With digital transformation becoming a widespread phenomenon, hiring a programmer has become a common occurrence. You might imagine that many managers have hired enough programmers that they could do it in their sleep by now. In practice, though, finding the right one for your business can be a substantial challenge.
Part of the problem is the high demand for skilled coders. The most talented candidates on the market often get snatched up quickly by whichever employer moves the fastest to make a strong job offer.
While speeding up the hiring process seems a logical solution, it’s not as easy as it sounds and leads into the other major hurdle: It’s hard for non-programmers to assess potential candidates.
To people who don’t know coding, the technical side of programming languages and the variety of skills a programmer might require to do the job well is like deciphering hieroglyphics without the Rosetta Stone. For example, there’s a big difference between Java and Javascript. But if you don’t know this and other programming truths, you can’t apply them as you scan through resumes and conduct interviews.
So, how do you navigate the language barrier (so to speak) and hire a programmer when you’re not one yourself? Here are a few steps to help you identify the ideal candidate, even if you know nothing about code.
Do they have the skills you really need?
Knowing what you really need is half the battle. Before you even start to look at the list of computer programmers to hire, sit down with your IT manager and lay out the list of skills they require — and be sure you understand where you can be flexible and where you need to be rigid. Here are some examples:
- Be specific about SQL. There are several types of SQL databases, such as MySQL and Microsoft SQL Server. If your programmer won’t be building databases from scratch or you have database administrators on staff to help developers with SQL, do you need a candidate with substantial experience using your particular database system? Or would experience with a different but similar database be sufficient if the work itself was comparable? On the other hand, will you need to hire a programmer to work with more modern databases like NoSQL?
- Understand the differences between CRM systems. Major enterprise systems like customer relationship management (CRM) software can have major differences. An expert with Salesforce may not necessarily have skills that easily transfer to a Microsoft Dynamics CRM project, for example, because they are very different systems that a programmer interacts with in completely different ways. Would someone with experience in another product in the same category have skills relevant to your system?
- Don’t get hung up on versions. On the other hand, don’t dismiss a potential good hire just because they must overcome a minor skills gap to work with different versions of a programming language, library or system. For example, if your programmer candidate has experience in version 5.0 of a product that’s now at version 6.0, they should be able to learn the differences quickly.
Also have a senior member of your IT staff interview the programmers so they can give you their assessment of each applicant.