How to Hire Web Developers in 2023?

Tech Recruitment

Elena Kononchuk, Recruiting Team Leader

May 30, 2019

As everyone is flocking online, hiring a web developer is a pressing need of most modern businesses.

However, making wise recruitment decisions is impossible without a clear idea of who a web developer is, what kinds of development languages are popular, and what employment models you may use.

It’s also critical to learn the key programming skills to look for in your ideal candidates before you embark on the recruitment endeavor.

And still, even knowing all this, you may get into trouble of scanning hundreds of resumes, interviewing dozens of candidates, and still finding none to your liking.

How to avoid these underwater stones?

The Recruiting Team Leader of Qubit Labs, Elena Kononchuk, shares her practical expertise and tips to hire web developers quickly and efficiently, here you can learn more about hiring developers in Ukraine.

Elena is a recruiter and headhunter with years of experience in the full cycle recruiting process, candidate pipeline management, multichannel sourcing strategy creation and execution, as well as productive, quick candidate search in compliance with client needs.

In this guide, Elena answers the most popular questions about web developer recruitment, points out the successful approaches, and shares life hacks she uses in everyday practices.

Who is Web Developer in 2023?

Let’s start from the basics – what is a web developer?

The problem that many businesses face is that they start looking for a new staff member without a clear idea in mind.

They think of a web developer as a multi-handed creature who will create a corporate website, will be a systems administrator, a troubleshooter, and a creative designer.

That’s nonsense!

So, the first thing to realize is that a web developer is a programmer developing web applications and websites based on the pre-formulated web design by coding it into the language a computer understands – a programming language.

Thus, it is unreasonable to expect that a coder will perform functions other than coding.

Web development evolves rapidly.

The first website was developed in 1991, but today, in less than three decades, the sector has changed completely.

Professionals distinguish the following epochs of web development:

Websites of the early 1990s

web dev in early 1990s — **Yahoo website in 1994**

Up until the late 1990s, there was no broadband Internet, so most websites were created based on the energy-saving considerations.

They were mostly text-based, while later HTML designs already enabled more sophisticated designs of headings, paragraphs, and links.

Primitive markup evolved by the end of the period.

Text-based websites (no broadband Internet)
Emergence of primitive mark-up and text/link designs.

Mid-1990s

During this period, websites became more graphically sophisticated; they still mostly relied on text, but it was more structured visually. Programmers increasingly used graphic elements, animated texts, and GIF-elements.

Growing sophistication of web graphics
Better visual structuring of websites
Introduction of GIF-elements and animated text.

Late 1990s

website development in late 90s — ***Apple website in 1999***

After the integration of Flash technology in 1996, coders finally received an opportunity to combine virtual graphics with interactivity.

Structure and navigation became integral components of website architecture, while web design became focused on the user-friendliness.

Flash-enabled virtual graphics with interactivity
Integration of structure and navigation into web architecture
Growing user-friendliness of web resources.

Early 2000s

This epoch began in the early 2000s with the introduction of CSS (cascade style sheets), which helped divide content and design as two different elements of a webpage.

Websites got easier to maintain and administer, the code became less complex, while markup opportunities expanded.

Introduction of CSS (cascade style sheets) helping divide content and design as two different elements of a webpage
Simpler maintenance and administration of websites
Less cumbersome code
Advanced markup opportunities.

Mid-2000s

web development in 2007 — ***Apple website in 2007***

This epoch coincides with the launch of Web 2.0; at that time, all World Wide Web’s elements rapidly progressed towards their current state.

Multimedia apps, interactive content, social media crowded the Web and changed it forever. Web development became more user oriented.

Launch of Web 2.0 in 2005
Advent of multimedia apps
Introduction and boom of social media
Popularization of interactive content
A shift of web developers’ focus on the client with the purpose of improving user experience.

Our Times

web development in 2019 — **Apple website in 2019**

Today’s web design is flat and minimalist; it favors combined typography and large background images.

Mobile web development is trending now, changing the traditional formats of visual presentation and requiring adaptive designs.

Flat and minimalist web designs combining typography and large background images
Trending mobile web development and cross-platform adaptivity
Increasing introduction of chatbots
Focus on the fast page load speed and growing use of one-page websites
Simple, low code development choices
Thorough control over cyber-security.

So, that’s basically it. While the key information about today’s web development needs is: adaptivity, web customization, user-friendly UIs, and innovation.

Main Web Development Languages

After clarifying who the web developer is, let’s consider their working instruments – programming languages.

At present, IT specialists working in the following 10 languages enjoy the greatest demand among our clients:

JavaScript

A high-level programming language, JS has been the #1 programmer and client choice across the globe since the early 2010s.

Its dynamic typing and easy, universal syntax make it highly programmer-friendly and functional.

Numerous clients choose to create projects in JS because it enables great front-ends, facilitates interactive web pages and dynamic content display.

But it also has some pitfalls such as vulnerabilities of client-side security and different interpretation of server-side scripts by various browsers.

Node.js

In simple terms, Node.js is not exactly a programming language, but rather a run-time environment of JavaScript that facilitates JS code execution on the server side.

Our clients hire Node.js programmer for real-time network application development with easy scaling and extensibility.

Moreover, it’s easy to learn and can be used as single programming language, but its minuses include a lack of stability, a weak library support system, and the use of an asynchronous programming model.

Java

Java is stably popular in the IT world because of its universality, versatility, and ubiquity. Writing the code once enables you to run it anywhere.

This general-purpose language has been a preferred choice of programmers and companies alike for over 20 years.

Coding is possible on any device; its execution requires only the presence of JVM. The Android OS is entirely based on Java, so while there are Android users, Java will be trending.

Nevertheless, keep in mind that it’s generally slower than C or C++, and only Java 5.0 offers solid accommodation of its procedural paradigm.

Python

The major principle of Python that our clients like is, “less code, less time, less money.”

This language is enjoying rising popularity across the globe due to the simplistic syntax and flexibility, which makes it easy to learn and implement.

As a result, clients get more affordable products and faster project launches. More than that, clients tend to trust the IT giants, and Google, Dropbox, and Instagram use Python.

PHP

PHP’s reputation was spotted by numerous publications about its doubtful business feasibility, but statistics doesn’t lie – 79% of all web services still run on PHP.

The reasons for this are PHP’s budget-saving open-source nature, less time required for development in PHP, its flexibility and integrative potential, as well as scalability and easy documentation of PHP-based services.

Finally, it’s easy to maintain and update PHP products, PHP hosting is still one of the best, and PHP-based websites show good results in attendance and customer retention.

C++

C++ was created in 1985 and is still popular because of the extensive functionality.

This language is the choice of preference among clients requiring systems programming and embedded systems.

Moreover, it’s the safest language I know, which makes it popular among businesses specifically concerned about cybersecurity.

Golang

A language created a decade ago, Golang is only starting to gain popularity today.

Its appeal in high similarity to C, a giant among programming languages, but with a ton of modern enhancements.

For instance, programmers adore Golang for advanced concurrency it allows, while businesses appreciate scalability, low investment in creation of cross-platform products, and high speed of apps running on it.

Ruby

Ruby is a well-balanced language used since the mid-1990s.

It combines the best features of Perl, Lisp, and Smalltalk in one simple language, so businesses choose it for administration, prototyping, research, game and app development, production of scripts, etc.

Another benefit associated with Ruby is its speed; faster development without repetition means reduction of development budgets, which is always a bonus.

C#

C# enjoys evergreen popularity among clients worldwide because it powers all .NET applications such as Windows services, web services, games using Unity, console and workflow applications, and class libraries.

You can create anything with C#, but it’s especially handy for Windows desktop apps and game production.

Thus, clients hire C# developers to create a wide variety of applications with full interoperability support, XML support, and versioning.

Rust

Rust is a comparatively new language, but many clients and programmers like it for the extreme emphasis on correctness and security checks.

Experts note that by using Rust, you already avoid a half of the bugs that you would incur with any other programming language.

Such flawless, zero-error programming is appealing because of safety, speed, and efficiency.

But fashion is not only about clothing; since there are too many programming languages, some of them get more popular and used, while others fall into oblivion. Today’s trending technologies in accordance with PYPL rating are:

Python
Java
JavaScript
C#
PHP

Github’s experts are of the same opinion; their analysis revealed that JS takes the confident first place in the global ranking of programming languages in North America, Europe, and Asia.

popular technology in different parts of the world — ***State of the Octoverse Programming Languages by Github***

Python is #2 in North America and #3 in Europe and Asia, while Java is #2 in Europe and Asia and #3 in North America.

The fourth position is occupied by PHP in Europe and Asia, while in North America, C++ is #4 (#5 in Asia).

C# is #5 in North America and Europe.

Thus, as one can see, though positions differ slightly, still the global top 5 is generally the same.

Finally, besides knowing what is trending now, I usually turn attention to the programming language choices of tech giants.

They surely know what they are doing, so why not follow their example?

As of today, we see the following:

JavaScript is the preferred language of front-end development in Google, Facebook, YouTube, Yahoo, Amazon, Wikipedia, Twitter, and many-many more.
Database development languages differ from company to company, depending on their specifics and needs. For instance, Google uses Bigtable and MariaDB (also the choice of YouTube, Wikipedia, and Facebook), while eBay relies on Oracle (also used by Amazon) and Database.
Back-end development is done with C and C++ by most tech leaders (including Google, Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, and Bing), while other popular languages include PHP (the sole choice of Yahoo, used as one of the options in Google, Facebook, and Wikipedia), Python, and Java.

So, as you can see, there is no universal technology that may suit everyone. Companies choose programming languages based on their needs.

It also matters whether you have a part of the website ready or need to develop everything from scratch.

With this information in your hands, you can make a more forward-looking decision regarding what will be popular in the coming years and look for a web developer with a corresponding tech stack.

What Are the Main Types of Web Developers?

Developers differ by types of the programming work they do. We distinguish three types: front-end, back-end, and full-stack development.

Front-End Development

In a nutshell, front-end development is the aspect of coding work dealing specifically with the visual part of the software, app, or website.

Front-end devs take care of the user interface, its usability, architecture, and visual appeal.

If we compare a website to a human being, front-end would be its face.

When you see a website with lots of engaging features and user-friendly interface, you admire the work of a front-end expert.

They are responsible for GUI, graphic user interface that allows interaction between users and apps.

They take care of the website content and layout so that users could work with it seamlessly.

The key technologies of front-end web development are HTML, CSS, and JavaScript.

Text becomes clear and readable with HTML – bold, italicized or broken into paragraphs.

CSS adds colors, backgrounds, and styles. JavaScript makes a website more interesting and dynamic due to dropdown menus, slides, and scrolling.

Developers use various frameworks like Angular, jQuery, Bootstrap, or React to speed up and facilitate processes.

Also, front-end development includes responsive design. It makes interface design adaptable to any screen starting from smartphones and up to wide screen monitors of PCs.

To sum up, front-end development consists of two elements – coding and design.

Thus, front-end developer can create a website structure and make it attractive with CSS code.

Back-End Programming

The website’s, app’s, or software back-end is its core computation logic, components and features that make it work.

Back-end devs work with the server-side part of the product and ensure proper communication between the database and the browser.

When you want to buy a bar of chocolate from e-store, you interact with front-end.

As soon as you press a search button, it transfers your inquiry to the back-end realm to find something matching.

When you get the list of results, it is front-end again.

The invisible part of the process that gives you a fast and relevant answer is called back-end.

If front-end deals more with appearance, back-end allows smooth work of the website.

When comparing front-end vs. back-end development, the former would be a face while the latter is the innards.

Back-end specialists use such programming languages as PHP, Python, Ruby on Rails, .NET and many others.

Back-end code interacts with a database using MySQL, SQL or Microsoft Access.

It unites server, app, and database to solve the task and respond with front-end code.

Database creation and integration, providing security measures, development of CMS and reporting systems, and server-side programming – these are all the responsibilities of a back-end programmer.

The difference between front-end and back-end development is that the latter doesn’t imply any design, it is fully based on application logics and architecture.

Full-stack development

Full-stack development is coding of the website, app, or software product by one person combining the functions of back-end and front-end developer.

While web app development usually entails the creation of three layers (database, business logic, and presentation), full-stack developers take care of all three steps and implement the project from idea to its final launch.

In such a way, full-stack coders usually oversee front-end technology, back-end technology, VCS, APIs, server-side issues, security, testing, and design. In addition to these functions, they are usually expected to conduct project management and client coordination.

Surely, hiring a full-stack specialist is advantageous because such specialists ensure smooth day-to-day running of the system, help everyone in the team, and reduce the company’s expenditures on personnel and infrastructure.

However, to be really good full-stack specialists, not simply a jack of all trades, programmers have to possess in-depth understanding of front-end technology, several development languages, database and cache, security issues, algorithms, and data structures.

Set Sights on Hiring the Right Web Developer

Hiring the right programmer is not an easy task; first you need to set objectives.

What do you expect the coder to do?

Which functions are you willing to assign to him or her? Answer these questions and depending on your responses, formulate the job description.

Let’s see who suits your scope and complexity of job duties:

Back end

Junior back-end developer. 0-2 years of experience; knowledge of programming languages and server side (e.g., MySQL, Microsoft SQL); teamwork skills, strong communication skills, ability to learn and adapt quickly.
Middle back-end developer. 2-5 years of experience, experience in full-cycle software development, perfect command of service-oriented architecture, object-oriented design, and unit testing.
Senior back-end developer. 5+ years of experience; highly experienced and motivated employee able to work without supervision on researching, designing, and developing software systems; assisting teammates; able to resolve complex software development problems.

Front end

Junior front-end developer. 0-2 years of experience; a beginner with a solid yet developing knowledge of programming languages, HTML, CSS, etc.; preferably with basic knowledge of Linux and web accessibility; eager to learn, develop, and work in a team under supervision.
Middle front-end developer. 2+ years of experience, solid web app development experience, teamwork and communication skills, ability to implement a variety of UIs with the use of different technologies under limited supervision; preferable knowledge of API and SDK use.
Senior front-end developer. 5+ years of experience; ability to translate design specifications into adaptive HTML/CSS markup, to oversee project development from idea to launch, to build optimized websites and application, to handle multiple projects, to assist other team members and stay in touch with latest technology trends.

Full stack

Junior full-stack developer. A coder with 0-2 years of experience (preferably closer to 2); knowledge of modern front-end and back-end frameworks, advanced communication skills, attention to detail, ability to work under limited supervision, and a desire to learn and progress.
Middle full-stack developer. 2+ years of experience, a track record of independent software creation, ability to support design and development activities, to champion technology and tools changes and improvements for the sake of advancing the project’s efficiency, technical mentorship to junior-level workers, collaboration with team members.
Senior full-stack developer. 5+ years of experience; ability to plan, develop, test, and deploy new applications and features, support and maintain the existing code, applications, and libraries, conducting regular troubleshooting, peer support, and keeping documentation.

Thus, as you can see, different tasks require different web developers for hire.

If you need some general appearance improvements for your resource, then it’s the front-end programmer you need.

If your goal is to improve or set up the operation of your product, then it’s time to look for a back-end specialist.

When both are required, then full-stack coders will suit the job ideally.

Types of Web Dev Employment – Which Options Do I Have?

You can hire a web developer in many ways depending on your needs and budget.

We distinguish five models of employment: in-house, freelance, outsource, staff augmentation, and relocation.

Each of them comes with bonuses and minuses.

In-house employment

Employing programmers in-house means that you hire one or several coders to your office full-time.

You conclude a contract, provide the employees with working places and equipment, establish an official salary for them pay taxes, and bear all additional expenses such as medical insurance, social perks, etc.

Advantages:

Direct control over the staff;
Higher commitment of employees to business objectives;
Inclusion of new employees into the team;
Adoption of the corporate culture.

Disadvantages:

High administrative expenditures (office space, equipment, taxes, social perks);
Lengthy recruitment and employment process;
Suitability only for long-term projects.

What Is the Procedure of Hiring Full-Time In-House Web Developer?

Hiring a coder to work in your team and in your office is a serious multi-step process involving several job interviews, so it may last up to 1-2 months.

Generally, it follows such stages as:

Formulation of the staffing need;
Completion of job description;
Submission of the job description to recruiters;
Publication of the vacancy;
Candidates’ resume screening;
Candidate search (besides resumes that candidates submit on their own, recruiters also search for suitable developers across available databases);
Job interviews with recruiters;
The second round of job interviews with a Team Lead or CTO;
Making a job offer;
Signing a contract;
In-house onboarding;
Software development.

In case the employing company chooses this hiring model, it bears all administrative expenses such as office space, equipment, social package, additional perks for the staff, and fees for the professional recruitment services (if recruitment is conducted by staff members, you’ll still need to pay for the publication of your vacancy across popular job hunt platforms; small firms without their own recruiting department hire recruitment agencies).

The hired programmer receives a regular salary in the company.

Geography: inside one’s own country (domestically)
Soft skills: important
Communication with developer: direct
Payment: directly to the developer.

Freelancing

Working with freelancers means that you search for an outside specialist for some short-term project or piece of work.

Companies hire freelancers across the globe depending on their rates, track record, and knowledge of specific technologies.

Once the project is over, the company may search for another freelancer for another project – no strings attached.

Advantages:

Low rates;
Possibility to choose from the global talent pool;
Flexibility to hire a web developer for a project of any size, budget, and duration.

Disadvantages:

Lack of direct control;
An “outsider” status leads to low commitment to company’s objectives and a lack of fit with the in-house team;
Irresponsibility of numerous freelancers failing deadlines and communication.

How to Find a Freelance Website Developer?

Some companies prefer to collaborate with freelancers as their rates are lower and working with them does not entail any additional expenses – just hourly or project-based pay for the work they do.

However, an employer has to be aware of what to expect from hiring a freelance website developer before doing that.

Many companies fail to realize that freelancers have no points of convergence with the in-house staff and are not committed to the strategic business processes and objectives.

They remain outsiders not interested in the corporate culture and involving them into teamwork and collaboration is next to impossible.

If you are OK with that and need a freelancer for a short-term task, then follow these steps:

Formulate the need for additional staff;
Describe the project and tasks;
Publish a vacancy on a freelance platform;
Coordinate the terms and deadlines with the candidate;
Give a freelancer the task;
Produce payment.

Typically, several parties take part in the process – the company, the freelancer, and the freelance platform as a payment intermediary.

Such hiring model does not presuppose signing any documents.

It’s up to you to decide whether to work with freelancers or not.

Geography: anywhere (globally)
Soft skills: important
Communication with developer: direct
Payment: directly to the developer.

Outsourcing

The outsourcing model of employment presupposes hiring a team of developers in another country on a certain software development project.

The company finds a vendor of software development outsourcing services, concludes a contract, and oversees the team’s work by communicating with the Project Manager.

Advantages:

Ability to find a ready-made team for the specific project;
Availability of the global talent pool;
Lower costs as compared to in-house hiring;
Effective communication via the PM who oversees the team’s work and bears full responsibility for the project’s completion.

Disadvantages:

Indirect control over the project’s execution;
High overhead costs in case of long-term outsourcing (because of the fixed fee to the vendor);
Cultural or communication disparities are possible.

If I Want to Outsource Web Development, What Should I Do?

Outsourcing has several distinctions from hiring freelancers.

When a company decides to outsource a software development project, it hires a complete team of IT specialists and communicates with them via the Project Manager assigned specifically to its project.

The client sets tasks, while the PM allocates them to team members and oversees their implementation.

One company may be employed in several projects at the same time. Project outsourcing usually takes place in the following steps:

Determining the need for software development and absence of local programmers;
Project description;
Search of a country with a considerable IT talent pool;
Market rates research;
Vendor search;
Conclusion of NDA;
Negotiations;
Project estimation;
Conclusion of a contract;
Prepayment;
Software development;
Final payment;
Keep in mind that while in-house hiring prioritizes the person, outsourcing sets an emphasis on the project.

It’s convenient to hire outsourced teams on short projects; they are OK for long-term work as well, but you will suffer unnecessary extra expenses (which is a vendor’s fee).

Geography: anywhere (globally) based on the comparison of software development rates and availability
Soft skills: NOT important
Communication with developer: indirect, via a PM
Payment: to the vendor who pays to developers on its own.

Staff augmentation

Staff augmentation means hiring additional staff depending on the company’s current staffing needs.

It is relevant for companies that develop numerous projects at the same time and require specific skills or technology knowledge at certain periods of time.

Thus, to avoid a lengthy hiring process and administrative expenditures of hiring new staff members in-house, companies recruit augmented staff.

In terms of corporate culture, bonuses, and extra perks, augmented staff members are similar to in-house employees with the only difference – they work at the vendor’s office.

Advantages:

Cost-effectiveness (you don’t cover administrative expenditures associated with having a new in-house staff member);
Flexibility to hire employees with specific knowledge without geographical limitations of your location;
Ability to have the best staff in the team at any given moment without involving in costly and cumbersome staff attrition activities;
More control over staff’s operation than freelancing and outsourcing provide.

Disadvantages:

Additional service costs of hiring a staff augmentation vendor;
Possibility of vendor’s mistakes in hiring not exactly the person you need;
Need for additional time for augmented staff onboarding and integration into the team.

What Are the Steps to Set Up a Team of Dedicated Web Developers?

Offshore development center hiring model is ideal for long-term projects (6+ months) as such a form of recruitment presupposes full-time employment.

Nobody wants to swap employers in 2 months, so it’s better to consider it once you have a lengthy job offer.

To set up a team of dedicated developers, take the following steps:

Realize the need for team expansion and absence of local resources;
Analyze the labor markets of other countries;
Select a country (a very important step on which the pay rate and team scaling problem);
Vendor choice;
Signing an NDA;
Vacancy formulation;
Acquaintance with the recruiting department;
Screening of selected resumes;
Job interviews with programmers;
Candidate selection;
Signing a contract between the vendor and the client;
Programmers’ onboarding;
Signing an NDA between the client and devs;
Software development.

The recruitment process involves two companies and programmers.

The client only interviews the job candidates, while the rest of recruitment-related processes is on the vendor.

The vendor also handles administrative expenses (office rental, equipment, social package, extra perks, and expenditures related to official employment).

It’s notable that the programmer is legally a vendor’s employee, while he or she still works only on the client’s project.

Geography: anywhere (globally) based on the comparison of software development prices and availability
Soft skills: important
Communication with developer: direct
Payment: to the vendor who pays to developers on its own.

Relocation

This hiring model is appropriate for companies that wish to obtain a full-time in-house employee with a specific tech stack no matter where he or she lives.

It often happens that large IT companies need a specific talent for some innovative project and are ready to pay extra for having that person in a team.

Thus, they find the needed person, motivate him or her to move to their location, and cover all associated costs of the relocation.

Advantages

Ability to choose from the global talent pool;
Obtaining a committed in-house programmer;
Acquiring a fresh insight from a newcomer from a different culture and country;
Finding the ideal fit for project needs.

Disadvantages

High extra expenditures for the relocation procedure;
Need to employ the relocated programmer for a long period (which is often stipulated in the contract);
Risk of cultural or communication misfit.

How Does Relocation Work?

If the company doesn’t want to hire web developers on remote basis for some reason and can’t find the needed specialist locally, it’s always possible to bring a specialist from another country.

The major bonus of relocation is having an employee in your office, but this hiring method involves certain legal and bureaucratic challenges.

Here’s the process description:

Realize the need for team expansion and absence of local experts;
Analyze the labor markets in other countries and their talent pools;
Select a vendor;
Sign an NDA;
Conduct negotiations with the vendor;
Get acquainted with the recruiting department;
Screen the selected resumes;
Interview the job candidates;
Select the needed candidate and make the job offer;
Sign a contract with the vendor;
Collect all documents for the relocation;
Complete relocation and onboarding activities.

The country from which you will relocate doesn’t matter, as your employee’s salary will be identical to that of other in-house staff.

It’s more relevant to consider convenience of the legal side of the relocation process and availability of programmers with a similar tech stack in the local labor market.

Geography: anywhere (globally)
Soft skills: important
Communication with developer: direct
Payment: vendor’s fee and a fixed salary to the developer as the company’s team member.

***
Thus, as you can see, each hiring model has some pros and cons and suits specific project needs.

If you wish an affordable, quick solution to a short-term project, then freelancing is OK.

If you need longer work with a committed team, then consider outsourcing or staff augmentation.

If your priority is an in-house team, then relocation and in-house employment are your options.

However, in any case, pay proper attention to security measures:

Freelancers rarely sign any documents, so you risk losing money and critical project data. If you still decided to take a chance with freelancers, it’s better to hire web developers through a trusted platform like, for instance, Upwork. If the freelancer disappears or submits poor-quality work, money won’t be issued.
When outsourcing projects, always sign an NDA with the vendor who in turn signs an NDA with each team member. Conduct a preliminary evaluation of the project to avoid hidden fees and sign a contract only after the project’s estimation.
When resorting to staff augmentation, always sign an NDA with the vendor and with each team member. Also sign a contract with the vendor stipulating all major terms of your collaboration.
If you relocate based on the mixed hiring model (staffing + in-house), you need to sign the NDA with the vendor first, then sign a contract, and have the relocated employee sign all relevant documentation in your office.
Even in-house employment requires security precautions. Since your staff will inevitably work with your internal documentation, have employees sign the NDA and inform them about data privacy issues.

Web Developer Recruitment Challenges

The bitter truth is that none of the recruitment models I just described does not guarantee a quick and cloudless recruitment process.

For instance, some new hype technology or a major update was released, and many companies compete for hiring specialists in this area.

The job supply in such cases may be too small as programmers have little time to master new skills.

For instance, Node. js/React – a new update was released, but the labor market doesn’t catch up with the demand.

Some languages are much more popular than others.

Other challenges include:

High demand for full-stack developers. It’s very convenient for the employer to have an expert who manages both front-end and back-end tasks. But the problem is that nobody wants to be a full-stack expert; coders prefer selecting a narrow focus – front-end or back-end only.
Not all technologies are compatible, so the programmer has either to adapt or redo everything from scratch.
Nobody wants to work with outdated technologies like Angular 2 or Drupal.
There are too few software developers wishing to work with WordPress. WP coders usually don’t stop on this technology and continue learning others. Moreover, it’s hard to find a full-time WP coder to your office; most of them prefer stay-at-home freelancing.

Which Web Developer Skills to Look For?

As a recruiter, I look for the following skills in the resume:

Relevance to the client’s needs;
Work experience;
Knowledge of technologies.

So, I recommend paying attention to the following when screening candidates’ resumes:

CV summary
The header in resumes that we make at Qubit Labs includes the candidate’s full stack of technologies).

Completed projects (by industry and complexity level)
Some programmers stamp websites with templates, while others develop complex marketplaces.

People’s experience varies, and if your project is complicated, a candidate experienced in working with ready templates will not suit the project needs.

Similarly, if your project is simple, a web dev expert of middle- and senior-level qualification will hardly find it interesting.

Education
Most U.S.-based and Western companies require candidates to have a university degree, but here, it’s more often an exception than a rule.

The overwhelming number of local IT specialists are self-made, which is even better than formal university education.

It means that a person selected a technology and made a conscious effort to master it.

Work experience
Skills and work experiences are not the same, don’t confuse them! Being in software development for 10 years doesn’t make a coder a senior.

It’s highly probable that he or she has been making simple, primitive projects from year to year and never progressed.

It also often happens otherwise; a junior coder in a super-complex project may accumulate more experience in one year than others do in decades.

That’s it!

After screening resumes for these web developer skills and selecting the ones you consider proper, proceed to a brief preliminary interview by phone.

Why would you need that?

A phone conversation enables to check some vital things quickly to make sure that you include appropriate candidates into further screening stages:

Motivation;
Soft skills;
Emotional intelligence;
Verbal communication skills;
Team management skills (solid tech skills are a priority, but leadership is also valuable);
Problem-solving skills.

How to Determine the Candidate’s Motivation?

The main thing to keep in mind about motivation is that there is no good or bad one; the main evaluation criterion is a match between your objectives and the ones of the job candidates, as well as consistency of their personalities.

It’s the problem of self-representation bias; candidates often give socially positive responses at the job interviews to make a better impression on the employer.

For instance, one may state that money is not a decisive factor, while in fact, they are motivated by money only.

Please don’t get me wrong – there’s nothing bad about financial motivation.

Some employers appreciate honesty and even look specifically for financially motivated developers because such a form of incentives is understandable as an influence mechanism.

Others wish their coders to be passionate and committed first of all, and that’s also OK.

The key focus is on whether the new employee can integrate into the team and adopt the corporate culture – the rest are technicalities.

You can easily determine your candidate’s motivation by asking him/her a weighing question like, “Fancy receiving lucrative job offers from two companies. Based on which criteria will you choose an employer?”

I also recommend paying attention to questions that the candidates ask after the interview.

If one keeps saying that he/she wants to learn and grow and asks not about training but about office perks at the end, beware.

Other red flags include:

Frequent workplace changes. Many recruiters don’t see anything alarming in that, but I consider such swaps suspicious and want to know why the person can’t settle in one team for a long time. Maybe there are problems with teamwork, problems in collaboration and communication, or the person doesn’t know what he/she wants from life and work. It’s essential to uncover the reason as by hiring such a summer-bird, you risk wasting time and money on a short-term staffing solution.
If you ask a candidate about resignation from the previous workplace and he/she starts blaming everyone for bad attitude while seeing nothing wrong on his/her side, that’s bad. In case a workplace conflict arises, all parties are partly guilty anyway. So, if a person blames others without seeing his/her contribution to the problem, such a position signals about their inability to assume responsibility.
Technology changes. Professional growth is great, but you cannot achieve success without a clear direction. Good programmers can’t be jacks of all trades as learning many technologies will give only superficial knowledge of each. Such a frequent change of mind is a real risk for the company! A coder suddenly deciding to change his tech stack means a new round of staff recruitment.

How Can Employers Motivate Web Developers, from Jun to A-Star Player?

Motivation doesn’t come out of the blue. To have motivated employers and to engage new staff, the client also has to take much effort, especially when it comes to hype technologies.

How to achieve that?

Believe in your project and radiate enthusiasm. If the client doesn’t believe in what he does but requires enthusiasm from others, the project’s success is unrealistic. Remember: nobody will love your product more than you do.
Set clear goals. Honesty and certainty are key criteria to achieve the staff’s buy-in. Any job candidates want to be sure about what they will do and why before signing the contract.
Determine the right style of job interviewing. Make sure to choose a friendly, warm interviewing approach. If the company’s representative treats the coders too loftily during the interview, they will hardly like it. My advice is – don’t look down on employees, treat them as equals.
Tell about your team. Money matters much, but not everything. People choose an employer not only based on the proposed salary; they want to know with whom they will spend minimum 40 hours a week. Tell the candidates about your team, its tech stack, achievements, etc. This information is of particular relevance for junior- and middle-level specialists who will be mentored by more experienced colleagues. Senior web developers also take an active interest in their prospective team to know how strong their colleagues are and what to expect from them.
Consider local labor market’s peculiarities. Some clients are surprised to learn that software development rates in Ukraine are much higher than those in, say, India. Yes, you will need to pay a reasonable market rate for a good, talented programmer, and it will be lower than that in Western Europe, the USA, and Canada, but higher than in some other outsourcing locations. You also need to think over an attractive social package and perks for the staff; otherwise, you risk presenting yourself as a non-competitive employer and face refusals.
Make decisions quickly. No need to hurry, but the market reality shows that developers don’t wait too long. Though the market is abundant in available talent, the risk to miss your ideal fit is too high in case of procrastination. Ukrainian coders receive many job offers and have a choice, so they will hardly sit and wait for your decision for months (this is specifically relevant for U.S. employers as American companies typically spend 1-2 months on closing a vacancy, which is too long for the Ukrainian job market).
Differentiate yourself from a crowd of other employers. The IT sector is booming worldwide, so finding truly outstanding employees may be a challenge as top talent is in high demand. You may attract the cream of the crop to your team only if you present a unique offer and a unique working environment for the candidates. How to do that? It depends on what you can offer and on what you will make the emphasis. Some companies stress flexibility and autonomy of staff; others design fantastic workspaces and invest heavily into staff development and training. Choose your own strategy and become the best with it.
Speak openly about development and career growth possibilities. Even the most lucrative job offer may lose its appeal in case the coder feels he/she will be stagnating in the company, doing one and the same job from month to month and moving nowhere. Thus, it’s critical to inform job candidates about in-house training possibilities and career prospects they will have in your team.
Foster professional growth and experimentation with new technologies. Technology is evolving at a lightning speed, and your company and staff have to get with the times to stay competitive. Encourage training for your coders to enable them to keep pace with the latest trends and bring the innovation into your business.

Client’s Responsibilities in the Hiring Process

Even if you hire a vendor to help you close the vacancy, you still play a vital role in the recruitment process. The coder will work for you, after all. So, make sure to take an active part at the following stages:

CV screening;
Preparation for the interview;
Candidate’s screening for soft skills;
Portfolio review;
Review of the candidate’s works on Github;
Provision of test assignments relevant to your project’s specifics.

Employers who have no clue about the tech component may use the coding skill assessment tools.

Top 10 Technical Skill Assessment Platforms

1. Interview Mocha
The platform is a global leader in terms of IT skills range, coding languages, and next-gen skills testing. It also offers convenient ATS integration, which helps streamline the testing processes and inform the recruitment process. This is also a paid service with the minimal $150 monthly fee allowing 300 test attempts per year.

2. Devskiller
The company’s platform powered by RealLife Testing TM algorithm enables smart developer screening and online interviewing. It uses AI-powered tools for recruitment of new developers, mapping the skills of the current staff, and unlocking the maximum potential of your company’s human resources. Moreover, it’s truly international, with companies from over 40 countries using it. Devskiller provides a free 7-day trial with up to 15 candidates; after that, the minimum annual plan costs $3,000.

3. Coding Hire
Coding Hire is a platform simplifying the process of technical phone interviews. It does not require any installation and can be used in the web browser. Thus, the employer gets a handy tool for evaluating the coder’s technical skills in real time instead of asking cumbersome questions or urging coders to read answers to coding tasks aloud. The minimal pricing plan will cost you $29 per month covering up to 7 interviews, while the most expensive plan costs $129 per month and allows conducting up to 50 interviews per month.

4. CodinGame
CodinGame also makes an emphasis on skills, not resumes, in the hiring process and promises to uncover the talent of your candidates in a smart way. Its benefit is a coder-friendly format of testing in the form of a real-world, stimulating coding challenge – definitely a greater option than a dull question-and-answer survey. You may use a 14-day free trial with 3 candidates and then pay $249 per month or contact the company for a custom enterprise pricing plan.

5. Codility
Codility provides an automated solution for online testing of candidates’ code. It helps recruiters to screen candidates in terms of real-life and fundamental development skills, a broad range of development languages, frameworks, and technical skills. Additional features include code playback, solution sandboxes, and customized assessment of the coder’s individual style. The company offers a 7-day free trial covering up to 10 code checks, while the basic payment plan costs $954 per 6 months.

6. Geektastic
Geektastic is a code challenge platform at which an employer may place its code challenge or license one of the platform’s tests for screening candidates. Based on the code challenge results, the employer may hire peer-reviewed and talented developers who are members of the platform. The benefit of Geektastic is its flexibility; you may either review the candidates on your own or pay the Geektastic team for this. Payment is calculated based on the number of reviews planned per month and the degree of Geektastic team’s involvement.

7. CoderPad
CoderPad offers an intuitive live programming environment; it’s like Google Docs for writers – a powerful and user-friendly tool enabling coders to use all their tools to create programs that work and display all their talent. The client may do the playback keystroke by keystroke to see the entire process. The price is quite affordable, starting from $50 per month for a personal plan covering up to 20 interviews.

8. Codeinterview
CodeInterview is another great live platform enabling the developers to showcase all their skills by solving real-world coding challenges while interviewers can monitor the process in real time. The toolkit of this platform is rich in developer-friendly tools like online code editor and compilers, syntax highlighting, and code completion. Interviewers may take private notes in each candidate’s interview file. A very handy and affordable tool allowing the pay-as-you-go format (only $5 per interview) and a Pro plan at $49 per month.

9. Tests4Geeks
Tests4Geeks is a very simple service that IT recruiters and team leads may use for quick testing of programming skills online. The client chooses an appropriate test from the company’s database, sends the link to the candidate, and receives a detailed report and evaluation after the test’s completion. Three tests per month will cost you $29.95, while an unlimited monthly plan costs $99.95.

10. Testdome
This platform provides automated skill testing for companies who need to assess candidates on programming languages, frameworks, sales skills, general aptitude, and other business sectors. The platform is paid, offering five pricing plans depending on the number of candidates you wish to screen. The basic plan costs $100 and includes only 5 candidates, while the most expensive plan costs $4,200 and enables screening of 600 candidates.

Salaries and Hourly Rates

The pricing depends on the hiring model.

Outsourcing and freelancing usually involves hourly payment for the work the programmer does for you.

Rates you pay when choosing staff augmentation include the vendor’s fee and the developers’ salaries.

Payment for staff augmentation may be calculated in several ways – hourly rates or fixed price. Hourly rates are fine if you need the augmented staff for a short period as the overhead cost (i.e., the vendor’s fee) increases together with the number of hours.

Web Developer Rates

Here is a quick snapshot of the hourly software development rates across the globe, in USD. More about software development rates and app development rates.

	Angular	C#	C++	Java	JS	Node.js	PHP	Python	React
Australia	15-100	15-80	7-120	3-110	20-120	10-100	11-100	3-85	25-120
Canada	20-70	20-50	6-70	18-85	20-90	12-75	15-80	10-90	15-100
Denmark	10-90	3-112	3-120	33-125	13-130	25-100	27-110	25-100	25-100
Finland	7-80	10-65	10-75	30-90	10-60	6-100	13-90	15-80	7-90
Germany	25-115	20-80	20-90	6-70	10-60	8-100	13-80	12-70	25-80
Ireland	20-50	22-90	20-60	20-100	20-80	15-60	25-60	11-150	20-80
Israel	10-80	10-100	10-100	10-100	5-95	30-100	5-70	10-80	30-80
Norway	10-100	15-100	15-150	20-125	20-175	6-100	20-130	5-120	10-80
Singapore	12-50	3-45	5-65	5-60	7-60	5-35	7-32	10-75	5-50
Sweden	10-90	8-150	7-100	19-100	10-100	24-85	10-120	10-130	5-60
Switzerland	12-150	10-150	10-125	20-180	6-150	20-150	20-125	35-195	20-130
UAE	5-33	5-30	5-50	6-60	8-60	5-35	7-25	10-70	9-50
UK	8-130	10-200	10-150	6-110	12-140	10-100	20-130	10-125	10-120
Ukraine	20-65	25-70	15-50	25-55	12-65	23-60	25-50	26-70	25-80
USA	20-120	35-200	30-180	9-180	20-220	16-280	20-190	10-175	18-230

Australia

Thus, for instance, in Australia, Angular developers charge $15-100, while C# development may be estimated at $15-80.

Typical hourly rate of JavaScript coders is $20-120, and Node.js programmers are oriented at $10-100 per hour.

The cheapest technology here is surprisingly C#, with the maximum rate reaching only $80, while the highest hourly rates are recorded for JavaScript and React – $120.

Canada

Software development rates in Canada are lower than in Australia and the USA, with C# coders charging $20-50 on average, and C++ development estimated at $6-70.

Prices for Java coding are a bit higher, with hourly rates ranging within $18-85.

C# programmers get the lowest rates, with the highest sum of $50, while the most expensive one is React – coders want up to $100 per hour for their development work in Canada.

Denmark

In Denmark, the prices vary tremendously, again mainly because of the damping rates of outsourcers from India or the Philippines.

Here, you can hire web developer for Angular projects for $10-90, while a C# specialist will cost you $3-112.

C++ coders charge $3-120 on average, while rates for JavaScript development start from $13.

Node.js, Python, and React rates are more competitive with the lowest recorded estimate of $25 per hour and the highest rate of $100.

Athough the rates for C++ development start at $3, a client looking for a Danish coder with a solid background should be oriented at the $120 figure. Thus, it’s a quite expensive technology.

Maximum hourly rate of Angular programmers in Denmark is only $90.

Finland

Finnish web development rates are more affordable.

Here be prepared to pay $7-80 for an hour of Angular coder’s work, while JavaScript coders charge $10-60 on average.

React devs also charge less than in other countries, with average rates ranging within $7 and $90.

Thus, the cheapest technology to use in Finland is JavaScript ($10-60) and C# ($10-65), while the Node.js costs a fortune – coders in this programming language get $6-100 on average.

Germany

Development rates in Germany fluctuate considerably, from as low as $6-70 for one hour of Java coding to $25-115 for Angular development.

Software engineers specializing in Node.js typically want $8-100 for their work, while PHP developers charge $13-80 on average.

If you wish to launch a React project, be ready to pay around $25-80 for one hour of development work.

Ireland

Code rates in Ireland exhibit a trend of lower fluctuation; here the minimal rate you can find is $11 per hour for Python development.

The rest of languages have $15-20 as minimal rate, which suggests a lower presence of outsourcers from developing countries in the programming market.

Be prepared to pay $20-50 for Angular development here, and around $20-60 for C++ coding.

Python programmers are most expensive ones in Ireland, with rates ranging from $11 to $150, while another topping language is Java, with rates of $20-100.

The most affordable technology is Angular, with the highest rate of $50.

Israel

In Israel, rates are similarly high for C#, C++, and Java ($10-100), while PHP development may cost as little as $5-70.

Hourly rates for Angular, Python, and React development are within the range of $10-80 (though the minimal charge of React developers is $30).

Norway

In Norway, despite the low minimal hourly rates ranging from $5-6 to $10 for the majority of languages, the maximal figures are comparatively high.

Thus, you will need to pay around $100 for an hour of Angular developer work, while an hour of C++ coding may cost you up to $150.

Java programmers typically cost $20-125 per hour, and React coders set prices at $10-80.

The cheapest technology here is thus React, and, on the contrary, JavaScript engineers are known fo the highest rates – $175 in case of senior JS expert.

Singapore

Software development rates in Singapore are surprisingly low, probably because of the proximity of developing countries abundant in cheap development labor.

Here you may pay $3-45 for an hour of C# development, while a React project may cost you $5-50.

Node.js developer rates hardly exceed $35, while the costliest programming language is Python; rates for programming in it reach $75 per hour.

Sweden

Speaking about Sweden, hourly rates for different languages differ profoundly.

For instance, React hourly rate doesn’t exceed $60 , while C# software engineers can request up to $150 for an hour of coding here.

Rates for C++ range within $7-100, and Java and JavaScript experts also get up to $100. Hourly prices for PHP and Python development are higher, $120 and $130 respectively.

Switzerland

Swiss rates for coding are higher than the average hourly rates in the aforementioned states. Here, be ready to pay up to $195 to a Python developer, which is the pricey programming language there.

The most affordable technologies in Switzerland are C++ and PHP, with development rates not exceeding $125.

React developers may earn $20-130 per hour here, while Angular and C# programming rates are $150.

UAE

The UAE is another country with low, affordable programming rates – again, the proximity of poor countries with cheap labor plays a role.

So, here cost start from $5-6 (for Angular, C#, C++, Java, and Node.js), while the cheapest technology overall is PHP ($7-25).

Again, Python is the top 1 programming language in terms of price. Local Python programmers want $10-70 for one hour of their work.

Prices for JavaScript and React are average – $8-60 and $9-50 respectively.

UK

UK rates for programming are higher than average, starting from $6-8 for Angular and Java developers and topping up to $200 for C# coders.

The cheapest technology is Node.js, with coders in this programming language requesting $10-100 for one hour of their work.

$6-110 is an average rate of Java software enigneers, and React coders charge around $10-120.

Ukraine

In Ukraine, rates are on par with most of the reviewed countries and score as medium.

Here, you can get an Angular developer for $20-65 per hour, and a C# coder will cost you $25-70.

In Ukraine React developers earn the highest rates – $25-80, while the most affordable ones are C++ and PHP (with maximum rates of $50).

It is notable that you can hire specialists in most expensive and demanded programming languages quite affordably here: for instance, C# rates are $70 at maximum, Java coders ask for not more than $55, while Python development hourly cost reaches only $70 – much lower than in many other states.

USA

As you can see, the leader in software development rates is the USA.

Here a C# software engineer earns from $35 to $200 on average, while development in Node.js may cost you $16-280.

React coders also get high rates, from $18 to $230. If you need a Java programmer, you will need to pay from $9 to $180 per hour.

Why such a huge difference in rates, you might ask?

It’s because of Indians and Filipinos who damp the prices and offer their services at rates as low as $3-10.

So, please keep this in mind when estimating the budget for development.

If you wish to hire a U.S. engineer for as little as $10, be ready that it won’t be an American.

The same relates to other countries – the lowest rates are normally charged by outsourced teams from developing countries.

Web Developer Salary

Hiring augmented staff based on a fixed price involves signing a contract in which the vendor’s commission and the developers’ salaries are stipulated. So, how much do software developers make a year?

Annual income also range by country, with some languages topping the list of rates and others being more affordable.

Let’s take a closer look at the breakdown of annual website developer salary in 2020 (in USD):