’s likely that your job role will be more specialized. Your responsibilities will probably be more versatile if the team is relatively small.

  8. Can you describe the company culture?

    A company’s work culture and values are critical factors that remote software developers need to consider while deciding whether or not the company is a good fit for them. It has a massive impact on different aspects of a developer’s workday. 

    Ask the interviewer to give you a more personalized answer instead of simply repeating what’s on the company’s website or handbook. How does the company work towards inculcating these values in their day-to-day activities? Access the company’s work environment with this question and learn what benefits you can expect from the organization.

  9. What are you most excited about the company’s future?

    A question like this shows recruiters that you’re looking for a long-term association with the company. By understanding the organization’s vision for the future, you can determine how your job role can help achieve that vision. 

Final thoughts

These questions are an excellent starting point for remote software developers to determine whether or not a company is right for them. 

You need to gather as much information as you can before you decide to pursue an opportunity that an organization offers you.

While moving on to a new company can be a scary process, it’s the best way to advance your professional career. However, finding good remote job opportunities for big firms can be challenging.

Join a network of the world's best developers and get long-term remote software jobs with better compensation and career growth.

Apply for Jobs

By Feb 21, 2022
Common interview mistakes developers make
Skills, Interviews, and Jobs

Six Common Interview Mistakes Remote Developers Make

What shouldn’t you do when interviewing? Here are the most common interview mistakes a candidate must avoid to make a good impression.

Knowing what to do and what not to do during a job interview is just as important as creating a polished resume. But no matter how much you prepare, interview mistakes are inevitable.

As a part of your interview preparation process, here are some common interview mistakes that you should note to make a good impression. 

Let’s dive in!

Common interview mistakes: Not researching the company.

Not researching the company you are interviewing for is one of the most common interview mistakes remote software developers make. 

By researching the employers, developers have an excellent chance to stand out of the crowd during the interview process. It helps them discover information that helps them understand what the organization does and what they look for while hiring a remote software developer.

Here are a few things you’ll learn during your research that will help you position yourself as a good candidate during the interview:

  1. You’ll discover the skills and values that the company values within its employees.
  2. Learn about the key position holders within the organization and browse through their social media profiles. If you dig a little deeper, you’ll know what the company is currently focused upon and even gain information about what their ex-employees say about the company.
  3. Know about the company’s current news and latest updates through press releases and other event information published online.
  4. Companies strive to find candidates who fit seamlessly into the company’s culture. Pay attention to the company’s mission, vision, and values and have points prepared that showcase how you’re the perfect fit for the company’s culture.
  5. Gain a general understanding of the company’s products/services and their ideal clients.
  6. Finally, research the person interviewing you. This research will help you find common ground and give you a better chance of connecting with them during the interview.

Common interview mistakes: Being afraid to say “I don’t know.”

Giving an interview doesn’t mean you have to know everything. If you don’t know an answer, accept it. Not doing so is a huge mistake. 

When you don’t know the answer and start rambling simply to get through to the next question, it is very obvious to the interviewer. 

Good software developers are upfront about accepting things they don’t know. 

Exaggerating their skills or knowledge with something they’re unfamiliar with is one of the most common interview mistakes. 

It won’t take long for the interviewer to figure out that you’ve overstated your assertions if they dive more into the subject. This oversight might lead them to doubt your rightful skills and experience, which is the last thing you want. 

It’s always preferable to admit when you don’t know something but want to learn rather than appear dishonest.

Not asking questions for clarification.

Interview-Mistake-Not-clarifying-doubts

Don’t hesitate to clarify your doubts

Simple interview mistakes like not asking clarifying questions before jumping into coding are something remote developers should avoid at all costs.

Asking questions before you start building a solution shows the interviewer that you can think strategically. 

Interview mistakes that follow this one are staying silent while you code and being so focused on the solution that you don’t explain how you got there.

Don’t rush into problem-solving mode as soon as the interviewer present you with a question to solve.

Break down the problem, think through the solution and explain your thought process to the interviewer while you’re trying to solve the problem. 

Thinking out loud and checking in periodically helps ensure you don’t stay off course and give your interviewer insight into how you approach a problem and gauge your problem-solving skills. It also gives them opportunities to provide feedback or hints, should you need them. 

Common interview mistakes: Not showing your human side.

Companies are not just looking for remote software developers who can code brilliantly. Beyond what you’ve shared on your resume, they want to know what tick. 

Therefore, don’t be afraid to talk about things that you’re passionate about, even if they’re not related to the position you’re applying for. 

These outside interests allow the interviewer to learn more about how you manage yourself in a remote work setting and ensure you know how to maintain a healthy work-life balance.

Having a system to rewind after a long day of work shows them you know how to work efficiently in a remote setting.

Additionally, understand that job interviews are not interrogations. Try to build a real conversation with the interviewer instead of simply answering questions or getting them to answer a list of your questions.

Common interview mistakes: Simply relying on your technical skills.

Core technical skills are undoubtedly crucial for technical parts of an interview, like a live coding challenge. However, one of the most common interview mistakes remote developers make is assuming that only having technical knowledge can get them the job. 

Companies that have a global remote workforce can only operate with employees who have the soft skills to function efficiently within a remote-first environment.

Therefore, even if you’re the best software developer in the world, businesses may choose to work with someone with less skill or experience if you can’t even hold a proper conversation.

Weak communication. 

Interview-mistakes-weak-communication

Not communicating effectively can jeopardize your interview

Interviews can be a nerve-wracking process, and a brief moment of complete silence can make it seem like the most stressful thing in the world. 

However, a little silence is not always a bad thing. 

Taking the time to think through your answer demonstrates your ability to think before you speak, which is a quality that interviewers not just appreciate, but actively seek out. 

Secondly, talking over the interviewer or not waiting for them to finish asking a question before you start answering are interview mistakes you should avoid at all costs.

There can also be a slight delay during your virtual interview. To ensure this blunder doesn’t happen unintentionally, always wait a few seconds before you start speaking. 

Summary

As a remote software developer, interviews can be tough to crack if you don’t know how to prepare for them. Businesses aren’t just looking for engineers with technical knowledge; they want to hire independent thinkers who know more than just write code. 

Reading so far, you may have a much better understanding of the common interview mistakes you should avoid making to showcase yourself as the best candidate for a job role. 

However, if you’re not sure how to find remote software developer jobs with international companies, Turing can help.

Turing provides remote job opportunities for developers to work with Silicon Valley-based firms with unparalleled compensation and long-term career growth. 

Visit our Jobs page to know more!

Join a network of the world's best developers and get long-term remote software jobs with better compensation and career growth.

Apply for Jobs

By Feb 17, 2022
great programmer
Skills, Interviews, and Jobs

Five Qualities of Successful Remote Software Developers

Learn about five qualities that will help developers become great programmers and skyrocket their remote software development careers.

What sets apart great programmers?

Good programmers can write code that can run without errors. 

However, simply writing good code doesn’t make a software programmer successful. It’s not just about being an expert at a language or having a specific educational background. 

While understanding code is the first step of success for remote software developers, there’s much more to becoming a great programmer.

In this post, we’ll share five qualities that will help you become a great programmer and skyrocket your remote software development career. 

Great programmers have a positive attitude towards work.

Compared to the traditional work model, remote work comes with many benefits. The most significant advantage is the flexibility to work from anywhere at their preferred time. 

However, with this added advantage comes greater responsibility.

A great programmer has a dedicated work ethic that aligns flawlessly with the team’s workflow. They are optimistic about their work and appreciate their fellow team members.

Great programmers don’t need constant supervision. They have the skills and the right mindset to get their tasks done within the timeframe. 

You have to instill the confidence within your superiors to trust you with more than just your tasks. 

For example, if you find a bug within a product, don’t just solve the immediate problem and move on. Instead, take a step back and analyze it from all angles. Where did the bug originate? What could have caused it? Did it affect any other functionalities of the software? How long has it been present? What impact does it have on the project?

Skilled remote software developers can use the most seemingly harmless problems to gain essential insights into a project’s fundamentals by taking an analytical approach.

Great programmers have excellent communication skills. 

great programmers communication

Effecient Communication

Efficient communication is one of the most crucial qualities of a skilled software engineer. It helps them establish themselves as valuable team players and become an integral part of highly functional remote workforces.

In a remote-first world, companies expect developers to communicate directly with the clients. Essentially, if the software developer is the one who can help solve the client’s issue with technology, it’s wiser to let the developer communicate directly with the client.

With this approach, remote software developers need to be capable of explaining technical concepts in a practical and relatable manner to non-technical people. 

Great programmers understand that effective communication establishes them as reliable sources of information in the company.

Time management.

Great programmers understand that software development involves technical and creative thinking. The process can include a lot of variables and complicated dependencies. 

Solving technical problems, thinking for creative solutions, or learning new information takes time. Therefore, effectively organizing your time to produce quality work is one of the most crucial qualities of a professional software engineer. 

Here are a few time management tips that remote software developers can use to become great programmers:

  1. Create a plan. Whether undertaking a complex project or simply starting your day, have a plan.
  2. Prioritize important tasks. Finish your most challenging tasks at the beginning of your day and save the simpler ones later. 
  3. Break it into smaller chunks. If you have a large, complicated project, divide it into smaller tasks. This practice will make the project seem less exhausting and much more manageable.
  4. Delegate. If you think someone is more qualified to finish a task, delegate it to that person. Also, make sure your team members can rely on you for your expertise. 
  5. Disruptive periods. It’s usual to find yourself checking your email or slack every half hour (or even more frequently) when you’re supposed to be finishing up a task. While distractions are inevitable, you can manage your time better by planning disruptive periods when you can check your emails. 
  6. Avoid multitasking. While many people pride themselves on their ability to multitask, it’s not always as good as they think. Shifting your mind from one task to another takes you at least 15 minutes to re-focus on the task at hand. So when you constantly move your focus from one task to another, it’ll probably take much more time to complete your work. 
  7. Self-discipline. Whether it’s time management or learning new skills, becoming a great programmer requires self-discipline. Therefore, if you create a system, try your best to stick to it. 

Great programmers are open to feedback.

Great programmers leverage feedback from clients and fellow remote software developers to gain an in-depth insight into improving their performance. 

Building a friendly environment where you welcome constructive feedback is critical to improving your technical and soft skills. 

On the other hand, it’s equally essential to be proactive about sharing your feedback with your team. Keep in mind that the goal is to challenge your team members to be better remote developers.

Connect with developers in a community. 

developer community

Remote developer community

Developer communities are an excellent way to connect with other remote software developers. They provide programmers with a platform to solve problems, create learning opportunities, and build a network. 

Great programmers always keep track of technological trends and have the habit of learning new things that help them grow. 

Therefore, it’s vital to find a developer community that can guide you to become a successful remote software developer. By providing you with access to like-minded people, you gain a support system that can help you focus on upskilling and growing your career.

Turing developer community allows remote software developers to share their experiences, expand their skill sets, and help each other build their dream careers. It’s a free and diverse platform that can help developers worldwide advance their developer journey with tech and soft skills training, career development workshops, and meetups. 

To sum up: What are the attributes of great remote software developers?

Working as a remote software developer is a rewarding career choice. However, you need to constantly challenge yourself to become a successful remote developer. 

To become a great programmer in a remote-first world, you have to stay on top of your technical skills and develop the qualities we’ve discussed in this post. 

If you are a developer looking for remote job opportunities, Turing can help. You can work for US-based enterprises from the comfort of your home with unparalleled compensation and long-term career growth. 

Visit our Jobs page to know more!

Join a network of the world's best developers and get long-term remote software jobs with better compensation and career growth.

Apply for Jobs

By Feb 11, 2022
Hiring Managers Remote Software Developers
For Employers

6 Mistakes Hiring Managers Should Avoid Making

Hiring software developers can be a tricky task. Here are the six mistakes hiring managers should avoid making while building a remote software team this year.

Hiring remote software developers is no longer just an alternative to get through the pandemic. Companies worldwide have realized that flexibility and a good work-life balance can help skyrocket their business. Hiring managers are roping in remote software developers globally to gain access to the best talent.

However, international hiring of remote employees can be tricky since companies have to navigate different challenges to find the best developers. 

This post shares the six most common mistakes enterprises should avoid when hiring remote software developers.

Hiring remote software developers locally

Remote software developers

Hiring remote software developers locally

Even if enterprises have shifted to a remote work model, many still limit their recruitment efforts to source and hire local talent. While they may feel that working with remote software developers within the same timezone is a competitive recruitment strategy, they miss out on the best advantages of building a remote workforce.

Hiring remote software developers allows companies to expand beyond their local network and access a global talent pool. They can recruit remote software developers based solely on their talent and bypass the limitations of traditional work models like geography.

Building a distributed workforce is especially beneficial for businesses operating from regions that don’t have a heavy tech presence, as well as companies that want to hire competent developers within a reasonable budget.

Rushing to hire remote software developers for a new project 

It’s always exciting to work on a new project. However, it can be scary to realize your current developers aren’t capable of the kind of work you require. Or maybe you need to hire specialists to handle a few aspects of your initiative. Alternatively, perhaps you’re a part of a fast-scaling start-up and don’t have the time to look for the right developers.

Whatever it may be, it’s crucial not to rush into hiring remote software developers out of fear and desperation. Hiring remote software developers on an impulse can do more harm than good in the long run.

Take the time out to build a proper recruitment and hiring process and develop a plan for how you’re going to vet these remote software developers. 

First, understand what skills, experience level, and personality you’re looking for. Then, create a list of interview questions and assessments you want the candidates to take.

Don’t just hire for a single project. Instead, consider the other projects in your pipeline and find the perfect developer to join your team.

Slow hiring process 

Hiring remote software developers process

Slow hiring process

On the flip side, having a slow process for hiring remote software developers doesn’t do any favors either. 

Organizations usually recruit experienced remote software developers very quickly. This statement is even more authentic with the global talent shortage because of the skewed ratio of job vacancies and skilled software engineers. 

Therefore, if you have a slow process for hiring remote software developers, it’s likely that you’re missing out on a lot of good talent. 

But what would you define as a slow hiring process? If it usually takes a couple of weeks to respond to a candidate and another 3 to 4 weeks to get them through your recruitment process, you need to optimize your hiring process.

A slow hiring process makes your candidates feel like you aren’t interested in hiring them, and they start looking for other opportunities.

Focusing on fancy degrees and shiny resumes 

Sorting through candidates based solely on their resumes may cost you skilled developers. 

Having a degree in the relevant field doesn’t always reflect the candidate’s capabilities and is an unreliable factor while hiring remote software developers.

Therefore, along with requesting their resumes, have other tests in place that will help you decide whether the developer should pass through to the next stage. 

Don’t let their shiny resume sway you if the candidate fails to back up their application with the proper technical knowledge.

Only considering technical ability while hiring remote software developers

Core technical skills are crucial while hiring remote software developers. However, a candidate could be brilliant at writing code, but they still may not be the perfect fit for your business. 

Software developers need more skills than just technical knowledge to be good remote workers. One of the most critical skills hiring managers must look for is communicating efficiently within a team setting. 

Developers may need to collaborate with other departments in a remote-first workspace. In addition, they need to be efficient in explaining complex technical concepts to non-technical people.

While technical skills are an essential factor, hiring managers should consider other soft skills while hiring remote software developers.

A recent study by Leadership IQ analyzed around 20,000 new employees and 1,400 HR managers. The study reflected that 46 percent of new hires left the company (or were fired) within the first 18 months. 

Additionally, 26 percent of them failed because of their inability to accept feedback, 17 percent lacked the motivation to achieve their full potential, and 15 percent of these new hires didn’t have the right attitude towards the company and their job.

These statistics show how crucial it is to take emotional intelligence and other skills into account while screening remote software developers.

Hiring remote software developers from freelance platforms 

Businesses like hiring remote software engineers on a freelance basis for projects since they don’t charge a lot and get the job done. 

Many assume it’s easy to find talented remote developers on freelance platforms. However, the reality is that freelance platforms are chaotic and don’t cater to a specific vertical.

Therefore, they fail to attract skilled and experienced remote software developers.

The developers you find on these freelance platforms may simply focus on finishing your project and getting paid food their work rather than integrating themselves within your company. Furthermore, they may not care much about the broader aspects of your business like your brand values, etc. 

If you’re looking to  hire remote software developers that will be with you for the long haul, recruiting from gig-oriented platforms might not be the best decision. 

With a platform like Turing that specifically focuses on helping enterprises source and hire remote software developers on a long-term basis, you will have a better chance at finding developers who understand your company’s culture.

So, what should you keep in mind when hiring remote software developers?

In today’s remote-first world, hiring remote software developers who are right for their business is a key concern for enterprises worldwide. 

With the global talent shortage, businesses must avoid these mistakes and pitfalls that their competitors suffer from. To hire the best candidate, you need to understand how the IT industry functions, have an in-depth understanding of the roles you’re hiring for and have a proper system in place to source the best remote software developers. 

Turing’s Intelligent Cloud system takes care of all these aspects and helps find the best talent to join your development team.

Turing’s specialized vetting process helps businesses recruit competent remote software developers in a matter of days instead of weeks. 

You can check out the Turing Jobs page to know more!

Tell us the skills you need and we'll find the best developer for you in days, not weeks.

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By Feb 10, 2022
software development team structure
Custom Engineering

How To Build a Software Development Team Structure

In this post, you’ll understand the different roles within a software development team and the various approaches to building a remote development team.

Whether you want to build a scalable mobile application, a customized software application for your in-house team, or a sophisticated cloud service, you will need an efficient software development team to bring your idea to life. 

An efficient software development team can deliver valuable software solutions within the decided timeframe.

This post will help you understand the different approaches to building a software development team.

Define Your Software Development Team Structure

There are three primary software development team structures: Generalist, Specialist, and Hybrid. Let’s look at what these terms stand for and the pros and cons of employing these software development team structures. 

Generalist Software Development Team Structure

A generalist software development team includes remote software engineers familiar with various specializations. 

Generalists usually wear several hats and have a diverse range of skillsets. For example, your remote software engineer could be familiar with UX designing and testing your software product. Or your Project Managers can be skilled in performing code reviews.

Pros of the generalist approach:

  1. Your entire software development team will understand the product to work on different aspects of a single project efficiently. In addition, this approach allows them to work faster as a team and face fewer blockers. 
  2. The entire team can brainstorm and present different perspectives for a problem and work together to find an effective solution.

Cons of the generalist approach:

  1. While working on a project, some tasks may be new to them. As a result, finishing these tasks may take longer than necessary.
  2. You may have to onboard someone new in the middle of the project since your generalist software development team may not have the knowledge needed for a specific task.

Suppose you don’t have a large company. In that case, it makes sense to adopt a generalist structure and nurture your remote software engineers to gain extensive knowledge in as many fields as possible.

Specialist Software Development Team Structure

A specialist software development team has members who are individually skilled at one core technology, language, or framework. 

They are experts at what they do and are fully responsible for their part in the development process. 

Depending on the scope of work, the software development team can have an internal hierarchy or structure to complete different parts of a project. 

Pros of a specialist approach:

  1. Specialists have an in-depth understanding of their specialization. This approach allows the software development team to perfect each part of the project separately.
  2. The responsibilities are clearly defined.
  3. Since each specialist can work on their particular element simultaneously, the development process is faster.
  4. Specialists don’t need much supervision and work independently. This independence ensures that your software development team is entirely self-sufficient. 

Cons of a specialist approach:

  1. Specialists don’t have much knowledge about other team roles. This caveat increases the risk of communication because of a general lack of understanding of some tasks. 
  2. If a developer has to work on other tasks, they will need to learn about certain project parts anew.

You can employ a specialist software development team structure if your projects have a larger scope of work or if you’re working on a tight schedule.

You can also go for this approach if you have to work on several projects simultaneously.

Hybrid Software Development Team Structure

Just as the name suggests, a hybrid software development team has the best of both worlds. It has generalists who can focus on the project as a whole and specialists who can narrow down their focus as required.

Pros of a hybrid approach:

  1. The efficiency and performance are better than the other approaches because of a hybrid software development team’s flexibility. 
  2. It reduces the drawbacks of both the approaches mentioned above.

Cons of a hybrid approach:

  1. Because the hybrid approach has a lot of variables, it needs variable supervision techniques. This requirement makes coordination tricky. 
  2. A hybrid approach is relatively expensive and time-consuming to implement.

A hybrid software development team is multi-purpose. Therefore, building a hybrid team will be highly beneficial for complex and challenging projects if you have the budget and time.

Key software development positions

A software development team doesn’t just comprise remote software engineers. Here is a list of other positions in a software development team.

Business Analyst (BA)

A business analyst processes business goals and transforms them into something specific and tangible. They consult with stakeholders, listen to their concerns and opinions, define the market’s demands, and develop an efficient solution. 

Project Manager (PM)

Software development team: Project manager

Project Manager

The project manager is in charge of the planning and execution of the software development process. In simple terms, they are responsible for getting things done and ensuring the project moves in the right direction. 

They mediate between the software development team and the business stakeholders, ensuring things progress smoothly. 

They keep the whole team on track by overseeing the entire process, delegating tasks to the team, and preventing workflow disruptions. 

UI/UX Designer

Software development team: Designer

UI/UX Designer

In a nutshell, their primary responsibility is building an intuitive design that makes it effortless for end-users to interact with your product. 

A UI designer focuses on the aesthetics of your product. This focus includes things like deciding the suitable color scheme, designing the logo for your software solution, navigation icons, and more.

A UX designer analyzes user behavior and builds prototypes that improve the product’s user experience.

Developers (Front-end/ Back-end) 

Developers work towards building the best software solutions and resolving any technical glitches that the team may encounter during the development process. 

A software development team usually has front-end and back-end developers. You can also hire full-stack developers who are skilled in various coding languages.

Front-end developers focus on the user-end elements of the software solution and ensure that the users can interact seamlessly with your product. Typically, their responsibilities include aspects like developing the user interface and optimizing the speed of the product. 

Back-end developers build and maintain the technology required to power the components created by the front-end developers. They are mainly responsible for the functionality of your product and deal with the server end of the programming to ensure the software runs without any technical glitches.

Quality Assurance Engineer (QA)

A quality assurance engineer is a critical part of your software development team because they test the quality of your product and detect any bugs before releasing it into the market.

They test the quality of the software against standards like maintainability, performance, usability, functionality, and security and ensure the product works as intended.

Building a new remote software development team? Turing can help. Turing Teams enable you to build dedicated teams with the right engineering and managerial talent for your success. Also, with Turing Teams, you can hire vetted Silicon Valley-caliber software developers across 100+ technologies like React, Swift, Kotlin, Java, AWS, Python, Ruby, etc.

Summary

Businesses don’t just need a brilliant product idea; they need an agile development team to execute their ideas to excel in today’s ultra-competitive business environment.

Now that you understand the different software development team structures, you can pick the right one for your business and hire the right people to fill these roles. 

If you’re looking for skilled and experienced software developers to join your agile team, Turing can help!

Turing is a deep jobs platform for businesses to source and recruit skilled remote software developers. You can leverage Turing’s tried-and-tested vetting process to find qualified remote developers. 

With Turing, you’ll have access to a global talent pool of the top 1% of 1M senior developers with strong technical and communication skills who can work according to your requirements.

Tell us the skills you need and we'll find the best developer for you in days, not weeks.

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By Jan 31, 2022
Turing review Sandip
Developer Testimonials

How I Landed a Job at a Silicon Valley-based Firm!

In his Turing.com review, Sandip shares his life experience before Turing and how he landed a remote software developer job with Turing in just a month!

Sandip, a talented software developer, shared his Turing.com review in a recent blog post about how the company helped him skyrocket his career as a developer. In addition, he opened up about how it was nearly impossible for him to land a job with an international company until Turing.com came into his life. 

Journey before Turing.com

Based in Surat, a small town in the state of Gujarat, India, Sandip had always dreamed of studying and settling down in a European country to build a better future. 

However, Sandip’s family didn’t have the financial stability to help him pursue his Master’s degree abroad. 

He applied to hundreds of international companies; however, the only response he received was — “Unfortunately, we will not be moving forward with your application, but we appreciate your time and interest.”

“No interviews. Not even a proper reason for rejection! Getting rejected directly because ‘application outside from the country’ was making me feel helpless,” he said.

After facing rejections from companies from multiple countries, he had lost his only hope of getting settled abroad or getting a job that paid him enough.

turing com developer

Turing.com developer: Sandip

How did he learn about Turing.com?

“I heard about a few people getting remote work during the pandemic, and it piqued my interest,” he says. 

While researching online for remote software developer jobs, Sandip stumbled upon an advertisement from Turing.com.

“I quickly signed up to Turing.com and began researching everything the platform has to offer!” exclaims the skilled developer. 

Turing.com review: How has his journey with Turing.com been so far?

“Turing played a crucial role in managing things for me,” Sandip recalls. 

“It’s been three months since I’ve landed a remote software developer job with a Silicon Valley-based business because of Turing.com. And the best thing? Turing handled all the complex procedures to apply and secure the job!” he exclaims happily.

Turing.com review: What’s his take on Turing.com’s vetting process?

After coming across Turing.com during his research, Sandip immediately registered on the platform, where he completed a few tests to understand his expertise over particular languages.

“Because I had a firm grasp of 16+ programming languages, I was able to pass 2 to 3 language tests. After passing the tests, the platform guided me to sign up for a one-on-one coding challenge to solve two algorithms on Codelity while a Turing representative live-screened my approach, “he says.

“I had several interviews lined up with companies in the United States within a month. After giving interviews to three different organizations, I received job offers from two Silicon Valley-based firms!” adds the coding enthusiast.

Turing.com review: What’s his take on Turing developers?

This Gujarat-based developer believes that the best part about Turing.com is the opportunity for developers to work with complex problem solvers on an international level.

“It is an entirely different experience, and I get the opportunity to learn a lot,” Sandip says.

People like Sandip also enjoy building connections with fellow developers. Therefore, it’s no surprise that he loves how indulging the Turing developer community is.

“At Turing.com, alongside working on exciting projects, we also enjoy online games and contests where Turing awards gifts to the winners! I love to be a part of the Turing developer community,” he adds.

What advice does he have for other developers?

“To begin, you must put your worries aside and take Turing.com’s skill tests as quickly as possible.  I understand how you feel; I vividly remember the fear of not scoring well, or worse, failing them. Most developers think they’ll take some time to prepare themselves for the test and take them later. However, they never do so and end up losing valuable opportunities,” he says.

After clearing the tests for at least a handful of programming languages, you can go ahead and schedule your online coding test. 

Sandip advises developers to ensure they have a stable connection and a peaceful mind for their live coding test.

“During the live coding challenge, you will be asked to create a couple of algorithms. The company will record the entire session to ensure you’ve tried all possible approaches to come up with the best solution,” the developer explains.

After the live coding challenge, you can finalize your resume. 

Turing.com will showcase your test results, live coding challenge recording, and your resume to US-based firms looking to hire developers with your specialty. 

Turing.com Review

Turing.com: Resume

With Turing.com, you can land a remote software developer job within a couple of weeks!

Talking about tools you need to work with, Sandip says: “Scrum/Agile is the most used tool in Silicon Valley-based firms. Make sure you have enough knowledge about Jira, DevOps, and Scrum since it will help make your onboarding process a lot smoother.”

Sandip also highlights the perks he enjoys with Turing.com’s payment platform. 

“Turing.com uses the Deel platform for payments. Other than the ability to see your contract and upcoming payment details, Deel also offers quite a few perks and benefits,” he notes.

Final thoughts

“Throughout the process, Turing.com has been a solid pillar of support for me. The company has gone above and beyond to ensure that developers don’t have to worry about anything other than being good at what they do,” he says. 

“Working as a remote developer has given me loads of flexibility and free time, and I’m grateful to Turing.com for presenting me with the world’s best opportunities while working from home,” Sandip concludes.

If you’re an experienced developer well-versed in programming languages, join Turing’s boundaryless team today!

Join a network of the world's best developers and get long-term remote software jobs with better compensation and career growth.

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By Jan 25, 2022
software engineer skills
Skills, Interviews, and Jobs

Soft Skills Every Software Developer Needs

Along with core technical skills, learning these software engineer skills will help developers become more successful while working remotely.

In the past, companies primarily expected software engineer skills to include core technical competence like writing code, running tests, and developing intuitive software applications. While a solid grasp of programming languages will help you get a long way, there are several other skills needed for software engineers to succeed in the remote-first world.

As the IT industry has diversified, the required remote software engineer skills have broadened to include extensive soft skills. 

Organizations expect developers to converse with coworkers from different departments in this remote-first world. For example, developers regularly interact with design team members, project managers, and other company executives.

Along with the core technical skills, here are the top soft skills needed for software engineers:

Software engineer skills: Communication

Software engineer skills Communication

Skills needed for software engineers: Communication

The ability to communicate effectively is one of the most critical skills needed for software engineers or any professional in general. 

In today’s Zoom world, here are some things developers need to keep in mind to communicate effectively:

  • Even if you second-guess yourself, speaking clearly and with confidence is crucial. Learn to articulate your thoughts and verbalize them concisely. If you learn how to communicate with conviction, people will pay attention to what you say.
  • Effective communication is a two-way street. To be a good speaker, you need to be an attentive listener. Listening to your coworkers, customers, or potential clients will help you discover new perspectives, learn new things, and prioritize your tasks.
  • This point is more of basic etiquette. Don’t interrupt people when they’re making a point. Let them finish speaking before you verbalize your thoughts. If you’re on a video conference, you can take advantage of the chatbox to share your thoughts without disturbing or interrupting the speaker.

Empathy

In simple terms, empathy is the ability to put yourself in others’ shoes. 

Understanding your coworkers and customers, belief systems, and personalities will benefit you greatly. 

As a remote software developer, you’ll be much more confident suggesting new ideas if you can predict how your audience is likely to react to what you have to say. Then, you can tailor how you present your suggestion according to your audience. 

Empathizing with your target users will help you better understand their points of view. Given that they will be using your product, this is one of the most critical skills needed for software engineers. 

Software engineer skills: Patience

As a software developer, you may have to attend customer or product meetings that don’t always comprise technical professionals. In this situation, you need to explain the reason behind your decisions in a non-technical manner. 

While some may grasp your points on the first go, others may need a little more clarification. Some may ask questions without understanding the scope of the topic. 

Without building the patience to walk them through your decisions, things can become frustrating very quickly. Though this is no easy feat, you need to be capable of explaining things better with future sessions. 

Open-mindedness, adaptability, and self-learning

Open-mindedness, adaptability, and self-learning are software engineer skills that help them stay relevant.

The IT industry is constantly changing. With the development of new tools and technologies every day, it’s difficult for a developer to thrive without a flexible and self-learning attitude. 

These software engineer skills give them a competitive edge over other developers.

Remote software developers need to be open to accepting new ideas. Even the weirdest ideas can spark inspiration for something great if you’re just willing to consider them instead of simply dismissing them.

Critical thinking, creativity, and problem-solving

Critical thinking, creativity, and problem-solving software engineer skills could also fall comfortably into the hard skills category. 

Only remote software developers who are confident about their technical capabilities can respond to situations with agility and creativity. 

Critical thinking and problem-solving are crucial skills needed for software engineers in their everyday activities. 

From a broader perspective, software engineering is all about solving complex problems. While the scope and complexity of these problems can vary, the nature is the same. 

Therefore, good software developers need to be excellent critical thinkers. They should have the ability to solve complex problems and think outside the box to develop unorthodox approaches.

Software engineer skills: Accountability and consistency

As a remote software developer, it doesn’t matter how effectively you communicate, empathize, or how skilled you are at writing code — you are answerable to someone.

It could be your team lead, project manager, client, or even an investor. 

You need to report transparently and honestly to ensure your projects run smoothly. Proving yourself dependable and accountable builds rapport with key stakeholders and helps secure support to rectify problems, overlaps, or roadblocks. 

Software engineer skills: Management

Remote software developers need to be efficient while working in a team setting on a project with strict deadlines. These projects may not always require you to simply write code. 

Managing people and different projects are vital skills needed for software engineers. 

Another vital management skill is time management. Adhering to deadlines and providing the correct estimates means developers need to be conscious about their time on a specific project.

Software engineer skills: Teamwork and collaboration

Teamwork and Collaboration

Skills needed for software engineers: Teamwork and Collaboration

Teamwork is not just one of the most critical skills needed for software engineers; it’s crucial for any professional. 

Developers inherently need to be team players. Working on any project means you need to collaborate with UX developers, designers, project managers, and other key stakeholders.

However, being a part of a remote team comes with its challenges. Therefore, to be a good team player, patience, empathy, and effective communication are soft skills needed for software engineers. 

Summary

You may have realized that all the soft skills listed in this post complement one another. For example, being efficient in communication will help you collaborate effectively and be a better team player. The ability to empathize with coworkers will make you more open-minded and, again, a better team player.

These software engineer skills will help you become a well-rounded professional with solid potential to thrive in this remote-first environment.

If you are a software developer looking for remote job opportunities, Turing can help. You can work for US-based companies from the comfort of your home with unparalleled compensation and long-term career growth. 

Visit our Jobs page to know more!

Join a network of the world's best developers and get long-term remote software jobs with better compensation and career growth.

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By Jan 19, 2022
custom software development
Custom Engineering

Eight Advantages of Custom Software Development

In this post, we’ll talk about what’s custom software development, its benefits, and how much it costs to build a custom software solution for your business

Commercial off-the-shelf software solutions don’t always cater to the specific needs of enterprises, which is where custom software development comes into play. 

Businesses looking for software solutions tailored to their demands need custom software development. 

A custom software development process includes brainstorming, designing, building, testing, and maintaining applications developed with specific functionalities in mind. 

In this post, we will:

  1. Understand what custom software development is
  2. Discuss the benefits of custom software development
  3. Compare custom software with off-the-shelf software solutions
  4. Learn how to create custom software, and
  5. Understand how much it costs to build custom software.

So, let’s jump right in!

What is custom software development?

Custom software, also known as bespoke software or tailor-made software, is a technological solution explicitly designed based on a company’s unique needs. Businesses build them to improve efficiency, productivity, and customer relationships.

Commercial off-the-shelf software (COTS) solutions are mass-produced for many customers. 

Custom software development, also termed custom application development, is creating software applications to be used within an enterprise. It serves to automate complex, manual, or repetitive tasks that may otherwise require several systems.

Custom software development helps businesses gain an edge over their competitors and scale their business to the next level.

Custom Software vs. Off-the-Shelf

  1. Speed. Since off-the-shelf products don’t need to adhere to specific requirements, they are often faster to build. 
  2. Price. Developing a custom application is a pricier option. 
  3. Customization. Custom software allows businesses full reign to customize their software to tackle specific challenges. Unfortunately, it’s decidedly difficult to do so with COTS products. 
  4. Community. COTS solutions have a bunch of businesses that can vouch for its functionality and efficiency. Building a custom application doesn’t allow you to check reviews to see how good it is. In this case, COTS products offer a better sense of community.
  5. Competition. Custom applications allow you to customize and modernize your business and gain a competitive advantage. It is an excellent way to stand out in the marketplace.

Benefits of custom software development

Targeted Solutions

custom software targeted solutions

Custom software development: Targeted solutions

One of the primary benefits of investing in custom programs is addressing a company’s exact needs and specifications. As a result, businesses can shape programs according to their requirement instead of working around the limitations of off-the-shelf software solutions.

Highly customizable and scalable

As your company grows, it’s normal for the goals and objectives of your business to change. 

If you purchase an off-the-shelf software solution, you may not be able to adapt the tool to suit your business’s changing needs, or it may be too expensive to do so.

Custom application development allows organizations to have complete control over their software code. When required, companies can adapt the application’s features to meet their needs.

Seamless integration

custom software seamless integration

Custom software development: Seamless integration

Businesses can easily integrate custom applications with the third-party software solutions your business is already using.

Most commercial off-the-shelf software tools are generic. Therefore, it’s challenging to integrate them with the system you already have in place. 

Hardware expenses

Purchasing a license for commercial software products often requires businesses to invest in additional hardware to ensure it runs smoothly. 

When businesses build custom programs in-house, developers can consider the company’s current hardware capabilities while building the software. 

This process saves the company quite a bit of money and saves it from forcefully adapting to what’s available.

Data security

With businesses building a global remote workforce, data security has become an even bigger priority. 

A custom application ensures that the company’s data is secure, thereby eliminating the additional expenses associated with security while dealing with off-the-shelf solutions.

Continuous Support & Maintenance

Having a dedicated development team on board will help ensure you have technical support anytime you encounter an issue. An in-house team also knows the software solution inside and out and can effortlessly tweak or update the application when you need it.

Reliability

Working with a commercial off-the-shelf software solution forces you to rely on the company that has developed the product: the terms and conditions, subscription costs, future of the product, features, and functionalities.

If the company stops the software product or goes bankrupt, your business may experience chaos while transitioning to another product.

A custom program lasts a lifetime unless you decide otherwise. So while you do need to consider the added costs of maintenance, you have a lot fewer things to stress about in the long run. 

Exclusive ownership

Unlike COTS solutions, custom applications give the company complete ownership over the final product. This control means business owners have the freedom to make changes and leverage the software program to its fullest potential.

Furthermore, you don’t need to worry about complicated rules and regulations.

How to build custom software solutions for your business

The steps listed here are just to give you an understanding of the custom software development process. In reality, it is much more complex than they appear.

  1. Identify pain points. Know what you need to address while building your software solution. 
  2. Brainstorm ideas. Let your software development team brainstorm solutions to the challenges you’ve identified. This exercise will help you create an outline of the features and functionalities of your software.
  3. Set goals. Create a list of tangible goals you want to achieve, like scalability or lead generation. Establishing measurable goals will help you understand how well your software solution performs.
  4. Research software development requirement. This initial step is to create a plan that outlines exactly how the team will do the project. If you have an in-house software development team, that’s excellent. If not, you can outsource your software development needs and have them review your proposal and build your software program.
  5. Build the final product. The final product is where you create a design that envisions your custom software’s appearance, and so the team can begin the coding and implementation. Then it’s all about building, deploying, and refining your software until it’s finally ready to be launched!

How much does it cost to develop custom software?

Depending on how extensive your software solution is, the cost of building it will vary. 

Factors like the size of the software, design, complexity, data migration, and third-party integrations will considerably impact the final cost.

Furthermore, the cost of developing a custom software solution can range anywhere between $2000 and $250,000.

Summary

Building a custom software solution can seem daunting due to its myriad considerations. As a result, many entrepreneurs won’t even try to build a custom solution, which can be a big mistake for companies.

You will need a team of skilled and experienced software engineers to build a software program. 

If you don’t already have an in-house software development team or are looking to hire dedicated developers for your team, Turing can help.

Turing is a deep jobs platform that allows companies to recruit skilled senior remote developers. You can take advantage of Turing’s tried-and-tested vetting process to have your pick of qualified remote software developers. 

You’ll have access to a talent pool of the top 1% of 1M experienced developers with strong technical and communication skills who can work according to your requirements. 

Tell us the skills you need and we'll find the best developer for you in days, not weeks.

Hire Developers

By Jan 11, 2022
Successful Software Development in a Hybrid Environment
Custom Engineering

Successful Software Development in a Hybrid Environment

Juan Hoyos, CCO at Cinq, shares strategies managers can implement to ensure that their software development team thrives in hybrid work culture.

With the remote and hybrid work culture, COVID-19 has transformed how we work.

The pandemic forced software development teams — and of course, employees in all non-essential sectors — into working from home. Conferences moved to Zoom, water-cooler and gratitude channels shifted to Slack, and companies created extensive virtual project management systems to ensure their businesses functioned efficiently.

Even before the pandemic, businesses (usually in Silicon Valley) built offshore software development teams; therefore, the shift to remote work wasn’t an entirely new phenomenon for this sector.

However, businesses have started moving back to their office with the vaccines rolling out. But not everyone has adopted the traditional work structure. 

According to WFH Research, amongst the 5,000 respondents surveyed, 73 percent were looking for a hybrid work culture where they have a little more flexibility and freedom about where and when they work. 

After realizing the benefits of building a global remote workforce, businesses have kept in mind the lessons they’ve learned during the pandemic and have started adopting a hybrid work culture. 

This shift from a distributed workforce to a hybrid model can cause unnecessary strain on a company’s digital transformation. 

Juan Hoyos, Chief Commercial Officer at Cinq North America, shares strategies managers can implement to ensure that their software development team thrives in a hybrid work culture. 

Build a highly inclusive hybrid work culture 

Successful Software Development Hybrid Environment

Build a highly inclusive hybrid work culture

While working with a hybrid workforce, it’s critical to focus your efforts on building a highly inclusive work environment.

All the team members, be it in-office or remote, should have the same access to managers, HR, and the technologies required to work on projects successfully and engage with clients. 

With a hybrid workforce, it’s easy to overlook remote employees and conduct impromptu, informal meetings in the office to make quick decisions. Unfortunately, instances like these may alienate your remote employees, which is the last thing you want.

We’ve learned that the best way to build an inclusive hybrid work culture is to take an all-virtual or all-in-person approach during client meetings, says Hoyos. 

Ensure that all the training and career advancement opportunities are available to the same degree to all employees regardless of whether they’re physically present in the office or not. 

Strategize your onboarding process to ensure all the team members get the chance to know each other. For example, you can take the client meeting approach and build a mostly virtual onboarding process for your software engineers.

Brainstorming, collaboration, and knowledge-sharing 

Employees are used to impromptu meetings and physical ideation sessions. Moving away from the office has dramatically impacted brainstorming, collaboration, and knowledge-sharing. This shift indirectly has affected the level of innovation in software development teams. 

To cover the gap between hybrid work culture and innovation, engineering managers need to use remote collaboration tools to encourage interaction between their team members. 

From daily syncs to check-ins with clients and coworkers, software development teams can use various remote communication tools. 

Employees would often walk up to their colleagues’ desks to clarify a task in an office setting. Such conversations build a stronger relationship between coworkers. 

While walking up to your coworker’s desk may not always be feasible in hybrid work culture, technical leaders should encourage their team to have more impromptu chats and “instant” meetings with their team members like they would in the office. 

Instead of asking a coworker to clear a doubt which may be complex via email or Slack, ask your developers to jump on a quick 5-minute video call.

For a hybrid work culture to thrive, engineering managers should empower their teams to interact, share, and collaborate efficiently to build cutting-edge technologies.

Hybrid work culture: Trust your team members 

Successful Software Development in Hybrid Environment

Trust your team members

According to a Harvard Business Review report, 34 percent of employees felt that their managers lacked enough confidence in their work skills. An even higher percentage said their managers doubted their ability to finish their tasks and felt pressure to stay online to prove themselves.

This lack of trust significantly impacts the software development team’s productivity and performance. 

Remote developers are going to be working from different time zones. Furthermore, they have their peak hours of productivity. Therefore, micromanaging them is the last thing engineering managers should do. 

Instead, build a culture of authority where you hold developers responsible for the outcome rather than the activity. 

Be transparent and open an honest dialogue with your hybrid team. Innovation in software development is nearly impossible if your team doesn’t feel valued, trusted, or motivated to work together.

Summary 

Businesses are now building software development teams by hiring developers globally based on their skills rather than their proximity to the office. With companies returning to the office, adopting a hybrid work culture is the best possible solution for businesses focusing on digital transformation.

You can employ the strategies highlighted in this blog to ensure your software development team continues to work efficiently in a hybrid work environment.

You can read the complete article here.

To build cutting-edge technologies with a hybrid team, you need to hire capable and experienced remote software developers.

Turing is a deep jobs platform that allows companies to recruit skilled senior remote developers. You can take advantage of Turing’s tried-and-tested vetting process to have your pick of qualified remote software developers. 

You’ll have access to a talent pool of the top 1% of 1M talented and experienced developers with strong technical and communication skills who can work according to your requirements. 

Tell us the skills you need and we'll find the best developer for you in days, not weeks.

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By Jan 6, 2022
Software Engineering Talent Shortage
For Employers

How to Lead through the Global Software Engineering Talent Shortage

Finding and hiring talented software engineering professionals has become a challenging task. Implement these strategies to tackle this global talent shortage

Finding and hiring talented software engineering professionals has become a challenging task because of the rapid transformation in the workforce. The current scenario post-COVID has the corporate world facing a massive talent shortage. 

With the number of vacant job positions due to the gap in demand, supply, and skill level, businesses are trying harder than ever to find and retain skilled software engineering experts. 

The US Labor Statistics cited a report where the talent shortage has added up to 40 million skilled workers worldwide as of December 2020.

If the global talent shortage trend continues, this could result in companies worldwide losing around $8.4 trillion in annual revenue by 2030.

According to a report by McKinsey, 44 percent of businesses are expecting a skills gap in the next five years.

Now, more than ever, business leaders have to build a comprehensive strategy to source, hire, and retain talented software engineering professionals.

Organizations can’t fall prey to this global talent shortage; it’ll create a massive impact on the company’s recovery and growth, both short-term and long-term. 

How can leaders tackle this software engineering talent shortage? 

Business leaders need to ensure that their software engineering experts are happy with their job roles. Giving developers ownership over their work will strengthen their sense of authority.

Give people the freedom to make their own decisions and let them know which decisions require your approval so they have a clear understanding of your expectations. 

Additionally, you can empower your team to be more independent by reducing the frequency of status updates, thereby increasing their autonomy.

Instead of criticizing your software engineering professionals over a failed task or a project, encourage them to understand where they went wrong. 

Empowering your team to gauge their mistakes and helping them recognize how they could have done things differently will boost their decision-making skills.

There are two effective ways for leaders to inspire their team’s software engineering experts.

  1. Set goals. When a leader sets an inspiring goal and strives to achieve the same, it motivates the team to see their potential.
  2. Big picture. When software engineering experts understand the impact their work can have on the company and the world, it gives them a sense of purpose to work more dedicatedly.

Here are three things hiring managers can implement within their hiring strategy to work through this global talent shortage efficiently.

Don’t enforce rigid requirements. 

Over the past couple of years, tech giants like Google and Apple have stated that individuals don’t need a college degree to land a job. Instead, their primary focus is hiring software engineering professionals who have the skills required to get the job done, whether they have a degree or not. 

This shift in hiring criteria opens up more job opportunities for talented software engineering experts. In addition, it helps businesses tackle the global talent shortage by finding employees who can add tremendous value to the company.

The future of work for software engineering professionals is remote.

software engineering remote work

The future is remote work for software engineers

Businesses have realized the benefits of building a global remote software engineering workforce. However, after working remotely for over fifteen months due to the pandemic, many companies are sceptical about moving back to the traditional work model. 

Giants like Twitter and Upwork lead the remote work revolution by adapting a 100 percent remote work model.

While not many organizations may take this step, most have opted for a hybrid work model.

This switch has given companies the flexibility to access a global talent pool instead of restricting themselves to a 20-mile radius around their office. 

This access to international candidates has given companies the freedom to build their software engineering teams solely based on talent.

Additionally, remote software engineering professionals have a healthier work-life balance that encourages them to put their best foot forward.

Qualification assessments for software engineering professionals

Software engineering Qualification assessments

Qualification Assessments for software engineering professionals

If your hiring strategy includes sorting through resumes as the first qualification step, you need to rethink your strategy. 

Shining resumes, or lack thereof, don’t always reflect the candidate’s actual skill and potential. And more often than not, it’s the recruiting software that sorts through these resumes.

It’s fair to say that this step is a huge problem that needs to be addressed.

Therefore, it’s a much better option to conduct a qualification assessment to gain real insight into the skill level of your candidates. 

You can effortlessly cut through the noise and hire skilled developers at scale and do it quickly by flipping the process on its head. 

Summary 

Businesses that want to survive this global talent shortage need to evolve with time. 

The current generation understands their worth; they have big expectations from their employers and are willing to look for opportunities elsewhere when employers disappoint them.

To close the demand-supply talent gap, you can implement the talent attraction and developer retention strategies mentioned in this blog to source, hire and retain skilled software engineering experts who’ll be an asset to your business.

You can read the entire post here

Turing is a deep jobs platform that makes it extremely easy for businesses to recruit talented and experienced remote software developers. With Turing’s tried-and-tested vetting process, you can have your pick of qualified software developers

You’ll have access to a talent pool of the top 1% of 1M skilled senior software developers with strong technical and communication skills who can work according to your requirements. 

Tell us the skills you need and we'll find the best developer for you in days, not weeks.

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By Dec 18, 2021
Software development
Custom Engineering

Six Strategies to Encourage Innovation in Software Development

Here are six ways business leaders can drive innovation in their company, especially in the software development sector

Innovation in software development is instrumental for businesses to set their products and services apart from their competitors. Software innovation drives the change that later gets adapted as industry trends. 

Innovation in software development is even more critical because engineering teams focus heavily on technical superiority. While this is great, it might make businesses become less forward-thinking and find themselves disconnected from the end-users of their products and services. 

Businesses need to build a culture of innovation to stay on top of their game. 

In this post, we’ll talk about six ways you can drive innovation in your business, especially in the software development sector.

Build an offshore software development team

offshore software development team

Build an offshore software development team

Building an offshore team for software development can be beneficial for any organization, primarily when focusing on innovation.

A dedicated software development team is a powerful resource for companies who want to push the boundaries in their industries. 

Not only does it enable them to access talent from all over the world and hire solely based on their skills, but they can also take advantage of the diversity of their team. When highly qualified developers from different cultures come together, it can help the company gain an edge in brainstorming and creativity. 

Give your software development team time to be creative

Innovation doesn’t happen when you deem it to happen. If employees spend their entire day completing their tasks, they have no room to think creatively. Innovation needs patience and time. 

Giving your developers ‘thinking time’ is essential to generate out-of-the-box ideas that can help drive the business forward.

At Turing, we hold Innovation Hub days where we brainstorm any creative ideas the members have and see how the company can implement the best ideas. 

Another alternative is organizing hackathon sessions where developers can solely dedicate time from their schedule to develop and test new creative ideas. 

Implementation

Simply establishing a culture where you brainstorm creative ideas isn’t enough. For true innovation to happen, businesses need to have a system to implement these ideas. 

Innovation in software development needs managers to take the step to give life to their ideas. When engineering managers take the initiative to execute their team’s ideas, it builds a culture where continuous innovation is actively encouraged. 

Acknowledge and reward your software development team for their contributions

Software development team

Reward your software development team

Recognizing your developers’ contributions has long been a cornerstone for job satisfaction and future performance. It helps employees understand that their organization values them and their contributions.

While most companies think that big bonuses are the only way to reward employees, that’s not true. Beyond compensation, businesses can offer rewards as simple as a more flexible work schedule, paid leaves, or the opportunity to develop a unique idea into a proper project. 

Such recognitions help employees gain the motivation to continue working hard and feel secure in their value.

Happy and satisfied employees are much more productive than stressed and underappreciated employees in terms of innovation.

Allow your team to fail

If you’re looking for innovation in software development, you need to give your developers the freedom to pursue their ideas and not push them to win every time.

When businesses penalize their employees (by asking them to work overtime or firing them), it discourages them from finding new ideas and taking the risk to implement them before discarding them.

The secret to promoting innovation in software development teams is not expecting the team to be successful every time but instead adopting an open, risk-free environment and a company culture that doesn’t chastise failure. 

If something goes wrong, have your team’s back and encourage them to treat it as a learning experience.

You can go one step further and encourage your software development team to embrace the ‘dare to fail’ attitude. For example, Google rewards its employees for failing. By publicly applauding their staff for their failures, Google has encouraged its scientists and engineers to test their more daring ideas without the fear of facing repercussions. 

Leaders should be involved in the process

Team leads and managers are primarily responsible for creating an environment that encourages innovation. Therefore, team members should build a sense of trust and dependence on their leaders for innovation in software development. 

If your developers feel like you’re open to embracing new creative ideas and acknowledging their contributions, they’re more likely to put in the effort.

Summary

The pandemic has increased the demand for software technologies. Therefore, innovation is the only way for businesses to keep up and set themselves apart from their competitors. 

With the strategies listed in this post, you can develop an effective way to boost innovation in software development in your organization.

You can read the complete article here

However, one obstacle you need to overcome before doing anything else is finding capable developers who can implement them. 

Turing is a deep jobs platform that allows businesses to recruit experienced senior remote software developers. Turing’s tried-and-tested vetting process gives you the freedom to have your pick of qualified software developers. 

You’ll have access to a talent pool of the top 1% of 1M skilled and experienced developers with strong technical and communication skills who can work according to your requirements.

Tell us the skills you need and we'll find the best developer for you in days, not weeks.

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By Dec 14, 2021
Engineering manager
For Employers

Three Things Every Engineering Manager Must Focus On

Former Director of Engineering at Dropbox, Jessica McKellar, shares practical strategies and insights to become a successful engineering manager

Becoming an engineering manager may seem daunting if you’ve spent the better part of your career honing your technical skills. In this post, Pilot CTO, Jessica McKellar, shares her experience in the engineering management field and the important lessons she learned on her journey—from being a team lead to a technical leader.

She distills her experience into simple ideas to help technical leaders become successful.

According to McKellar, as an engineering manager, there are three things you need to focus on:

  1. Directly supporting the people in your team
  2. Managing the execution and coordination across teams
  3. Observing and evolving the processes as the company and team grows.

How can an engineering manager directly support their team?

Engineering managers

How engineering managers can support their teams

As an engineering manager, you have to ensure that your team members are functioning efficiently. 

How? By focusing on two things: Your engineers’ day-to-day and year-to-year.

And as a leader, it is your responsibility that their day-to-day front aligns with their year-to-year goals. 

While taking care of your organization’s requirements, you can assign engineers projects that help them succeed in dimensions they care about.

But to find the right opportunities for your engineers, you need to identify their career goals and take them into consideration while devising their role in the company. 

Here are three questions that McKellar highlighted to get a better understanding of your engineers.

  1. What skills do they want to improve?
  2. What technical and non-technical experiences are they seeking?
  3. How do they want to increase the scope of their impact at the company?

“You may want to know what someone wants to be doing in five years, but that’s a huge ask. And there’s this unspoken pressure to seem like you want to be at the same company,” she says. 

To overcome this pressure and encourage transparent discussions, it’s your responsibility as the manager to open the dialogue and talk about your career aspirations. Let them know that it’s okay if they have to eventually go somewhere else or do something different to pursue their career goals. Your honesty and encouragement will empower your team members to open up about themselves.

In addition to transparent discussions, have a framework to recognize what excites people outside their job description. 

Let these observations be the basis of conversation with you engineers and help you devise incentives that actually motivate them. Help them realize their career goals and provide a deeper understanding of exactly how your company will help them move forward in that path.

A team’s capacity is directly aligned with the engineering manager’s execution skills  

Engineering manager

Team’s execution depends on engineering manager’s skills

Every successful engineering manager has transitioned from being an engineer. It is your responsibility to recognize engineers who want to stick to coding and those who want to move into engineering management.

If you can help the people on your team grow their individual capacity, you’ll be able to get exponentially more done, says McKellar. 

Trust your technical leaders to do their job and break down, delegate, and execute complex projects by themselves. Give them space to make mistakes and grow from them instead of you jumping in at the first sign of trouble.

Another way to boost your team’s capacity is by supercharging learning. Maintain a balance between new and experienced engineers working together and give them equal opportunities to share their knowledge. 

New employees bring fresh perspectives, and experienced employees bring discipline and the company’s culture to a project. And hence, it is important to distribute projects evenly to level up your entire team. 

Every engineering manager should empower their team with the right tools and processes

Develop a process that not just lets your team know about the project at hand, but exactly how it will contribute to their future, says McKellar.

Observe and understand how your team members want to grow as engineers. Then, incorporate these insights into your process in a way that matches them with high-impact projects aligning with their career goals.

Provide a productive development environment: This includes giving them access to the right tools and creating a straightforward onboarding process that’ll ensure your new employees can find their bearings smoothly.

Regular check-ins: Create a precise system for feedback to ensure that a long and complex project stays on track. Be proactive about communication and hold unblocking sessions to clear away issues that are hindering their productivity.

Incorporate coding reviews, architectural reviews, and planning discussions into your feedback process to capture granular technical feedback and gain insight from a higher level, says McKellar.

Be transparent: Let your engineers know what’s happening on an executive level. This transparency will give them essential company context and make them feel included and invested in the company.

Organic Motivation: While managers can try to keep their engineers in high spirits all the time, it doesn’t always help. Instead, focus on pairing engineers with the right projects. 

Help your engineers look at how the project will impact the company. Realizing their work will be recognized at such a huge scale is a huge motivator. That way, they won’t need much external motivation to get it done to the best of their abilities.

To conclude

While becoming an engineering manager is exciting, managing a team can become scary without the right mindset, insight, and practices. Most of the challenges of becoming an effective engineering manager are personal, not technical. 

Take advantage of Jessica McKellar’s decades of experience, and implement her strategies to become a better engineering manager.

But in addition to developing the skills you need to become successful as an engineering manager, having skilled and experienced software engineers in your team is crucial.

If you’re looking to hire skilled remote software engineers for your team, Turing can help. 

Turing’s automated platform lets companies “push a button” to hire senior, pre-vetted remote software developers. Access a talent pool of the top 1% of 1M+ developers with strong technical and communication skills who work in your time zone. There’s no risk. Turing offers a free two-week trial period to make certain your developers deliver to your standards.

Source: Review.Firstround

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By Dec 8, 2021
How to Hire Good Data Scientists
For Employers

How to Hire Good Data Scientists?

Jeremy Stanley, Chief Data Scientist at Sailthru, simplifies the hiring process for data scientists at his company.

Businesses are constantly improving their hiring process to source and recruit data scientists who can help them analyze trends, apply analytics, and discover features and insights that influence product direction. Data scientists help implement machine learning and AI technologies on a large scale to boost metrics like engagement, retention, and returns.

While the demand for data scientists is multiplying, most businesses don’t have a clear hiring strategy to find and recruit qualified data scientists.

In this post,  Jeremy Stanley, Chief Data Scientist and EVP Engineering at Sailthru, breaks down the hiring process for data scientists at his company.

Here are the key takeaways:

Foundation of your hiring process

If you already have a recruitment process in place, here are three factors you need to keep in mind to improve your existing hiring strategy.

  1. Maximize the accuracy and success rate in finding exceptional employees and ensuring they accept your offer.
  2. Reduce the chances of good candidates falling out of your hiring process early.
  3. Ensure that the hiring process doesn’t consume a lot of time and effort on your part.

Along with these factors, you need to build a strong foundation and develop a set of core principles to ensure you meet all your objectives.

Here are the fundamental principles you should apply to your hiring process:

Ensure that your hiring strategy is a continuous process.

Your hiring process shouldn’t be seasonal, where you go all out and devote all your time to finding and mass hiring exceptional people. Instead, create a hiring process where your recruitment campaign is always on and continually improving.

Steer clear of standard interview questions. While you may get a general idea of what a candidate can do, it doesn’t give you a clear picture of how qualified they are for the role you’re looking to fill.

Tailor your questions based on what tasks you expect the candidate to perform when they join the team.

“Understand what problems your team is currently facing and the challenges you expect successful candidates to handle,” says Stanley.

Create an objective hiring process to minimize your biases.

For hiring a data scientist, strong programming and quantitative skills are a must. So let your interview begin with testing these skills.

Next, you can move on to more subjective skills like communication and problem-solving. And, in the end, you can evaluate how well they’ll fit into your company and team. 

Don’t judge them right off the bat based on their compatibility with your company. It may cloud your sense of unbiased assessment and result in losing a great prospect prematurely. 

Design a structured hiring process to present a positive first impression.

Most hiring processes involve three or four interviews with different people asking the same questions. Candidates then have to wait for days to receive feedback, and in the end, they may not even have all of their questions answered.

Your hiring process will be their first insight into how your company works, and you need to have a transparent structure in place. 

Let them know how it’ll be like working with you and the team by giving them a thorough understanding of your company culture and the challenges you expect them to face.

Include the team in the decision-making process.

Have a clearly defined and tangible framework to evaluate the candidates.

Additionally, if you expect the data scientist to collaborate with other teams, involve key stakeholders in those areas while making the final decision.

Speed up your hiring process.

While it pays to take your time to evaluate your candidates thoroughly, chances are you may lose out on good prospects to your competitors.

Therefore, get your candidates moving quickly through your hiring process and invest in relevant tools and logistics to analyze different phases of your hiring stage. This practice will help you find aspects that you can improve to keep up the momentum of your hiring process.

Stages of the interviewing process

The interview process for a data scientist has six stages.

  1. Pre-screen stage

    Here you can review their resume, take a look at their past experiences and their qualifications. But if you’d like to steer clear of interviewer bias, you can simply skip this stage and send all prospective candidates the take-home test. 
  2. Take-home test

    This short test evaluates the candidate’s ability to solve problems in their field of choice.
  3. Sales pitch

    For candidates who’ve passed your take-home test, this is the stage where you convince them to come for the interview.
  4. Data day

    As a part of the next step, we call candidates for a day-long interview where they’ll have to solve an open-ended challenge and present their solution. This section of the interview is where you evaluate the candidate in a realistic and controlled environment.
    The number one thing that can help make this process smoother is preparation.
    1. Have a set of printed instructions as soon as they arrive.
    2. Provide them with a laptop and have all the necessary tools, software programs, and data easily accessible. HomeBrew, Eclipse, Anaconda (Python distribution), RStudio, R, Emacs & Vim, and Java 7 are a few notable tools you should provide.
    3. Ask candidates for their feedback and adapt it into your process to suit your company’s needs.
  5. Final decision

    According to Stanley, there are five essential criteria to evaluate your candidates.
    1. Problem structure. What assumptions did they make, and what strategy did they use to narrow down the scope of the problem?
    2. Technical skills. How readable, reliable, and flexible is the code they presented?
    3. Analytical skills. How sound is their logical reasoning for the approach they presented?
    4. Communication skills. How well were they able to present their work, strategy, approach, and conclusions?
    5. The value of their work. How worthy would your new hire’s work be to your company if it’s fine-tuned and implemented?
  6. Communication

    Communicating directly with the candidate is the final step in the process. Here, you follow up with the Data-day candidates irrespective of whether they received an offer letter. This process ensures that even if the outcome was not favorable for them, they receive personal feedback and learn from the experience.

Having a systematic hiring strategy allows you to find candidates you may otherwise have looked over just because they don’t look attractive on paper. In addition, this comprehensive strategy will remove all the guesswork from your hiring process and give you enough information to make an informed decision.

If you think designing a hiring process from scratch is a challenging task, you can take advantage of Turing’s tried-and-tested vetting process to hire highly qualified data scientists within a week.

You’ll have access to a talent pool of the top 1% of 1M talented and experienced developers with strong technical and communication skills who can work according to your requirements. 

Additionally, Turing’s tried-and-tested vetting process evaluates developers to a Silicon Valley standard allowing you to have your pick of qualified software developers without sucking up all of your engineering team’s time.

Source: Review.Firstround

Traditional recruiting wasn’t built for a software-first world

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By Dec 2, 2021
Eight Tips To Manage Remote Developers
For Employers

Eight Tips To Manage Remote Developers

Here are eight tips that team leaders can implement to effectively manage their remote developers and ensure all projects stay on track.

COVID19 has seen a significant rise in digital technologies. As a result, software development roles are now among the top remote-based jobs worldwide. Remote developers have embraced the work-from-home situation and have continued to prefer working remotely even with the corporate world gradually opening up again.

If businesses fail to create an efficient work environment for remote developers, the latter may choose to find an employer who can fulfill their remote working needs effectively.

In this post, we’ve listed nine tips that you can implement to effectively manage your remote developers and ensure that all your projects stay on track.

  1. Set clear expectations 

    The first tip to efficiently manage remote developers is to get your priorities straight by setting clear goals and objectives. Working with virtual teams makes it crucial for managers to precisely communicate what is required to eliminate any confusion and ensure on-time performance of all tasks.
    For example, if you expect your remote developers to develop a specific piece of code, give them a clear understanding of your requirements, expectations, project goals, and deadline.
    Such specific and measurable goals will ensure that your team knows what you expect.
  2. Establish communication guidelines for remote developers

    Effective communication is one of the most critical aspects when it comes to managing virtual teams. Establish different channels of communication instead of relying on a single channel.
    For example, while a live chat platform like Slack is excellent for quick clarifications, share important documents via email.
    This baseline rule will ensure that important messages don’t get buried under irrelevant messages.
    Furthermore, you should encourage remote developers to use video conferencing platforms like Google Meet and Zoom to clear up any doubts that may be unresolved with textual communication.

    Other than establishing multiple modes of communication, here are a few other things you can do:

    • Check-in with your remote developers regularly to ensure they aren’t facing any roadblocks. You can schedule weekly and monthly meetings for this purpose and give them a chance to know what everyone else is working on.
    • If you’re unsure whether or not a point is important enough to be mentioned, do it anyway. It’s better to over-communicate than leave room for ambiguity.
    • Acknowledge their progress and share your feedback periodically to give them the chance to improve themselves. 
    • Use project management tools like Trello or Jira to help your remote developers keep track of their tasks and boost their collaboration.
  3. Keep track of time zone boundaries

    Businesses that work with virtual teams frequently hire remote developers from all over the world. While this has its benefits, working across different time zones can make it challenging for the manager to organize everyday operations effectively.
    Virtual teams with engineers from different time zones can face limitations in interpersonal communication and interactive feedback.
    Therefore, use time overlaps as effectively as possible. To make the most of it, managers should schedule their regular check-ins and collaborative assignments during this time.
  4. Don’t micromanage remote developers

    Remote developers expect their managers to trust them to do their job without constant supervision. Remote developers choose this lifestyle of working from home because they value their autonomy.
    If you keep breathing down their neck, it will only lead them to get frustrated, directly affecting their productivity and performance.
    Therefore, instead of focusing on their activity, hold them accountable for the outcome. Establishing an ownership-types culture is especially critical if you’re working with remote developers from multiple time zones.
    As long as your team members meet their deadlines and keep up with their responsibilities, resist the urge to micromanage.
  5. Be flexible

    When you’re managing a team of remote developers, there’ll inevitably be times when they may not be able to finish tasks due to technological challenges out of their control.
    As a team leader, you should be flexible enough to take such situations in stride and adapt accordingly to ensure your project stays on track.
  6. Take your team’s opinions and feelings into consideration

    When your remote developers provide feedback, it’s critical to take them into account. Some of them may help improve the workflow and boost overall performance, while others may not be practical to implement.
    As a manager, you have the freedom to take the final call. However, considering their feedback from time to time will make them feel valued and encourage them to share their input proactively in the future.
    When managing virtual teams, you have to go the extra mile and show them that you value and care about them.
    Two additional ways you can do this is by:
    • Ensure they get paid for their work on time. 
    • Recognize their contributions and be open about how grateful you are for their work.
  7. Non-disclosure agreement (NDA)

    NDAs are not just for big enterprises; small businesses with virtual teams can take advantage of this arrangement to protect their intellectual property.
    When remote developers sign an NDA, it usually includes clauses that restrict them from sharing ideas, concepts, and projects that the company may be working on with anyone without permission.
  8. Respect cultural differences in remote developers

    A diverse team means working with remote developers who come from different cultures. You must be mindful of these cultural differences while providing feedback or commenting on how they get their work done.
    Don’t alienate your software developers by using regional phrases or making them feel like you’re more comfortable working with people who share the same culture. 

Summary

Though virtual teams have been around for quite some time, it’s the pandemic that forced businesses to realize the benefits of working with remote developers. 

If you know how to manage your remote software development team effectively, you will realize that the productivity and performance of your developers don’t depend on their geographical location. 

You can implement these tips to successfully manage your remote team and ensure your developers are an asset to the organization.

Sourcing and hiring skilled and experienced remote developers is critical when you’re building your software development team. 

Turing is a deep jobs platform that allows businesses to source and hire skilled and experienced engineers planet-wide. 

You’ll have access to a talent pool of the top 1% of 1M talented and experienced developers with strong technical and communication skills who can work according to your requirements. 

Additionally, Turing’s tried-and-tested vetting process evaluates developers to a Silicon Valley standard, allowing you to have your pick of qualified software developers without taking up all of your engineering team’s time.

Tell us the skills you need and we'll find the best developer for you in days, not weeks.

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By Dec 1, 2021
How Can Companies Tackle the Software Engineering Talent Shortage
For Employers

How Can Companies Tackle the Software Engineering Talent Crunch?

Nate Nead, CEO of DEV.co and SEO.co., discusses the root causes of software engineering talent shortage and the steps to navigate this situation.

Over the past couple of years, businesses have witnessed software engineering positions remaining unfilled for months because of the growing talent shortage. According to US Labor statistics, this global talent shortage amounts to 40 million vacant positions worldwide. Expectations are that by 2030, this number will rise to 85.2 million. 

Due to the lack of skilled workers, companies worldwide may face up to $8.4 trillion in potential revenue loss.

Businesses have subjected themselves to a fierce bidding war sourcing skilled and experienced software engineering professionals. McKinsey’s Global Survey reflects that 87 percent of companies have already started experiencing a talent shortage or expect to face one soon.

In this post, Nate Nead, CEO of DEV.co and SEO.co., discusses the root causes of this global software engineering talent shortage and the steps businesses can take to navigate this situation.

Why businesses are experiencing a software engineering talent crunch globally? 

Increase in demand

The demand for skilled software engineering professionals has steadily increased over the past few years. Though they’ve been in high demand for quite some time, the rise in usage of digital technologies during the pandemic pushed businesses to source qualified software engineering talent desperately. 

Businesses are actively looking for experts skilled in advanced technologies like blockchain, artificial intelligence, and machine learning to develop custom solutions. 

Notable Credentials 

Big companies prefer software engineering experts who have robust credentials to prove their level of expertise. Therefore, another major cause of this talent shortage is that businesses don’t always consider self-taught software developers.

Staying up-to-date

New coding languages are constantly under development, and existing languages are evolving every single day. With new technologies changing the tide frequently, even experienced software engineering professionals struggle to keep up with relevant changes. 

Self-employment

Another primary reason for software engineering talent shortage is developers choosing to work for themselves. 

With the effort that goes into mastering the skills to become a software engineering expert, developers often choose to implement their knowledge to develop groundbreaking technologies for themselves instead of working for an organization. 

Steps enterprises can take to tackle the software engineering talent shortage situation.

Education

Getting into the software engineering niche is difficult. Therefore, it’s essential to encourage people to study programming and software development at a younger age. 

Additionally, aspiring coders need to be educated in non-technical skills that the industry currently values and expects. 

Rethink hiring criteria

Businesses shouldn’t simply focus on developers with shiny resumes. This bar for entry may cause enterprises to lose out on software engineering talents that could have been an enormous asset to their company. 

If you look for skilled developers via Turing, you can consider additional factors, including a developer’s test scores for different languages. You can also view their performance during live coding challenges instead of simply relying on namesake badges of expertise.

Practical tips for enterprises actively looking to hire software engineering professionals.

Willingness to learn

Find developers who are flexible enough to want to learn new technologies. These software engineers make for excellent long-term hires since they’re willing to master new skills while working with your business.

Hiring strategy 

Businesses all over the world are fighting tooth and nail to source and hire qualified engineers. 

Looking for formal educational background or work experience at big companies is not the only factor you should consider to sort through developers. Instead, develop a competitive hiring strategy to attract and retain top talent.

Summary

A recent study by Gartner states that CEOs worldwide consider talent shortage to be the most significant risk factor for their business.

With companies worldwide focusing on digital transformation, it’s not surprising that businesses of all sizes are locked in a heated battle to attract, hire, and retain developers.

You can implement these strategies to help your company gain a competitive edge while efficiently weathering the talent shortage storm. 

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Turing is a deep jobs platform that allows companies to recruit skilled and experienced remote software developers. You can take advantage of Turing’s tried-and-tested vetting process to have your pick of qualified software developers. 

You’ll have access to a talent pool of the top 1% of 1M talented and experienced developers with strong technical and communication skills who can work according to your requirements. 

Tell us the skills you need and we'll find the best developer for you in days, not weeks.

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By Nov 26, 2021