Posts by "Roxana"

Employer

Find and Hire a Cloud Operations Engineer

November 28, 2019 Comments Off Roxana read

The cloud is no longer just a white, fluffy chunk of condensation floating around the sky. At the very least, computer-users know the cloud is where their files are stored. That’s true, of course, but there is much more to the cloud. In fact, there’s so much more to the cloud it needs a Cloud Operations Engineer to keep it running smoothly. And, you need to find and hire one.

The first thing you need to know is that cloud operation engineers are in great demand. That makes them both hard to find and, when found, difficult to recruit. You need to understand their personality and have at least ground-level knowledge of the challenges they face daily.

There’s no need to turn to eBay or Craigslist to hunt for cloud operation engineers. In what spare time they have, they hang out in such esoteric forums as Spiceworks’ Cloud Computing & SaaS, Microsoft’s Technet Forum and Cloud Computing Forums by Tom’s Hardware. They might also be found in Server Fault and Web Apps communities.

The main attraction to such forums is code. There’s code and more code. Code certainly is what attracts the engineers, and, after reading through a few lines of thread, also counts as your first insight into their challenges. An additional advantage to you — the recruiter– is learning the technology trends and current topics that are of interest to cloud engineers. A little knowledge picked up in such environments is essential when it’s interview time with one of your prospects. Asking questions about which you know the answers is an important interview tool.

While forums give you a start in grasping the cloud engineer’s responsibilities, it’s good to know and be able to discuss such specific risks as outsourcing essential services to a third party. Configuring traditional web applications to work on the cloud is another common challenge. Applications developed in the cloud need to be run through a legacy system to verify you can’t copy onto a cloud service.

Another challenge to an operations engineer is the incredibly high cost of bandwidth necessary for delivering and receiving intricate data over the network. Sufficient bandwidth comes at a cost.

Knowing where to find cloud operations engineers, understanding them, and having a basic knowledge of their work is a good start to successful hiring.

Employer

How to Find and Hire a Desktop Applications Developer

November 26, 2019 Comments Off Roxana read

If you want to find and hire a desktop application developer, the first thing to do is identify the kind of programmer you need. There is a difference between a desktop application and a mobile application and, while the demand for mobile application developers is strong, the demand for programmers who can work in the desktop area is even stronger.

Now that you know the difference between developers and decided you need one that works desktop applications here are some steps toward hiring:

Understand the developer’s challenges. Showing an interest in the work and becoming familiar with the “jargon” is beneficial to the two of you. Although each developer has his/her style of working, some challenges are shared.

Developing applications that seamlessly work across several platforms. It’s one of the daily challenges.
Choosing the right technologies for the job
Python provides flexibility, but there are others from which to choose
Distributed applications need to be created and managed so that multiple users have access to the same software at the same time. This is not only convenient for the developer but is one of the most significant challenges for the desktop application developer.

Now that you know what type of developer you need and can understand the challenges well enough to discuss the work. It’s time to find one.

First of all, ignore scouring social networks. Programmers don’t (for the most part) spend time socializing with members ignorant of application development. Instead, head for the appropriate forums
MSDN forums are the go-to sites for desktop developers who build Windows applications.
The Apple Development Forums is for programmers who develop for Mac desktops.
Linux forums provide abundant Linux-specific information.

Developers who build apps for multiple operating systems rely on Objective-C, Java. Ruby, and Python forums.

The competition is rough, but armed with a little knowledge makes the finding and hiring easier.

Employer

All You Need to Know About Recruiting Machine Learning Talent

November 21, 2019 Comments Off Roxana read

In recent years, AI technology has become a necessary part of many businesses and in the years to come, it’s only going to become more popular. Regardless of the size of the company, more and more are now in need of an AI specialist.

Recruiting such a specialist is difficult when you have to compete with top brand tech giants such as Google and Microsoft. It’s impossible for smaller or even medium-sized companies to offer the same salaries and opportunities as AI specialists working for Amazon, for example. Amazon invests the most in AI and machine learning hiring, an average of $227.8 million per year. Google spends considerably less, however, the average is still $130.1 million.

There is no need to despair. Even if your budget is a fraction of Amazon’s there are still some things you can do to increase your chances of finding the perfect AI specialist.

Emphasis On Experience When Recruiting

AI and ML (machine learning) specialists will have various levels of experience. You need your hiring strategy to include a specialist with the level of experience that meets your project’s needs. On top of that, you need to look in the right place for this type of experience.

If you are looking for a junior AI candidate, you should focus your search on universities, training programs, hackathons, and meetups. Those with more experience ready to fill a senior role can be found by networking and researching academic papers.

Understand What You Need

As with any position you need to fill, you need to have a clear understanding of what you are looking for. Machine learning roles will require a strong background in math and statistics. If you are recruiting for a senior role, you may want someone with a Ph.D. in these fields. These skills are fundamental in problem-solving and identifying the best algorithms for a certain problem.

Another good skill your candidate should have is curiosity, a need to investigate things. This will go a long way when it comes to facing unclear problems. A strong candidate will be able to understand data and quickly catch on to the new concepts of AI and ML, as this field advances very quickly. Many also find it’s beneficial to have someone who s genuinely enthusiastic about their job and the company.

Show That You Have Opportunities Their Current Job Doesn’t Have

Nowadays, people’s priorities are changing and it’s not always about the highest salary. If you want to attract a high-end ML candidate, you are going to have to provide intellectual challenges, a range of problems, expertise in the team, the quality of your brand, and a competitive salary.

If you can’t match the salary of your competitors, try offering other incentives. Flexibility and the ability to work remotely are very attractive to a lot of people.

Offering things that people don’t have but want is an ideal way to attract people who are currently employed and therefore not actively searching for a new job.

Team Up With Universities

This is a case of going straight to the source of machine learning talent. Keeping close contact with local universities allows you to make contact with new recruits before they start looking elsewhere. You could even consider funding school projects.

This method has become very popular and you may find other companies doing the same thing to recruit AI and ML talent. For you to stand out from the rest, make sure your projects, or even competitions, are interesting and engaging.

Contact A Staffing Agency

Recruiting in the IT industry is cut-throat, more so for high-end, experienced AI and ML specialists. Recruiting takes time and money, two things nobody wants to waste.

Recruitment agencies have access to a large talent pool with candidates ready to start straight away. They save you a lot of time by doing much of the paperwork themselves and there is often more flexibility than when you high a candidate.

While recruiting AI and machine learning specialist is certainly a challenge, it’s not impossible. These strategies are some ideas to put into place in order to increase your chances of finding the right candidate for your needs.

Employer

Tips and Tricks to Hire Laravel Developers and Programmers

November 14, 2019 Comments Off Roxana read

Today, Laravel is the most popular framework and dedicated Laravel developers are in high demand. But, before we look at some of the best ways to hire a developer, let’s get a better understanding of what Laravel is.

Why choose Laravel

This is an open-sourced PHP-based framework that is popular among developers for developing web applications. It follows the MVC pattern and is quick and easy to use because of the ability to reuse components from other frameworks.

Another reason for its popularity is the advanced security features and the extensive choice of functionalities. Despite being easy to use, you will still need a Laravel developer.

The advantages of hiring a Laravel developer

Developing top featured apps:

If your e-Commerce site is built using Laravel, users can enjoy a quick performance from various devices. Your site design can be customized and incorporated with secure web applications. By using the built-in tools in the PHP framework, you will experience faster and more stable web development.

Migration for databases:

The Laravel Migration will help expand the database structure each time you make an adjustment, this will also increase the flow. With Laravel Schema Builder, you can quickly build database tables and insert columns and/or indices.

Reducing maintenance costs:

As well as the enriched user experience, in-built tools, and easy customization, the latest advancements in PHP include the development of responsive and modular websites. Laravel is extremely well written with over 20 libraries.

Laravel developer community

The Laravel community is widespread and proactive, working together and supporting each other with the aim to improve e-Commerce web sites. You will be able to receive invaluable help from this community.

Advanced analytics

In order to understand your users better, analytics is crucial and will assist you in the decision-making process. The popularity of Laravel has definitely strengthened thanks to the migrations features that generate user tables, adding new members to the database and much more.

Choosing to Hire A Laravel Developer from your Local Market

This option involves searching through job postings. You can set your requirements and filter out those developers who fit your needs best. Invite these for an interview, similar to a traditional active recruitment process.

The advantages are that you will have total control over the developer and their timetable. You will also not have to worry about time zones or locations.

On the downside, you will have to provide all of the tangible assets needed. Local rates may be more expensive, particularly if you are looking in the USA and UK. It also means you ill probably have to sign long-term contracts so you may have to keep the developer on even after the project has finished.

Choosing to Work with a Staffing Company

A staffing company will have its own team of qualified Laravel developers and you just need to provide the details of your project and they will carry out all the aspects from start to finish. In many situations, a company will set up a business analyst to communicate with you and a project manager to maintain control of the project.

The advantages are that you are freed from being the project manager and you can save time having to screen candidates.

Choosing to Hire a Laravel Team

This option is a nice combination of the two. The developer will work out of their own location but will communicate directly to you, meaning you can monitor each step of the progress made via dashboards or online conferencing apps. At the same time, you can also hire developers with more experience and skills.

On the plus side, you won’t have to pay for the developers’ taxes or insurance as the offshoring company does this. Said company may be cheaper, depending on the location. You have much more control over the hiring process and the project. There is also an increased amount of flexibility as you can scale up or down depending on the number of developers you need.

The cons include potential issues with the location and time zones and there is a lack of options to work on confidential projects.

Things to Consider about Laravel Developers

While you are recruiting a Laravel developer, you should ensure that candidates are able to:

Clearly and precisely describe their code and development process
Closely estimate the cost and time necessary for a project
Understand the latest versions of the Laravel framework
Collect fresh ideas and hints for the Laravel framework

Some Crucial Things Before you Hire A Laravel Developer

Regardless of the location of your developer, there are some things you must be aware of:

The candidate should know your industry- if they are going to develop your website, which will not only represent your brand but also provide your income, they should have some knowledge of the field you are in.
A candidate’s portfolio- while interviewing, you need to look at the portfolio as it contains examples of their experience and the quality of their skills and work
A candidate’s work record- this is another method for checking the candidate’s work experience, skills, and levels of professionalism.
Cost- while working on your budget, remember that Laravel developers can be hired at a fixed cost or an hourly basis.

How To Hire The Best Laravel Developers

When a developer uses Laravel PHP frameworks they will save coding time and therefore increase productivity while reducing certain costs. You first need to have a clear plan for your project and know exactly what you need in a developer in order to complete it. Once you understand your requirements, you can begin the search for your perfect Laravel developer.

Employer

Hardest Tech Roles to Fill

November 12, 2019 Comments Off Roxana read

Technology has progressed drastically over the last decade, and it’s expected to continue transforming.

It is also a known fact that there are more jobs than candidates in the IT industry. Based on our research, we have compiled the four hardest tech roles to fill and tips on how recruiters can find the talent that their firm needs.

SOFTWARE ARCHITECTS

Software architects are the core role in the tech job market. They define high-level design choices and software coding standards. Based on research, the Software Architect role has the highest talent deficits. This is likely because the job requires a plethora of skills that involve reviewing code, a high level of foresight and vision, mentoring when needed, and lots more.

Software architects are the determinant for the success or failure of a project. They also set standards for future developers to follow.

What to do:

Know the difference between a software developer and a software architect.
Know where to find them.
Know how to interview them.
Know what skill sets to look for.

DATA SCIENTISTS

Data scientists are considered to be analytical professionals. They make efficient use of large and unstructured data. They also create insights from it. Lots of highly skilled people seek for them to solve complex Data Science problems. Thus, a data scientist’s job is often considered as one of the most in-demand jobs of the 21st century.

However, the 2019 State of the CIO report shows that a data scientist is one of the most challenging tech roles to occupy. The reason is that it’s a competitive job market. According to First Round, a regular Data Science candidate often receives three or more job offers.,

What to do:

Focus on developer branding.
Perfect your Data Science candidate experience.
Look at online communities.
Do your research.

CYBERSECURITY PROFESSIONALS

Companies are increasingly facing the problem of security breaches. It puts every web user’s data at risk. The Heartbleed Bug is one of the recent examples that highlight the need for cybersecurity professionals.

Cybersecurity professionals are trained to search out loopholes in networks, databases, firewalls, encryption, and hardware. However, research has shown that there is currently a vacancy of almost 3 million cybersecurity jobs globally.

What to do:

Conduct hiring drives in universities that offer cybersecurity courses.
Train your current employees in-house.
Be flexible with job requirements.
Look for must-have cybersecurity skills.

ENGINEERING MANAGERS

Engineering managers are responsible for overseeing other projects and managers, setting budgets, hiring staff, solving problems, and spurring new development in an organization. An ideal engineering manager heads research and development of projects. They also check the correctness of the work produced under his/her supervision.

Generally, they are expected to balance roadblocks throughout any project and solve problems that may act as an obstruction in project completion. With such remarkable roles and responsibilities, it is evident that engineering managers are very hard to find.

What to do:

Look for engineering management forums.
Understand the biggest challenges they face and work on resolving them.

Skills to Look for in an Engineering Manager

Some of the essential skills for engineering managers are:

Current knowledge of software technologies.
Excellent ability to read code.
Management skills.
Deep understanding of an organization’s vision, process, and products.

Employer

How to Successfully Hire a Data Scientist

November 7, 2019 Comments Off Roxana read

Data scientists are in high demand. Studies carried out by Firstround.com show that strong candidates can have up to three offers and the success rate of hiring is usually below 50%. With such a difficult task, what is the best way to hire a data scientist? One way is to make sure the process is kept short. But this will only work if you have the right set of objectives laid out before you begin the process.

How to use a Data Scientist

It is crucial to set the appropriate expectations for the data scientist and for the needs of your company. Some of the most common uses of data science are.

Resolving problems with data analysis- you might receive a lot of data but not use it analysis it correctly to achieve the goals of the business.
Receive recommendations- data science can be used to predict models for businesses. One particular use is to gain more insight into target clients.
Provide business intelligence- this refers to data management, how the information is arranged and produced via dashboards. It helps in the decision making process.

It is more than possible to combine two or all three of the uses to gain more of an overall view of the business situation and make more informed decisions.

The Life Cycle of Data Science

The first and probably most important step is to understand the problem. You will then be able to identify the data needs before selecting the right methodology to use. Following this, there is proof of concept before another crucial stage, the validation, and experimentation. This is where you will see if the methodology chosen works. The final stages include the release of the product and the maintenance.

You may not enjoy evaluating the candidate’s skills for each stage, especially if the wrong platform is used. Generally speaking, hiring managers are happy if they achieve an evaluation accuracy of 50%. This ongoing task can occupy 20% of the data science team’s time. So a technical recruitment platform is worth considering.

The Required Skills of a Data Scientist

There is an array of skills often depending on the needs of a company, but here are some of the key things a data scientist should have:

Statistics and linear algebra- your candidate should have excellent decision-making skills and be skilled at collecting, analyzing, and making inferences from the received data.
Machine learning- making predictions after classifying or grouping data. Ideally, they should be able to use big data technologies to build pipelines that will feed machine learning algorithms.
Data mining- the ability to visualize and mine raw data with the objective of producing meaningful insights.
Optimization- the data should be used to produce the maximum outcomes possible.
Technical skills-data scientist candidates should be confident in a number of programming languages (Python, JavaScript, SQL, C, and C++), libraries (OpenCV, pandas, and NumPy, and structures and algorithms (Excel, Hadoop, and SAS).

The different types of data Scientists

Broadly speaking, data scientists can be classified as researchers or engineers. It is recommended to have a combination of the two.

Data researchers are highly confident in math and/or statistics. They must be able to develop custom algorithms to extract the most from data and find solutions. Technical skills should include R, Python, SQL, and NoSQL is an advantage.

A data engineer candidate should have sufficient experience in coding, structuring, and prototyping. They must also be confident using Python, Scala, Java, and MATLAB. It’s also necessary for them to be able to visualize and build machine learning models

How to Assess the skills of a Data Scientist

Data science requires skills in three fields that often overlap:

Math and statistics- linear algebra, probability, differential calculus, and descriptive and inferential statistics.
Machine learning and programming- the most commonly used algorithms, data structures like trees and graphs, coding in Python or R. Also:
- Classification and regression
- Supervised and unsupervised learning
- Clustering algorithms
- Decision treees7random forest classifiers
- Naïve Bayes algorithm
- Boosting and bagging
- Bias-Variance Trade-off
- Binary, multiclass, and multi-label classification
- Neural networks
- Understating of various networks
Business/domain knowledge- to effectively use the data, a candidate must understand the field the business is in, understanding the specific problems and presenting the solutions.

Data Scientist Salaries

Bases on the statistics taken from Glassdoor, the national average salary for a data scientist in the US is $117,345. An intern data scientist can earn an average salary of $67,000, while a senior data scientist can earn approximately $137,000 per year.

As with most jobs, experience, qualifications and the size of the company will play a part in the potential salaries.

Big names hiring Data Scientist

Twitter
Reddit
NBC
Nielsen
Square
MTV
Microsoft
Facebook
Fitbit
LinkedIn
Amazon

Obviously, there are many, many more.

How to Assess Skills in the recruitment Process

Solving a real-world Machine learning problem might take too long and therefore unsuitable for an interview. Developer assessment platforms take real-world problems and break them down into smaller tasks that allow a developer to show their skills. Many platforms have real-world Machine learning problems too. This could be useful further along in the interview process to assess skills in more detail.

Interview Questions

There are literally hundreds of questions you could ask. Here are some examples:

What is a confusion matrix?
Explain SVM machine learning algorithm in detail.
What is pruning in a decision tree?
What is selection bias?
How would you turn ‘X’ business problem into an experiment?
Ask to see examples of previous projects and code.

Employer

An Effective Guide to Hiring Software Developers in a Candidate-Driven Market

November 5, 2019 Comments Off Roxana read

It is no easy task trying to recruit software developers in the current market. Due to the shortage of talent, it’s certainly not getting any easier. This article is going to provide some advice on how to conquer the candidate-driven market.

Understanding the Developer Tech Market

Generally speaking, the unemployment rate for developers is at an all-time low. The latest study in the US showed that the unemployment rate for software developers was down to 1.3%. Each tech candidate in the US has an average of 4 jobs to choose from. When looking at San Francisco City, there were 10,000 vacancies that come under this engineering criteria. In the same area, there were only 1,400 receptionist jobs and 600 postings for non-technical positions.

What does a Recruiter Do?

One could look at the Law of Diminishing returns to look at the requirements of a recruiter. The law simplified means that the greater the input, the lower the output. So, a recruiter actually needs to reduce the number of emails, calls, messages, etc. in order to find tech talent. A recent study showed that to recruit one developer, you should contact 20 quality candidates instead of the 100 you would be tempted to reach out to.

Rather than sending a general message to every potential candidate, a recruiter should focus on personalized communication with a select few that meet the needs of the business.

Learning How to Source Candidates Correctly

Put yourself in the candidate’s shoes and ask yourself “what’s in it for me?”, essentially, how is this candidate going to benefit from working at this company rather than where they are now.

Be specific. Tell them straight away what they have the chance to work on, the learning opportunities, and the future they could build within the company.
Don’t try and do it alone. You are a recruiter; don’t try answering tech questions when it’s not your field. Make sure you have the right people at hand to talk to candidates. You may need an engineering manager or if you are recruiting senior developers, general managers or CEOs.
Less is more. Focus your attention on 10 extremely well written and personal emails instead of 100 general emails. Your contact must be personalized, which includes understanding the progress they have made in their careers so far.
Keep it short and sweet. LinkedIn statistics show that messages and emails with less than 100 words tend to get more responses than those with more than 200 words.
Be helpful. Don’t just talk about the job. Ask candidates if they have questions or doubts. Clear up any myths about the company that can be found online.

Keeping the Candidate Engaged

Give the candidate a chance to talk about what drives them. Find out the things that you can’t read on their curriculum. Ask them what they want to talk about. Your candidate needs to feel like they are valued and it’s important at this stage to make a connection.

It is necessary to be honest with the candidate, particularly with the feedback you provide. Show that you appreciate the achievements they have made in both their professional and private lives.

Back your Candidate during the Hiring Process

Part of the role of the recruiter is to make the candidate believe in themselves. They need to feel that they have your support throughout the hiring process. Talk to them about what to expect and each stage and anything they should watch out for. Hiring tech talent is a long process and you don’t want to leave them along the way. Keeping them informed prevents the feeling of not knowing.

It is necessary to assess the candidate on their relevant skills. Their curriculum may have a range of skills and qualifications but try to focus on those that will be used in the job.

Understand what they are looking for to improve their current situation. Some people want more money, but there are many others who would like improved working conditions like flexibility or an alternative location. Boredom is also another reason for a candidate to look for another job. It is necessary for you to actively listen to what the person is saying.

Be completely honest about the compensation and what is required of them. Also, ask what they are expected in this area.

Closing the Offer

This is the final chance for the recruiter to appreciate what is important to the candidate and to emphasis how this job is going to benefit them. It is the moment to address false myths about the company and provide the right environment for the candidate to say yes.

Don’t just focus on the financial benefits. In many situations, a developer is more interested in the tasks they will have, the culture they are working in and the work-life balance. Developers are interested in professional growth; show them the potential in this company.

Even if you have done everything in your power, there will be times when a candidate says no. It’s important not to take this personally and to respect the decision of the candidate. Try to use it as a learning opportunity and always leave the candidate with a positive image of the company.

Everyone Should Play Their Part

While you might be tempted to take on all of the responsibility of hiring, this will often work to your disadvantage. Make sure your hiring manager is involved. Finally, don’t just rely on the Internet for resources, as there are still a number of people who avoid social media. Attend meetups, conferences, and hackathons in order to actively seek new talent. or take the easy way and work with a staffing company to find the right employee.

Employer

The Why, When and How of Staff Augmentation vs Managed Software Project

October 31, 2019 Comments Off Roxana read

The attempt to build an in-house software development team is one decision entrepreneurs have to consider at one point or another but the downsides involved in energy, money and time wasted in trying to hiring tech talent can be rather invested in finishing business goals and birthing new ideas and launching more projects.

The IT industry has grown over the past years so it also has the dynamics surrounding the hire of models.

One of these models that combines both internal recruitment and outsourcing benefits to help fill vacancies and skills gaps immediately is Staff Augmentation.

Staff Augmentation

Wikipedia defined staff augmentation as an outsourcing strategy used to staff a project and respond to business objectives and which entails the location of dedicated technical resources, usually offshore, hired as overseas development extensions of in-house application development teams on fixed or flexible terms or conditions.

Staff Augmentation involves the continuous monitoring of the organization’s internal team and recognizing when to fill in the skills gap in the course of a project. Upon identification of a missing skill, individuals or teams are hired to fill the vacancy and complete certain technical tasks.

Staff Augmentation has increasingly gained a rise in acceptance now thanks to specifics in IT infrastructure such as brain drain, fierce competition and low access to domestic expertise.

Extreme developer rates are also an issue that requires attention and the need to provide a quick solution to HR issues is made possible by this model. The model could be short or long-termed.

Short Term Staff Augmentation is used when a company staff or specialist is on a break, either a vacation, sabbatical or sick leave while long term Staff Augmentation is applicable for long term complex projects that require a specialist you lack.

Benefits of the Model

Flexibility

Staff Augmentation allows flexible hiring of staff/specialist at necessary periods without consuming significant time and energy.

Payroll

Additional staff/specialists can be hired in various places where the prices of hiring one could be much lower than in the company’s home base. The difference in the rates helps to reduce the cost of software development.

Skills Gap

The model allows the possibility of hiring a programmer from outside the company’s base. Countries that possess a large amount of unengaged yet available software developers and tech specialists are major outsourcing destinations. It also permits for these skills to be hired not just from anywhere on the world but it achieves this in a short time preventing the company from suffering major losses.

How the Model Works?

The process of recruitment based on this model is quite simple and requires three main steps which are:

Identification of Skills Gap

This is the stage at which the company identifies the skills it lacking and makes use of its internal HR or uses the service of an agent to get a qualified specialist to fill these gaps.

Incorporating Hired Employees

The hired specialist can now undergo an adaptation process where they are introduced to their duties, workplace and other team members as well as the project on the ground.

Developing Augmented Staff

This stage entails the ongoing training and development of the expanded team to ensure that beneficial assets of the team are well preserved and to guarantee an outstanding project delivery.

Staff Augmentation in Comparison to Managed Project Services

When the client hires an outsourced team alongside a project manager to handle the entirety of the project and its delivery. This is a “Managed Project”.

In situations where the team is outsourced and managed by an in-house project manager that controls the project and its delivery. The model is referred to as Staff Augmentation.

Advantages of a Managed Model

Availability of the Project Manager

The client gets a devoted project manager and a full team that carried out all the work for you while you channel your time and energy into other projects and responsibilities with the full assurance of on-time project delivery.

While a manager model seems like the best solution to solving HR problems, it also has its own risks which includes

Lack of Control:

Lack of transparency and control over the project can be a major issue as most of the interim decisions are made by the outsourcing provider which may leave you to quit behind on your project.

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What it Takes to Hire a Node.js Developer

October 29, 2019 Comments Off Roxana read

Node is an important part of the JavaScript ecosystem and is also very relevant in web development. It works as an environment where one can develop apps. Developers use it to build real-time applications such as messaging applications.

Things You Should Look Out for When Hiring a Node.js Developer

A Node.js developer should possess basic skills like logical thinking, communication skills, design thinking that will be fundamental in the course of carrying out the work.

The perfect candidate should have the ability to understand JavaScript, the working environment and should know how these processes work. The ability to debug and integrate modules is also very important.

Many people who claim to be node.js developers only know how to do copy and paste, they do not bother about integration and also testing the application to check for issues and possible challenges in the nearest future.

Another thing worthy of consideration is if the candidate for the job has experience in using Node.js. Where it can be shown that the candidate has already used Node.js, it will give him a competitive edge over others. It is even greater when one meets a candidate that has also contributed their code to the ecosystem.

Relevant Skills a Node.js Developer Should Possess

A Node.js developer should be proficient in JavaScript and Node.js. Working knowledge of functional programming, storage of data, functional programming, etc. is required.

Also, the Node.js developer needs practical skills such as the experience of using npm registry, Github repository, standard style of JavaScript, WebSockets, Dockers, etc. He should be able to follow-up on applications using tools such as Prometheus and the others to identify when something is wrong in the Node.js application.

A good Node.js developer should be able to use the newest version of LTS Node.js to ensure that there is stability and to enjoy other new features to it. An experience that is beyond HTTP and the proven ability to handle all security issues that could arise such as data validation, HTTP headers, session management, dependencies, etc.

Where a Node.js developer is experienced with the JavaScript frameworks and also knows how to handle crashes, he makes a good fit for hire. He should be able to scale apps on several servers and balance loads.

Locating the Right Node.js Developer for You

If you are searching for Node.js developers, you have the option of outsourcing or hiring a team of developers to work on your project where they work full-time on your project while making use of their resources in carrying out the work.

Employer

Choosing Between Staff Augmentation and Managed Software Projects

October 24, 2019 Comments Off Roxana read

It today’s high-tech market, we are experiencing rapid changes in both business objectives and technology. Traditionally, companies look to build in-house software development teams but are now facing higher costs while taking more time and effort. The hiring process takes up a huge portion of the timeframe when trying to complete a project and launch it into the market.

On a positive, as the IT industry matures, so do the hiring models. Staff augmentation, or augmented staff) is a hiring model that offers flexibility and high scalability for all areas of the software development project. Between outsourcing and internal recruitment, staff augmentation allows companies to quickly fill vacancies in order to bring about their project and/or digital transformation needs.

In this article, we are going to take an in-depth look at this particular model. We will look at the benefits of scaling your team while avoiding overheads and not increasing attrition or churn rates.

What is Staff Augmentation?

Staff augmentation is an outsourcing strategy, which is used when a company needs additional staff with specific skill sets in order to complete the business objectives. Staff is usually found offshores and hired as overseas development extensions of the already existing development team. Terms and conditions are either fixed or flexible.

Basically, it requires you to continuously look at your in-house team and identify the technical skill gaps throughout each stage of the project. Once you have identified the additional skills you require, you can proceed with hiring short-term (or in some cases long-term) staff to collaborate on the project.

This model is becoming increasingly popular because of the expanding specifics of the IT industry. There is often a shortage of talent and high rates for developers locally. HR issues must be addressed quickly and flexibly in order to hire the right developer.

So, staff augmentation is when certain tasks are outsourced to software experts with both hard and soft skills, and experience so that a business can complete its software project. This is not a replacement method for the existing team, rather just additional expertise from offshore or nearshore software developers.

Short-term Staff Augmentation

This is often necessary when companies are experiencing peak seasons. A project has reached a stage where the in-house team is not sufficient to carry out the tasks. It is also possible to use short-term staff augmentation when in-house specialists are on holiday or sick leave.

Long-term Staff Augmentation

If your project uses an uncommon tech stack or it is more complex, you may need someone long-term. If you don’t have the means to hire an in-house specialist, you can use long-term staff augmentation.

The Benefits of Staff Augmentation

Reducing the skills gap and hiring time

When you are outsourcing, your talent pool has gone from local to international., greatly increasing your chances of finding a developer to match your needs. Typical destinations are those with a large talent pool yet lower demand for developers in that country. This reduces the hiring time.

Because technology develops so fast, look at AI, ML, blockchain, and Fintech, there hasn’t been enough time for the industry to produce sufficient specialists in these areas, resulting in a huge shortage of talent. The longer your company takes to hire an expert the more money you are likely to lose. Quick hiring allows you to get going for your project as soon as possible.

Reducing payroll costs

Once you begin looking at offshore developer rates, you will find that they are generally much lower than rates you will find locally. This can greatly reduce software development costs.

Reducing staff turnover

If you hire an in-house expert developer, you are going to have to make sure they have a continuous flow of tasks to meet their skill sets. In many cases, this is not possible. Your developer will become bored want to move on. When you hire a developer for just the project needs, they will move on when their part of the project is complete, as this was the agreement.

Reducing operating costs

There are a lot of costs associated with hiring in-house, generally more than with external staff. While a staff augmentation provider will charge a fee, the prices are still lower. Paying lower developer rates and a fee is still less than hiring, renting an office, equipment, bills, etc.

Increased flexibility

When you choose this model, you only have to hire developers when you need them. It doesn’t have to be just at peak seasons. You may need a developer to work on your website during the Christmas season.

Reducing paperwork and legal procedures

To hire a development team, you will need an admin, legal department, and payroll and accounting. All of this is going to add up financially.

A staff augmentation provider will do all of this for you, saving you time that can be dedicated to more crucial areas of your business.

How Does Staff Augmentation Work?

It’s a straightforward process involving three main steps, each of which is flexible depending on the needs of your business.

Identifying the skills gap

You need to understand the skills that you are missing in order to complete your project. An internal HR or external agent can then find a developer with the right skill set to hire.

Onboarding of hired employees

Similarly to an in-house hire, the new developer will take go through an adaptation process, meet the other team members, understand the technical concepts of the project and learn more about the company vision and the working environment.

Developing your developer

This process is a continuous one. It requires ongoing training of your developer and nurturing them so that together with the internal team, your project is guaranteed the best outcome possible.

Staff Augmentation vs. Managed Project Services

If you have reached the point where your software team is not meeting the standards, it is time to outsource. From here, you need to choose one of the appropriate engagement models that will lead to the project’s success.

The main difference in staff augmentation and managed project services comes down to accountability. A managed project means that you hire an outsourced team that comes with a project manager. This engagement model lays the full responsibility on the outsourced team, specifically the project manager.

Staff augmentation relies on your in-house project manager to control the project and the outsourced team. Your own project manager is responsible for the progress and completion of the project.

Managed Services Provider

An MSP will take control of the execution of the project and assumes and manages all risks. The provider manages tools, processes, and operational assets. Payment is based on SLAs and results and all developers are fully documented and trained.

Staff Augmentation

The supplied resources are managed by the client and it’s the client who assumes the risk. Internal tools and processes are used. Training will vary and payment is based on time and materials.

What are the Advantages of a Managed Project Model?

Project manager’s availability

You do not need to concern yourself with the management of the offshore team, as your dedicated project manager will do this. This frees up a lot of your time so you are able to pay more attention to the actual running of the business. The PM is responsible for maintaining the budget, meeting set deadlines, and ensuring quality.

Results-based collaboration

Managed IT services can be charged for by the hour. Outsourcing service providers may insist that a developer is hired full time for the necessary duration. With a managed services provider, you can select the number of hours or days per week.

What are the disadvantages of a Managed Project Model?

A lack of control

Most intermediate decisions will be made by the project manager. This not only implies a lack of transparency, but it is difficult for those who like to be in charge of every detail.

Reliability

As you are going to be handing over the control of your project, it is essential that you choose a managed services provider with an excellent reputation, with suitable expertise in your type of project. They must be skilled at working to a budget and a deadline without sacrificing the quality.

Challenges with integration

The part of your project that is being taken care of externally will still need to be integrated into the work being done by your internal team.