Finding technological talent in the pre-pandemic era was quite a challenge. It seems that hiring an experienced developer during the lockdown is an even more difficult undertaking.

Telecommuting has long been the norm. In addition, this trend is unlikely to become obsolete; instead, it will continue to gain momentum. Indeed, 77% of workers would prefer to work from home after COVID-19 is over, while 75% are just as or more productive working remotely.

As their profession is in high demand, the search for software engineers is like a chase. The central struggle in this research is to find the right employees without interviewing them face to face and to test them during office hours. In other words, how do you find a remote developer who is a perfect match for your business?

Hiring experienced developers is not as difficult as it sounds if you know the sourcing strategies. Additionally, hiring these remote workers opens up new opportunities for companies providing software product development services, corporate IT teams, and the employees themselves.

What about the benefits of working remotely?

Benefits for employees

1. Work-life balance

It’s easier to organize your diet and avoid long trips, which is more time and energy efficient. In addition, teleworkers are free to organize their workplace as they see fit: going to a cafe or staying at home.

2. Time management

Offsite work allows an employee to organize their schedule around their peaks in productivity, which leads to exceptional results.

3. Higher productivity

Without the distraction of talking about water coolers, an employee is able to focus fully on a task at hand while working from home.

Benefits for employers

1. Save money

There is no need to spend money on office utilities with a remote team.

2. An extensive talent pool

Finding remote developers means looking for in-depth specialists across the globe. The chance of finding your ideal worker increases dramatically.

How do companies find remote developers?

To meet the best candidates remotely, it is recommended to use several methods. For example, some employers prefer to scan LinkedIn or attend technical conferences online, while others do so at the same time.

Supply stage

Under lockdown conditions, opportunities to recruit employees remain the same as before, but they have moved online, keeping them effective before the pandemic.

Here are the most popular ways to find software developer candidates:

● Sponsorship programs

Sponsorship programs have been at the top for years. So where do you look for the best developers? Among the references of your existing employees. Such a sourcing practice is common, allowing the referrer to benefit from bonuses and the company itself to build a powerful team of like-minded people.

● Job portals

Upwork, Toptal, Remote and Freelancer are some of the most used platforms to find remote software engineers around the world. All you need to do is post your project or job profile and generate the right candidates for your business based on their skills and experience.

● Social media

Facebook and LinkedIn are also great sourcing options. The main drawback to this research method is potentially a large number of irrelevant answers. Therefore, it is advisable to use this search strategy together with an automated selection test to immediately screen out unsuitable candidates.

● Technological communities

Whether it’s Reddit, StackOverflow, or some other tech community, it’s an effective way to find new talent. Additionally, there are more targeted communities like PySlackers, suitable for those looking for a Python developer. With such niche communities, your search will be more targeted.

● Events

Why not participate in technology events in an online format? At least it’s a chance to make new contacts for the future and find new talent at the same time. Unfortunately, it is a very time consuming method of Scouting. But if you are not pressed for time, you can also attend the event in the hope of finding a candidate.

You are free to browse the Eventbrite website to find the upcoming event that potential applicants are likely to attend, or to keep abreast of updates on PyCon, Java Day, or Framework days for not ignore your future employee. In addition, virtual hackathons and online coding contests still take place.

● Training camps

Ironhack, Le Wagon, Codeworks and other online bootcamps with intense coding programs of varying lengths are a developer treasure trove. There may be people who will meet your business needs after the training is complete.

Interview stage

After the first online interview where you’re more likely to assess a candidate’s soft skills, it’s time to start assessing technical skills as well. Platforms such as CoderPad, Codility CodeLive or HackerRank allow you to test the potential candidate with code challenges and estimate their professional knowledge.

After checking their personal and professional skills and previous experience, it is sometimes recommended that you discover the candidate’s collaborative skills and adapt to your team members during the software development process. In this regard, pair programming comes in handy. Let your candidate take the wheel while you, as the interviewer, are the navigator. GitHub is one of the platforms offering the pair programming feature to use during an interview.

Final words

Sometimes the search for an expert developer can be exhausting, sometimes you can find a valuable employee in the blink of an eye. It doesn’t matter if it’s fate or luck as long as you find yourself with a team of people who are always ready to evolve and move forward towards a common goal.