How to Effectively Hire and Manage a Remote Team of Developers

With each passing day, technology companies are integrating remote work across their business framework. Many of them have successfully learned to manage and hire remote developers to boost operational efficiency and collaborate with productivity. Even in this current pandemic situation, “Shifting to remote work was a huge success,” states 73% of officials in the US.

Large organizations like Facebook, Amazon, and Adobe have decided to support remote work even beyond the pandemic. The biggest reason being quoted is the possibility to tap into new talent pools.

But how are these companies getting the most out of remotely working for development teams? The development arena has never sensed such a demand for qualified remote developers. So, why should you hire remotely working developers in 2021 for your company? How to manage them effectively?

This guide is the answer to all of your questions and more.

Why hire remote developers?

The biggest reason to hire a remote team of developers is about getting the best fit for your project from anywhere in the world. Projects don’t need to stop anymore due to the non-availability of the team. Your business gets the needed experience and skills to accelerate the development process at any project stage. To get a more crystal clear idea, here are a few benefits of leveraging remote developers for hire.

Let’s check them out.

Foster preparations to deal with Emergency: You have a big project to complete but your company doesn’t have the needed manpower to do the same. The clock is ticking, you are too close to a deadline, and your employees lack the skills required to complete the task. When you choose remote developers, tackling this emergency alongside inducing timely project completion would be much easier.

Greater efficiency and continuous development: An independent study by Stanford university claims that on average 13.5% of remote workers are more productive than their in-house competitors. The study also says that these workers are more engaged in their respective job roles by 9% and are 50% less likely to quit. Concretely, remote developers can avoid any disturbances along the development process.

Availability round the clock or different time zones: When you hire remote developers that belong to a different time zone, then some elements of your project are worked upon all the time. With some adjustments, you have a team that makes work happening 24X7. Such setup promotes productivity and shortens the Time-to-Market making time difference an advantage.

Eliminates the needs and cost of Infrastructure: Remote developers help your business in decreasing overhead costs related to full-time staff recruitment. No need to spend on desks and other corporate setups. You can avoid spending on the tools required to offer in-house training. Moreover, costs associated with facilities like electricity, meals & refreshments, commutation, internet, etc. get eliminated automatically.

Increases Transparency and communication: Aligning with a remote development team helps your company in attaining a global work culture. It makes your company more interoperable and transparent than ever before. It builds an ecosystem that provides the utmost level of collaboration and foundation for scalability.

Related Read : How to Effectively Hire and Manage a Remote Team of Developers

Facts (Did you know)

Below are the statistics that point to the growing trend of remote teams. . So, let’s dive in.

• When looking for a new job, 53% of developers prioritize working remotely and success rates for developers who were close to/entirely remote are much higher
• 70% of people across the globe work remotely for at least one day a week
• 53% of organizations are embracing the potential of flexible talent in 2020
• The stress rate among remote teams is 82% lesser than regular teams.
• In the U.S.A, 57% of the technology companies are now working remotely
• 1/3 employees worldwide shall change their companies if asked to work remotely
• Companies showcasing diverse talent are 35% more capable of outshining companies backed by a non-diverse workforce
• In the post-pandemic world, software development jobs remain poised to be the top remote jobs.

What qualities should you look for before hiring a team of remote developers?

Below are some of the qualities that you should be looking for before hiring remote developers.

Problem-solving: Hire remote developers that focus on solutions rather than problems. They should have the capability to make decisions and embrace the product. They should understand the importance of when to troubleshoot and when not. You should choose a remote developer who sees failures as the stepping stones of success and overcomes them accordingly.

Good Communication: Your remotely working development workforce should possess deep-seated communication skills. Ensure there isn’t any kind of language barrier between you and the team to observe a smooth development process. The team should have the knowledge of necessary tools and channels used for connectivity and should have good listening skills to be on the same page.

Self-motivated: Choose remote developers who believe in self-motivation and also know its right application at the right time. They should accept challenges at any project stage and bring the best possible outcomes to the table. Besides, the best developers would be those who possess the quality of being a self-starter and self-driven professional.

Team Player: Your developers should have good brainstorming, talking, and grasping capabilities which shall make them good team players. Choosing a remote developer that supports teamwork makes all the difference. Only then you can get the best out of the team and have all sets of opinions and ideas at the forefront. This divergent perspective shall boost your business goals to their best.

Time Management: Having a team of remote developers that manage time effectively is a must to get productive. Your company should hire those developers that know the actual value of time and are dedicated enough to complete every given task within its respective timeline. Following timelines should be an in-built trait.

Continuous Learning:  The quality of gaining continuous knowledge stays on top when looking for remote developers for your project. The developers should be life-long learners and suckers for the latest technology, novel languages, coding, and its correct implementation. Make sure the team you choose helps your business in developing a future-ready product with their learning.

How to search and choose a remote team of developers?

Now as you know the qualities to be taken into consideration before hiring remote developers, you can follow these essential tips to search, identify, and choose the right team for your project.

Consider Diverse Hiring Possibilities: Before making any rigid decisions, you should analyze the available channels for remote team hiring. Most of the companies hand over such tasks to a responsive HR squad. However, currently, there are an array of handy communication tools and hiring channels within the market to hire iOS remote developers and handpick the best experts available.

Here’s a low down.

Ask for Referrals: Usually, employees in the technology and development world switch jobs once in a 3-4 year span. As such, to get the right developers onboard, you need to consider a few recommendations and referrals.

Attend Technology Conferences: Joining and building a robust network across different tech events, conferences, and hackathons shall help your business find diverse development talent alongside establishing strategic partnerships.

Hire Developers Online: You can choose options like hiring independent contractors/freelancers online as per your project requirements. Platforms like Freelancer, Upwork, TopTal, etc. can be the best places to choose certified developers.

Contact an Agency: One of the other options to hire dedicated developers for your development process goes via a third-party firm. You can delegate all the hassles of selection to that company and sort them later according to your choice.

Build a Consistent Process: Forgetting the right talent to work, you should have a strong process aboard. The process should be backed by competitor analysis and thorough market research. This process should consistently focus on quality recruitment rather than quantity and ensure that the chosen developers are passionate enough to go through the same.

Set goals & priorities: Have a clear understanding of your goals and understand why your business needs a framework of a diverse development team. Prioritize your purpose of hiring a remote team to determine a good fit candidate.

Video Interview: Conduct a video interview with the candidates to understand the person you are going to engage with and learn about their work ethics, experience, previous works, etc. It helps your company in getting on-demand remote developers that are the right fit.

Technical Screening: Schedule a technical interview/test and or take a live video call session with the remote team of developers to check their technical knowledge. Analyze their analytical skills, code quality, and logical thinking in real-time.

Final Interview: Keeping your budget in mind, ask the developers about their payment expectations, schedule of work, and availability. Ask them about their views on development and are they able to track their KPIs on their own.

How to actively manage a remote team of developers?

Managing remote developers shall not seem complicated if you efficiently take care of these five key aspects.

Methodology: A proven practice to manage remotely working developers is ‘Agile’. With daily standups and communication cadence, Agile methodology helps to streamline the development process by mitigating the implementation risks and minimizing costs.

Productivity: Your business should offer some flexible hours to the remote developers alongside measuring utility. Deploy some tools for time tracking and monitor productivity constantly.

Communication: When you hire remote developers, make sure you provide them with the necessary communication & project management tools, Emails, Video Chat, and other Chat programs.

Culture: Establish a culture driven by remote and in-office collaboration around your company’s values. Ensuring work-life balance shall prove beneficial in remote team management.

Leadership: Share the future vision of your organization with the remote developers. Nurture a leadership role that not only celebrates big victories but also values small accomplishments.

Why Hiring an Offshore Development Team with Mindbowser

Mindbowser is a company of choice for 400+ companies looking to bring transformation with technology. Our vision is to help build 100+ companies with 10M+ USD revenue and we are already successful in it. Currently, we have 11 companies in our portfolio that have gone beyond 10M+ in revenue. This aligns with our mission to always work on contributing needle-moving changes for you. Our customers have been featured on ProductHunt, TechCrunch, Discovery Channel, Cosmopolitan Magazine, Inc.com, etc, and have had successful exits. Our clients have also received millions of dollars in funding from marquee investors like the Chan Zuckerberg initiative, Simons Foundation, The Carson family charitable trust, and many more.