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Is the Ideal developer a Unicorn that all organizations are after?
Multiskilled developers are hard to find (Even harder to retain). Since they are high in demand, almost all organizations are fishing from a small pool of experts. But is a platter of technical skills the only ingredient that constitutes a good developer?
When it comes to interviewing a developer, it is typically considered to be a TECHNICAL job i.e. a person with Higher technical expertise is the sole authority to judge this profile. But is evaluating developers only a Technical job? Is that the only perspective from which you should be examining the right candidate?
From a layman’s perspective this might be adequate but from broader, organizational perspective there are quite a few tricks one should have up his sleeve, which go beyond a developer’s job description. Here are 5 of the most important aspects that constitute an Ideal Developer.
Experience
Prior experience is of primary and utmost importance. The number of projects the developer has delivered, the clients that he has handled and the technologies that he has hands-on experience with, gives an overview of the developer’s exposure. As much as the length of the experience the breadth counts too. While evaluating his technical expertise we should also analyze his Problem-Solving capabilities. (Bear in mind these are 2 distinct qualities).
Beyond Development
Being part of an organization, a developer is bound to work on a project and contribute to one technology or the other. We need to check “IS THAT HIS REAL INCLINATION”. This can be gaged based on what his contribution is beyond development. Blogs, answering queries online, attending conferences are few of the venues from which a person’s inclinations can be judged. Which are the renowned names whose blogs are influencing the development world right now and does he follow any of them, can also be one of the aspects.
Dedication
This is one aspect every organization would like to evaluate their employees on, but is difficult to measure in the short span of an interview. Here the interviewer can use Probing techniques. Which are the most difficult scenarios that the developer had faced? Did he have to stay back late to find a solution? To what extent did he have to go to get an issue resolved, are few of the real-life scenarios that can judge dedication.
A perspective to Testing
Most developers are INDIFFERENT to testing. They are either laid back or reluctant to write Unit tests for their code beforehand. Asking them to write sample test cases will give you an idea of the time they have invested in predicting bugs.
“More than the act of testing, the act of designing tests is one of the best bug preventers known. The thinking that must be done to create a useful Tests can discover and eliminate bugs before they are coded” – Boris Beizer, (PhD Computer Science, University of Pennsylvania, Software Testing expert)
Individuals with the capability to write TEST CASES beforehand have a skill to foresee the workflows of their product. Visualization is a quality of thinkers and inventors. There are high chances that such an individual would find alternate and newer techniques to resolve a given problem statement.
Soft Skills
Though soft skills are basic and mandatory for any candidate aspiring to be part of an Organization, yet the degree of this skill varies person to person. Listening is an important aspect of soft skills. Understanding customer requirements involves Listening and Probing the client to get clarity into his vague thoughts. Lone Rangers or “One man show” developers are usually low on soft skills. Even though what they lack in social skills they might make up for in coding, it is detrimental from a long-term perspective. Poor soft skills is analogous to poor leaders. The basic ingredient of a Leader is his ability to communicate.
To strive for a candidate who excels on all grounds, would be harsh. Projects need to assess their immediate requirements and be willing to compromise on a few qualities. Gradually grooming developers in the areas where they seem to fall behind can also shape your Ideal Developer for you.
Clarion engages the top talent in Market, skilled not just in a single domain but flexible across various platforms. We are recognized as a Top Website Development Company across multiple platforms including DesignRush. Adding to the above qualities we groom our developers on problem solving techniques and having transparent interactions with our clients. Clarion comprises of a workforce of 450+ individuals that has empowered 1000+ SMBs across the globe. We can be the right destination you were looking for to hire top developers. For any further assistance feel free to get in touch with us.
