How to hire a right app developer?

By Harshul Shah

App development is not so unique service so you will end up with getting a large number of freelancers, companies and big boys that can offer you so called the best services! So, how do you ensure you are hiring the right company or a freelancer? This article will help you to take a correct decision with a clear formula and score.

Tips To Hire The Right Mobile App Developer

To be clear, hiring a right freelancer or app development company is not a very simple task like finding a carpenter. It's not as hard as you may think and this article is to help you pick the right developer instead of focusing only on price or quality and missing other more important factors!

A Quick Real Scenario:

One of our clients initially posted a mobile app development project on a freelancing website. In just a few hours, he got more than 20 bids.
Price ranging from insane $450 to $7200
Rating of many bidders was between 3 to 5
Development Timeframe was ranging from 2 to 15 weeks

How can you concluded when you end up with such variety of bids for an app you have envisioned to make it big in 1 to 2 years of time?
I am glad he contacted us and we were able to land him successfully for his vision!

I believe this article is a good read on whatever side you may be - Someone looking to hire a developer or you are an app developer/company.

Whom should you choose? How can you get the right developer?

App development is not so unique service so you will end up with getting a large number of freelancers, companies and big boys that can offer you so called the best services! Everyone will claim they are the best (and why not!?)! 🙂

Companies that have won awards will ask you to check their awards!
Companies that has built similar apps will suggest you check their portfolio!
Onshore agencies will talk about benefits of meeting in person & reliability!
Offshore agencies will talk about benefits of cost and faster execution!
Freelancers will talk about low price, escrow and what not!

So, everyone has their own distinct advantage and when you are on a buyer side, you have an upper hand as long as you hire the right developer!

Based on our experience, we have learned that none of the above aspects gives you 100% assurance of hiring the right company.

What works is the like minded thinking! 

Don't rely on solely awards, portfolio, low price or their rating! They are only small indicators but as an owner, do not take a decision on these factors! It never helps! (Award winning companies may fail to deliver what you want – It’s a different thing that we are also an award winning company but I will not ask you to weight it more than just a feel good factor)

Those are just feel good factors and nothing more than that!

So, whom should I give my app development work?

Here is a checklist for you to decide,

1) Communication
Rate the communication skill of the company you are interacting from 1 to 5 during your conversation.

  • English fluency is important but communication is not just plain English.
    It is about how good they understand your ideas, concept and your competitors!
  • Are they talking the same business language that you speak?
  • Are they getting your perspective and aligning their ideas with your vision?
  • Are they talking only technology or they talk combination of business with technology?

2) Design – UI and UX
Rate their design skills – This is very important!

Design is the silent ambassador of your brand. 
— Paul Rand
  • Do they understand UI (User Interface) you are looking for?
  • Do they propose any UX (User Experience) scenarios?
  • Do they provide mockup before they start development?
    If Yes then ask for mockup links of their past work so you know how detailed their mockups are!

Here are two quick reads on Quora and Difference between UI & UX in case you need more clarity about UI & UX.

3) Company Representative
Check out the representative background who is dealing with you.
He is the face of the company for you and this guy can either make your product best or worst – believe me!

  • Check out the LinkedIn Profile of this person! It takes just 2 minutes to get an idea if the guy is in the right business or not!
    Tips - Check his connections, anything published on Linked In.
    Don't just go with the experience summary as people will write all good thing only!
  • Check out their twitter handler and you will get a clear idea if the company is focused on what you want?

4) Processes
Everyone talks but very few implement it right!

Without having right process in place, its difficult to get the things on-time, within budget & optimum quality.
You can rate the process they follow on various criteria like,

  • What process the follow? Agile or SDLC? Rate Agile more over SDLC
  • Are they using Trello or Slack to track & maintain the progress? If not, don't deal with them.
  • Do they have a process for a weekly call?
  • Do they provide you technical documentation of your project? Flow Charts, Database Design at the least?

5) Attitude of learning
Your project will have something different than others for sure! And that's why you want it to be developed otherwise you would have bought a ready made solution already available, isn't it?

So, check out if the company or freelancer you are dealing with posses a learning attitude?
Attitude can be rate based on following questions,

  • Did they check your competitor's websites/apps after your first call?
  • What features did they like in your competitor's app?
  • What additional features they have suggested you add in your app?

    Such questions will tell you if the company or freelancers you are dealing is learning from your requirement or he is just another developer who doesn't know what they are developing!

6) Long term over short term
Now, here you are rating to yourself! And not the company or freelancer you are dealing with!

What's your term? – Long or Short!

If you are building something on which you want to run your business then always go with a company and not with any freelancer – 100% fool proof!

Why people hire freelancers? 

The fundamental reason (and probably the most popular one) is the PRICE! They get it done at a cheap rate!

Do you know we (and many other reliable companies) work at an incredibly cost effective manner with our clients? We charge as reasonable as possible of US$ 15 to 25 that is equivalent or lower than many freelancers! Top of it guaranteed quality! Then why to go with a freelancer?

If you have a short-term goal with no clear vision then you are encouraged to waste your time, energy and money on anything!

So, rate yourself!

7) Onshore or Offshore?
This is an age old debate and will remain the same forever probably!
Here is an answer – I am sure you must be knowing if you are an iPhone owner!
Its designed by Apple in California Assembled in China!

Designed by Apple in California Assembled in China - Classic case of Outsourcing

Bonus – Check out an International Best Seller “The World Is Flat – Thomas L. Friedman”

The World Is Flat, 3.0

We have an office in India, Singapore, and the USA. - Believe me, it doesn't make any difference for you provided you are dealing with the right company for your app development.
You get the same reliability, intimacy, care, quality and in fact with far better support than the local development company in reality.
This is because your small app may not help the local development company to run their business but to an outsourced company, the money you pay is reasonable (considering a good currency rate conversion) so they will care more about you that you don't go anywhere else!

There are secondary criteria you can add to the list like,

  1. Understanding of functionality & features
  2. Development Timeframe
  3. Deliverables
  4. Past experience – portfolio
  5. Client references
  6. Registered company or not?
  7. Awards / Recognitions

As you have reached the end of this article, I have a quick bonus for you to download this excel sheet for you to rate all your quotes and decide which company you should deal with!
Alternatively, you can just call us or get in touch with us and check if we are the most suitable mobile app development company for your next app and make it big for you?

Harshul Shah

Harshul Shah is a tech geek with more than 15 years of software development experience on mobile and web technologies extensively. He is also a founder of various technical ventures including Hire Mobile Developer that provides the bespoke mobile application development services and product development to clients across the globe. Harshul has acquired in depth understanding of mobile app designing, development, marketing and app store optimization and helped numerous clients across the globe that includes some of the patent pending startups, small to mid scale businesses and fortune 500 companies.

Harshul Shah is a tech geek with more than 15 years of software development experience on mobile and web technologies extensively. He is also a founder of various technical ventures including Hire Mobile Developer that provides the bespoke mobile application development services and product development to clients across the globe. Harshul has acquired in depth understanding of mobile app designing, development, marketing and app store optimization and helped numerous clients across the globe that includes some of the patent pending startups, small to mid scale businesses and fortune 500 companies.

Add Your Thought

Let’s discuss in more detail on this topic

*