Deficiency of your legacy software or the want for special-purpose software features particularly suited for your business may suggest you to opt for services of a software developer. Your business may be in need of a custom software for approximately following applications: contact management, invoicing activity or inventory accounting. You may feel uneasy from there mere thought of choosing a developer if you are not a technical person, but feel certain that you are to assess the software engineer rather than software technology. The success of software development much depends on close collaboration with the developer. Thus, selection of a right software engineer is very essential and the following tips will be helpful in finding and hiring a qualified and seasoned developer.
Point out your software requirements
Software development can't be done without a structured and distinctly defined set of your specific business software requirements. Consequently, the success of development process will mostly depend on the time and pains you dedicate to this stage. Only having analyzed your needs and functional requirements a software engineer can yield the most accurate job proposal and cost estimation as possible.
Be very careful and exact at this stage, specify the needs and propositions of all key employees, and issue a clear requirements document, detaching the must requirements from optional ones. Make up a list of prospect software developers by asking your familiar businesspeople or by searching web directories. Furnish them both with your requirements document and company profile (e.g. business objectives) as well as your budget, so that they can in turn make their best technical and financial proposal.
Assessment of available developers
A preliminary assessment of developers’ written proposals and quotations should give you a good indication of their suitability in addressing your needs, but a final decision should be determined by in-person interviews as well. Meeting face-to-face is crucial in evaluating not only the candidates’ services, but their personalities and communication skills too. The latter two are vital aspects in ensuring a strong collaborative partnership with the company, which will largely determine the success of the software development. In your assessment of the potential developers, consider these factors:
Experience and expertise
Most probably, you will want to engage highly qualified developer who keeps the pace with the latest software technology trends and discoveries. Make sure that you hire a genuine software engineer who is capable of suggesting utilitarian solutions but not a sheer programmer who needs distinct instructions on what to do and which code to write. Also don't make big stakes on experts preoccupied in a particular area of technology specialization. A good software developer should have wide are of expertise and offer you the set of solutions most suited to your needs and requirements.
It is desired to select developer both proficient in his own domain and familiar with your particular industry. The purpose of this particular selection is that such developer will be aware of general needs, issues and your expectations.
Candidate's website can give you many answers and highlight the abovementioned aspects, but the best and most effective way to learn candidate’s experience is to get references from ongoing and former customers. Ask them about company services: delivery terms, feedback and the efficiency of end product.
You should also ask if company has any industry awards or certificates – which is also an indication of company's expertise.
Size
“Size does matter” - this saying is also applicable to the size of the development company – both large and small companies have their advantages and drawbacks. A large company may possess all skills you require but you may be lost among company's multiple customers. Vice versa situation may have place in a small company. So, the size of the company is not the deciding factor. You'd better make sure that software development company you wish to select can cope with required scope of work and perform all work with due dilligence.
Personality and communication skills
It may seem hackneyed, but your attitude toward a person or a group to be selected plays an essential part in selection process. You'll have to spend a lot of time communicating and collaborating with this person or persons, so it is of great importance if you can manage. It's capitally that developer can communicate clearly and patiently without extra jargon and terminology. Outsourcing software development involves your vision of the product for software developer to translate into functional products. Miscommunication is an inherent part of such a complex process so try to make sure from the very beginning that you interact well and understand each other.
Support
Most likely, your company will need technical maintenance and administrative support in the course and after implementation of your software. This may cover personnel training, creation of user manuals and guides, and bug fixing. New product must be easy-to-integrate into your legacy software and must be supported by all platforms. These points should be clearly stated in your development contract.
Price
This factor is not to be decisive while selecting a developer either. If you opt for software development be ready to invest money into the process. You'd better consider the following financial issues when selecting a developer: pricing methods and costs of change requests. Try to avoid companies that specify hourly rates without mentioning total development time. If your requirements are full and clear, a good developer must offer comprehensive cost estimation with fixed fees. However, additional costs are not ruled out in the development process (as a rule they are). All changes can't be predicted but make sure that you are aware of pricing of change requests.
Legal issues
Licensing and ownership rights is another important issue should be stated in the contract. Make sure that you will have full license for the product developed and that you will possess all ownership rights for the source code.
Development inception
After having considered all these factors, it's time to make your choice. When development started don't forget that communication is the key to understanding. The earlier you mention your problems and ask for changes the cheaper and more efficient they will be. Initial stage of software development will require deeper analysis of your company by developer which may be quite time consuming. But do keep in mind that it's a basic and crucial point thus it should not be neglected. After this stage developer must issue a functional specification of your requirements which will be annexed to your contract. This specification will not be strictly binding but the point of departure to all changes charged additionally. Other stages of the process are: development of prototype(s), QA and testing, post-development training, support and maintenance.
