Guest blog: “An excellent app idea can be ruined by picking up a wrong app developer” – Rameez Ramzan, Cubix

While app industry is on the boom, with over five million apps on app stores, app development has become one of the most in-demand niches in the tech industry. Rameez Ramzan has come up with ten traits to observe when hiring an app developer.

Rameez Ramzan

Technopreneurs are hiring more app developers than the previous year but the catch is, identifying an app developer as good, average or incompetent is a real challenge.

Apps are case sensitive and one wrong hire may ruin your app, or to be precise, your business model. To figure the dilemma out, I researched on the topic and below are some of the top traits to look for in an app developer.

Passion

You might be thinking every app developer loves to code, what’s so surprising? Well, this isn’t true. You need to hire people who are passionate about building apps and it isn’t possible without writing perfect code.

For some, building a top-selling app is a professional goal and for very few, creating beautiful apps is what they ever wanna do. In fact, it’s their dream. You need to pick these jewels to take your business to another level.

Well versed

If you love graphic designing, what will you do? You will keep yourself aware of all the latest trends in the design industry and this trait is what you should be looking for. Hire someone who keeps himself/herself updated with the latest developments in the app industry.

A well-updated employee is beneficial for the product as well as for the whole team. He/she can become a source of inspiration for others and by this way, other app developers can also excel by following his/her footsteps.

Portfolio

An excellent app idea can be ruined by picking up a wrong app developer and, unfortunately, this happened with a lot of apps. If you are on the verge of creating a million-dollar app, hire an experienced app developer with an impressive portfolio.

His/her previous work will give you insights of his/her skill set, creativity, potential and much more. Knowing about their capabilities, you can set the bar of your expectations accordingly that will eventually lead your app to success.

Adaptive

No matter how perfect an employee is, if they aren’t the right fit for your workplace culture, they are of no use. Ever heard a phrase, ‘Hire for attitude, skills can be polished later’. Same is the case with hiring an app developer. Choose a social fit for your company and you’ll never repent on your hiring.

Someone who is a people’s person likes to laugh, focused on their work and faithful should be preferred over a tremendously talented individual who is likely to be the toxic person at your workplace. Remember, when it comes to creating an app, it is always a teamwork.

Focused

Vision reflects the value of an employee. A professional without vision shouldn’t be sitting at your workplace. To get familiar with a visionary candidate, ask them questions pertaining to his future such as what efforts did he make to reach the point where they are right now. His/her personal goals for the next coming years and even months. His/her strategy to stay one step ahead of his competitors.

If you get satisfactory but not perfect answers to the above questions, don’t hesitate to hire them. An app developer who plans their career path is likely to build your app with extreme planning and persistence following a perfect pathway.

Known

Modern-day app developers don’t just code noobs but they are more into various online communities developing their persona and online profiles. Boasting their presence on popular online communities for developers such as Stack Overflow, GitHub, etc. Globally, app developers leverage from online forums to build themselves as a brand.

Hiring an app developer who is prominent in the online communities can be extremely beneficial for your app as he can bring in lots of authenticity and recognition from tech influencers and popular developers.

Creative

Successful app developers are well versed with modern-day trends of UI/UX (user interface/user experience). With an eye for crafting beautiful apps, app developers are expected to have that flare of spotting visual features that make apps look stunning and powerful.

Hire an app developer who can assume the user experience of an app from the app screens. He/she should have a basic instinct of grasping the overall look and feel of the app while it is in the wireframing stage. An app developer who doesn’t have the understanding of UI and UX cannot ever be a perfect fit for your next big idea/app.

Constant learner

There comes a point in life where one thinks he/she has enough knowledge and skill to survive the app industry and trust me, this very moment is the death of an app developer. A person with a mindset of being superlative is destined to perish.

Therefore, you need to hire people who, despite their immense skill set and experience, think that they need to learn more. A constant thirst to learn is always the key to excel and it is essential to stay one step ahead of your competitors.

Patience

Well, this issue isn’t even debatable. An impatient developer who cannot hold his/her nerves in complex and crucial situations shouldn’t be hired. With tedious demands of clients and ever-changing app designs, an app developer with less temperament will either sink your app or, to say the least, ruin your idea.

With one small glitch in the code, it becomes havoc to run it the right way and this is where patience is needed. Moreover, if you are looking for a team leader, he/she would need to communicate with its subordinates on issues that need a calm and cool handler. A big no from my side for these type of people.

Interactive

A genuinely persuasive tone of voice and good speaking skills are the backbones of every successful app development team. An app developer needs to talk with several people including the business development executive, designer, project manager, app consultant, CTO and CEO.

A professional app developer should own good speaking skills to be able to soak up the right guidelines and build apps according to the client’s expectations. One cannot create an app without speaking of it with its team members. This is why you need to hire app developers who can speak for their products or apps.

Conclusion

The above-mentioned qualities are listed in order to develop apps that strike an impact; you should hire a resource who is equipped with this basic yet difficult package of characteristics. To conclude, you must take smart, powerful and critical thinkers on board to take your app development to the next level.

Hiring an app developer is crucial for an app development company, because whether it rakes in popularity or just because of one little glitch, the company gets bad word of mouth from the masses.