“Any fool can write code that a computer can understand. Good programmers write code that humans can understand.” – Martin Fowler

It is true that with some practice, anybody can write code. It is even sufficient if it is you and the machine alone that will ever see the code.

On the contrary, recruiters usually look for software engineers or developers who can work in a team environment, and who can collaborate with other developers on a single piece of code.

Hiring a good software developer may sound like a daunting task. However, there are certain pointers that you need to keep in mind while headhunting.

7 Expert Tips for hiring professional software developers

With technology racing forward at an incredible pace, we now witness revolutionary changes in how we relate to user interface (augmented reality/virtual reality), infrastructure (blockchain technology), and how we do things (Machine Learning/Artificial Intelligence).

As a result of new products pushing out rapidly, the software development niche is severely lacking professionals. There are more jobs and fewer software developers.

Irrespective of what you intend to establish, it is important that you create a checklist that you can use while recruiting software developers. Here are 7 tips that might help you out in this regard.

1. Outline the must-have skills for the desired profile

This one may sound obvious; however, physically outlining specific skills needed to achieve project goals make your hiring job easier.

It is a good idea to create two lists—a list of “must-haves” skills and another list of “good-to-have” skills.

You can discuss the must-haves during the initial call to eliminate applicants who might not be the most suitable for the role.

This does not mean that you weed out candidates who lack experience or knowledge of specific programming languages and tools. Keep in mind that you are looking for a competent coder who can pick up a new language in a short period.

Figure out the type of problems you want to solve, the challenges your candidate may face, and the outcomes you want to accomplish.

Once you have a clearer vision of these objectives, you will be able to determine the strengths, essential skills and qualities, and foundational knowledge that an ideal applicant must have.

2. Ensure the developer fits well in your organization

The atmosphere of one company will be different from another company.

If your developer doesn’t fit in, it can be disastrous financially as it may affect your product negatively and make everyone, including the developer, in the office unhappy.

It is a proven fact that employees who identify more with their organization are happier, experience greater job satisfaction, and tend to be more productive and committed. Hence, cultural fit is paramount.

To ensure this, first, you need to thoroughly understand your company culture. Then get a feel of your candidate’s fit—ask questions about preferred working environments to make sure that you and the candidate are on the same page.

If you work on a remote team, it is better to hire a software developer who is independent and can work with minimal supervision.

If you are expecting a lot of collaboration, you need to look for someone who works well in a team environment.

If you are looking to upskill your team, check out Potential’s practical training and certification programs that can be customized to match your business needs.

3. Have an IT professional interview candidates

Developers would like to talk about tech with other developers.

To attract top candidates, consider having peers who attend conferences and tech meetups do the interview or at least a casual chat with potential candidates over coffee.

This will help bring out honest interactions and offer potential candidates a chance to have a peek into the job and its expectations.

If you belong from a non-technical background, it might be hard for you to find common ground with your candidate.

If this is the case, it is better to bring in someone with an IT background or expertise in relevant areas for technical evaluation.

You may still assess a potential candidate’s strengths that correspond to your area of expertise, such as soft skills.

The bottom line is that having an IT professional interview applicant will help you make an informed hiring decision.

Moreover, having more than one interviewer will help reduce the likelihood of a biased attitude that may interfere with the hiring decision.

4. Determine your developer’s standard

If there is one thing that is common to all top developers for hire, it will be the fact that they have high standards. You don’t want to hire a software developer who is fine rolling out a half-baked product. You should also avoid someone who will leave a complete mess for the next developer.

Larger corporations can afford to hire freshers and assign them to senior developers for training. Smaller businesses might not have this privilege.

To make sure that your developer has high standards and has the desired experience, evaluate their portfolio and experience carefully.

Ask the applicant to show you projects that they have completed in the past, and ask them about the problems they faced and how they solved them.

You should also check their references to verify that a software developer is exactly what he or she claims to be.

5. Administer realistic coding tests

To ensure that a software developer is the right candidate for the position, ask them to resolve a small but realistic issue. These can be coding problems inspired by real-life situations your organization’s software developers face.

To get a feel of a candidate’s on-the-job performance, you can simulate a typical work environment. For example, instead of asking the candidate to solve a coding problem on a whiteboard, ask them to write a code on a computer.

Allow the developer to explain their approach to solving the problem.

Observing a candidate in action will help you quickly evaluate the quality of their code and allow you to determine if the candidate is the right for the position.

Another thing to keep in mind is to ensure the test or the assignment hits the perfect balance between easy and difficult.

If the test is too simple, you are lowering the entry bar and may end up with a developer with basic experience.

On the other hand, an extremely complex task will intimidate any qualified developer who wasn’t given enough time to solve a long or complex problem.

There may come a time when you need to administer additional coding evaluations or interviews to separate one or two exceptional developers applying for the same role.

In such a scenario, consider paying for the extra time and effort candidates put in. This is a wise move considering the current market conditions.

Studies have shown that candidate experience can influence whether they leave or stick to their candidature.
Subjecting potential candidates to multiple evaluations and interviews without any job assurance will affect your brand negatively.

This will also damage your ability to attract top tech talents in the long run.

5. Administer realistic coding tests

To ensure that a software developer is the right candidate for the position, ask them to resolve a small but realistic issue. These can be coding problems inspired by real-life situations your organization’s software developers face.

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According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) projection, software developers will remain one of the hottest professions over the next 10 years.

This demand for skilled developers is made more urgent with almost 200,000 hard-to-replace positions every year.

This suggests that good professionals are already engaged somewhere or the other. Thus, it is increasingly becoming difficult to hire a software developer who is aligned with your standards.

It is even more challenging if you are not aware of all the options that you have at your disposal.

Here are a few places where that will increase your chances of running into a potential candidate for your hiring position.

• Get referrals to find good developers: Referrals can be from your employees, associates, business partners, friends, family, or anyone in your network. This also increases the mutual trust factor if the developer is recommended by someone from your network.
• Explore freelance niche platforms: Depending on what you intend to achieve, you can also go for freelance software developers. You will find qualified and talented developers on platforms like Arc, Upwork, and Fiverr.
• Attend developer conferences and meets: This is a good way to connect with local developers who are looking for work or know someone who is.
• Become a member of developer communities and forums: Platforms like HashNode, Reddit, CodeProject, and Dzone are great places to connect and engage with potential candidates.
• Use LinkedIn to hire a software developer: Everyone knows that LinkedIn is the Facebook for professionals. It is a powerful platform for on-site as well as remote developers and programmers. So, using LinkedIn for recruitment of software developers is a great way to access a vast talent pool of experienced professionals who possess the technical skills your team requires.

LinkedIn provides a comprehensive headhunting experience where you can combine the strategies mentioned above. You can go through candidate CVs, check out a developer’s experience and connections, and then make an informed decision about who to contact.

7. Know the cost of hiring a good developer

Technical professionals are one of the most sought-after talents and the cost of hiring a software developer may be quite competitive.

According to the Society for Human Resource Management, it typically costs approximately $4,129 to hire an employee.

You might live under the impression that you have gotten a good deal on a qualified developer, only to lose the bid because you didn’t make a compelling offer.

Chances are high that other recruiters like you are also seeking qualified developers.
Therefore, before you make an offer, you must have an idea of how much software developers cost.

In the United States, the starting package for a software developer in 2022 is $47,060 annually while the median pay averages at around $110,140 annually.

Freelance developers, on the other hand, may have hourly rates. On average, freelance software developers charge somewhere between $81 and $100 an hour.

Additional tips for hiring qualified software developers

In addition to the options and strategies for hiring software developers listed above, the following are some of the key areas that you must cover while interviewing shortlisted candidates.

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Note that the following skills may vary depending on the nature of your project.

• Native Android/iOS development skills
• Relevant skills in hybrid mobile development
• Web development skills with proficiency in programming languages such as PHP or JavaScript
• Proficiency in Python to develop Artificial Intelligence or Machine Learning
• Experience in enterprise or public blockchain platforms
• You can elaborate on applicable skills while tailoring the perfect job description.
• Here is an example of an iOS developer job template that can potentially attract deserving candidates.

Other technical skills

Depending on the position you are vetting for, other technical skills may include:

• Knowledge of integrated development environments (IDEs) such as Android Studio, Eclipse, Visual Studio, and NetBeans
• Comfortable with tools like Git and CVS
• In-depth knowledge of popular libraries like jQuery and React
• Familiarity with cloud computing platforms such as Microsoft Azure and Amazon Web Services (AWS)
• Knowledge of test automation frameworks like Selenium and WebdriverIO
• Ability to minimize application security vulnerabilities
  
• Code review skills
  
• Networking skills to be able to work on client servers
  

Essential soft skills

These are some of the key soft skills that you need to look for while hiring a software developer.

• Analytical approach to solving problems
• Effective communication with team members and stakeholders
• Work effectively with their larger team
• Willingness to learn new skills and technologies
• Ability to empathize with client or user needs

Conclusion

Headhunting and hiring good software developers is a laborious task and demands some preparation.

Tech professionals are hired primarily based on their technical skills. However, one cannot overlook other important skills like teamwork and communication.

Hopefully, through this article, you have found some new methods for finding the ideal software developers for your organization. Your next step would be to choose the strategies that will help accomplish your hiring goals within your budget.

With the help of these pointers, you should be able to connect with any kind of developer irrespective of the tech stack, location, or commitment.

The post 7 Tips for Hiring Qualified Software Developers appeared first on The Online Learning Platform.

Regulating Cookies To Ensure Secure Surfing

Pardon my sweet tooth, we are going to talk about cookies and their regulations. Cookies know a lot. They are that ‘fly on the wall’ watching all your moves online. They observe, record, store, and report, but only if you consent. You have the right to choose what cookies to get, what they can do, and what they can record. As sweet as cookies can be in your online experience, they can leave you vulnerable to those with malicious intent.

The choice we make on cookies to accept is mostly driven by the knowledge of who is collecting our data and why they want it. We wittingly accept cookie tracking if we are aware of where they come from and what they do. It boils down to the choice of the cookie’s provenance—a choice of first vs third party cookies.

The reason every website seems to be offering a cookie jar for you to accept or decline is, that there are regulations in place that govern these cyber-streets. The internet is not the wild West. Online businesses would love to collect as much information as they could about your browsing journey. Cookie regulations keep these businesses in check. Without these regulations, businesses are more likely to steal and misuse data without consequences.

The European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) issued in the ePrivacy Directive regulates how cookies are stored in your device and how they operate. The regulations are commonly referred to as the Cookie Law. The cookie law protects your personal and browsing data. As the cookies are evolving with time, so are the rules regulating the Cookie Law.

Does it matter?

In the modern age, privacy has become one of the most important human rights. Privacy supports human dignity, freedom of association, and freedom of speech. Information privacy involves the establishment of rules and regulations governing the collection and handling of personal data.

Data privacy, concerning cookies, is all about the rights of individuals, and the purpose of data collection and processing. It focuses on individual privacy preferences, and the way organizations manage the personal data of individuals. It governs how organizations or individuals collect, store, process, share and delete personal data following regulations. Staying informed about new legislations, with a focus on understanding specifics like DMA and DSA explained, is crucial. The Digital Markets Act (DMA) and the Digital Services Act (DSA) play a vital role in shaping the regulatory framework for digital services and platforms, influencing how data privacy is addressed and protected.

Inappropriate cookie tracking is not something only small businesses do. Large corporations and governments leverage the power of cookies to invade our privacy. On December 31st, the French data protection regulator sanctioned Facebook and Google for millions for non-compliance with cookie regulations.

Your right to privacy cross paths with other human rights such as the freedom of association freedom of expression, the right to seek, receive and impart information, and assembly. Our right to our privacy is a basic human right. Abusing human rights brings costly consequences to an organization

Selecting “Accept” or “Decline” on a cookie consent pop-up might seem like an unnecessary bother, but that is the most important step to take towards securing your privacy online. Some web browsers have settings to automatically accept cookies, and you can change these settings to automatically decline.

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Let us look at why there are regulations for cookies and why it’s a good idea to consent to them for your privacy protection.

1. Keeps you in the loop

Cookie regulations ensure that you are informed of the existence of any cookies on your device and their activity. These regulations require website owners to define the type of cookie they are offering.

To keep you in the loop, the cookie policies require website owners need to inform you of how they will be using your personal data. They also require them to disclose what type of data they are collecting, how long they will store your data, and if they are going to give your data to any other third party. Website owners also need to list down all third-party recipients of your personal information.

The regulations ensure that cookies will only collect the data that you consented to, and nothing more.

The regulations also ensure that you are informed of your information rights and how to exercise them. Not everyone can recite their information rights without a quick Google search. The regulations put the onus on the cookie owner to inform you about the privacy rights you have to your information.

When you check the cookies running on your browser, you should be able to identify every cookie and its host. You should also know what information each cookie is gathering or storing.

The regulations mandates organizations or business to complete the collected data at your request if you find it to be incomplete or inaccurate. You also have the right to ask for the complete deletion of this data.

Knowledge of the personal information that an organization is keeping puts you in a position to challenge the accuracy of the data. To exercise this right, you must inform the organization of your intent to challenge the data. You must state clearly what you think is incorrect or incomplete and suggest how it should be corrected.

2. You can limit access to your data

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The regulations on cookies ensure that you have the right to limit access to your data and set limits to the way websites use your personal data. You can exercise this right if you are concerned with the amount of data being gathered. You can also put a cap on cookie activity if you are worried about how the website is using the data collected.

Cookie regulations also give you the right to object to using your data for direct marketing. This does not mean the organization will delete your data. They will still keep your data but will not use it for the purposes you do not approve.

Regulations require website owners to allow visitors to have access to the personal information they gathered on them. This is important to check for accuracy and completeness.

The Cookie Law also allows you to raise a complaint about the way an organization is handling your information. You can raise a complaint if you think the organization does not securely store your data or is disclosing your information without consent. You also have the right to raise a complaint with an organization if you think they have kept your information longer than is necessary or are using your information for undisclosed uses.

3. You can request the data at any time

The cookie regulations ensure that organizations store your data in a portable format. You have the right to request the organizations to produce the cookie-recorded data in a format that an ordinary device can read.

You can also request the organization storing your data to send it to another organization.

If you accept that an organization captures your data and tracks your online journey, it only makes sense that you should be able to request this information at any time. Cookie regulations require cookie owners to store data in simple readable formats like a CSV file

The regulations state that subjects to data gathering have a right to receive personal data which concerns them. You have the right to access this data at any time, provided in a structured, commonly used, and machine-readable format.

4. You can purge the data at any time

Cookie regulations state that the usage of data collected online must be reflected in the privacy policy. This is a separate document from the other terms and conditions agreement that the organization might have.

There comes a time when a cookie keeps storing your data past the accepted dateline. Sometimes you just want to get out of an agreement made with a cookie.

Perhaps you changed your mind about letting a cookie follow you around the internet. Maybe you mistakenly accepted cookies when you didn’t mean to. Thanks to cookie regulations, you have the right to delete all the information the website captured.

You may want to stop a website from collecting your information when the use of your data is no longer necessary for the earlier agreed-on purposes. The only authority website that relies on to collect and process the data is your consent. You have the right to withdraw that consent.

The internet is a valuable source of information and empowerment for children. Children have a heightened vulnerability to cyberbullying, sexual exploitation, and violations of their privacy in unregulated cyberspace. Regulators need to govern the information collected on children and its handling.

The regulations give children special protection online. This is because they may be less aware of the risks and consequences of giving their data to websites. The organization might have collected your data when you were a child. As an adult, you can still have this data erased.

5. Prevents machine learning algorithms from creating the wrong personas about you

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Machine learning and big data analytics in the profiling of online accounts have created the need for businesses to collect data. Your personal data is a goldmine. Even if you have not directly visited a webpage, businesses collect your data from well-managed APIs.

With the advancements in Artificial Intelligence, cookies collect data used to build online personas. Personal data is used to analyze and predict such things as your performance at work, personal preferences, financial situation, or health.

When artificial intelligence and algorithms use biased historical data that cookies collect, their account profiling predictions are not always going to be accurate. They are not immune to errors in their decision-making. Prejudices of their programmers, false logic, and skewed input data will make artificial intelligence reproduces human biases.

Cookie regulations require website owners to inform people if they will be subject to a decision that will be made by machine learning Artificial Intelligence. Website owners must inform visitors of the type of information they will gather to input into the Artificial Intelligence profiling machine. This may be important if Artificial Intelligence will be relied upon to make decisions that affect your important life issues.

Artificial Intelligence decisions made on your behalf without any human intervention may affect your legal rights. These decisions may also lead to your automatic refusal of an online credit application. E-recruiting practices regularly use Artificial Intelligence to sort through candidates for successful applicants.

In 2018, Amazon stopped using artificial intelligence in its recruitment process. They had discovered that was bias against women. Amazon had realized its system was not rating candidates for software developer jobs and other technical posts in a gender-neutral way. It had taught itself that male candidates were preferable.

Cookie regulations ensure that you have the provision to object to profiling by these automated systems.

The Cookie Law mandates organizations to tell you why artificial intelligence gets to decide. The law mandates organizations to disclose how the decision will affect them. It also mandates them to inform you that you have a right to request human intervention, express your view and object to the decision.

Cookie regulations matter when it comes to your privacy protection

Cookies are good. A personalized online experience has proven to be revolutionary both for website owners and visitors. The power to have insights into your customers’ preferences and interests in the field of e-commerce is a marketer’s dream.

For website visitors, the ability to return to a website and not have to re-enter your password or customize your preferences again has increased efficiency. Getting recommendations for content tailored to your interests is mind-blowing.

These revolutionary experiences should not come at the expense of human rights to privacy. There are restrictions on how cookies operate, and rightfully so. Organizations can be very invasive into our personal lives if left unchecked. The regulations are there to ensure that both parties can safely experience the perks of using cookies.

Privacy enforcement goes beyond regulatory enforcement. To some extent, we are all tasked to enforce privacy. You can play an important role in combatting the intrusions upon privacy by governments, intelligence agencies, and big companies. All it takes is for you to spend some time reading that cookie consent pop-up before accepting.

The post 5 Reasons Why Cookies Regulation Is Important For Privacy Protection appeared first on The Online Learning Platform.