5 must ask questions to hire skilled software developers

Congratulations!

Now that you have finally decided to work on your brilliant app idea, let us start cooking the recipe together. As a founder, your app is like your baby and you want it to be perfect. But coming close to perfection takes time, strategic planning, and the right team. While there are many key aspects involved, hiring a skilled developer is one of the most important steps.

The technical developer you choose will be responsible for turning your idea into functioning code and guiding the build process from initial scope to final delivery. That's why finding the right partner is so crucial early on. You want an expert who aligns with your app's technical needs and personality as an organisation.

Getting on call with every developer you think might be right for your project is no good, let us do that for you.

So, let’s get right into it and figure out what you need to find yourself a skilled developer.

Why does asking the right questions matter?

There are so many software developers out there so how do you choose the one that will do justice to your application. This is why you need a set of questions but before that, you need to prepare a document stating your requirements, it will help you stay on track and not drift from the goal. To make the most out of each interview, it's important to develop strategic questions that will help you understand each developer's background, experience, work style, problem-solving ability, communication skills, and more.

With thoughtful preparation and targeted questions, you can zero in on the basics and the fine parts between candidates and make well-informed hiring decisions. Don't rely on generic queries - tailor your questions to filter for the qualities that matter most for your app. Asking the right questions takes some upfront work but sets you up for long-term success with the perfect development partner.

Below you will find a list of curated questions to help you choose the right developer.

What is your background and experience?

This is a no-brainer when it comes to hiring. Before you initiate a call with the candidate, ask for their portfolio to understand their background and experience to determine if they are a good fit for the role. Ask this question to get a broad sense of their education, years in the industry, and the technologies they have worked with. This will help you assess both their hard skills and overall knowledge base. With this question, you can also evaluate their problem-solving experience. A strong background indicates they can handle the day-to-day challenges of that are evident in a software developer's routine.

Have you built apps or software similar to what we’re looking for? Can you show examples?

The second question is important to understand a candidate's practical experience building similar products. This will determine if they have successfully delivered the types of solutions you need for your business. If they have portfolio samples or GitHub repos demonstrating relevant work, that provides tangible evidence of capabilities aligned with your goals. First-hand experience developing comparable apps, integrations, or features will give the confidence that they can quickly without extensive training or ramp-up time. Specifically look for work similar in complexity, technologies used, integrations required, performance needs, etc. This will prove to be a major plus.

What do you do to make sure you meet agreed-upon deadlines?

This question helps you understand the candidate’s work ethic. Meeting project deadlines is essential for a software developer. When you ask candidates how they approach deliverables and timelines, you learn about their work style, planning tactics, and how they take ownership of schedules. You would want to hear about project management strategies they employ, how they factor in testing and bugs, how they communicate about progress, and their discipline to ship work as promised. Their response demonstrates accountability, organisation, and the ability to commit to roadmaps. Basically, hire a software developer who is reliable and delivers under pressure, along with having good coding ability.

What security considerations do you keep in mind when designing and building web applications?

Security is a key priority, you should analyse candidates on their methods and knowledge around building secure, protected applications. Their response reveals how they incorporate security from the planning phase through rollout and maintenance. Here, consider specifics like threat modeling, input sanitisation, encryption, access controls, and common remediation techniques. The goal is to assess their overall security mindfulness based on training and experience. You should look for signs that they take a meticulous approach and don't leave security as an afterthought. This helps avoid critical vulnerabilities that put many companies at risk.

What is their communication style?

Communication and collaboration are essential for succeeding in cross-functional product teams. By asking about their communication style, you gain insight into how they interact with team members, stakeholders, and clients to deliver excellent products together. Understand their strategies and preferences for keeping projects on track, providing status updates, documenting work, taking feedback, escalating issues, and more. The ability to filter complex technical concepts for a non-technical audience is key. Try to figure out and understand their participatory approach to transparency, organisation, and shared responsibility. This reveals whether they will communicate effectively with your teams.

Asking strategic questions that help you understand the developer's background, skills, work style, and approach will allow you to make an informed hiring decision that benefits both the candidate and the company. By focusing on their academics, technical expertise, problem-solving ability, delivery reliability, security best practices, and communication clarity, you can effectively evaluate not just coding competency but overall fit. If your software needs multiple helping hands, you can checkout these IT outsourcing agencies with vetted software developers in their team which will be cost-effective and time saving for you. A bonus tip: take a thoughtful approach to the interview process, this will help you identify those exceptional candidates that align with your team culture and have the experience needed to drive quality results. 

Hiring a developer is a major investment, let’s make it count.