How to Build a Strong Remote Software Engineering Team: Because of constantly evolving communication technologies and the effects of the global pandemic, more and more people all over the world begin to work remotely.
IT is among the top five fields in terms of remote workers.
Now more than 90 percent of top tech talent expect to do their daily tasks from home at least once a week, so building a strong remote software engineering team is a necessary skill in the modern market.
In this post, you will learn about the main tips and factors to consider.
Why Choose a Remote Team
Although the main reason to choose this cooperation model with your employees is their happiness and fulfillment, you as a business owner will win from this arrangement too.
An obvious advantage is the lack of spending on office spaces, technical equipment, furniture, etc.
Another great way to save some budget is hiring some individual developers or even a whole team from abroad.
IT professionals in North America or Western Europe usually are paid two-three times more than their colleagues from other regions, such as Eastern Europe, South Asia, or Latin America.
Software engineers in those countries invest a lot of their time and resources in learning the English language, so communication is unlikely to be a serious problem.
Working with a remote foreign workforce you can save up to fifty percent of your salary budget.
And even if money isn’t a problem for you, access to a global talent pool without any limitations is a good thing for any project.
Team Structure
Before you start assembling a team, it is very important to think about future application requirements and features.
Based on this you will be able to see future team size, structure, and roles.
Maybe, for your project needs will be better to have a hybrid structure with several core members working full-time in-house and bringing contractors for some short-term tasks.
Or maybe it is necessary to have a whole team of remote developers who will be monitored by a full-time project manager.
It is always necessary, no matter what model you choose, to invest in a strong tech lead, a senior developer with substantial experience who will help you through the hiring process and will manage a team.
Only when you plan everything ahead, will you be able to build a strong remote software development team.
Skills to Look For
Besides hard skills necessary for every position you will have to search for candidates with specific sets of soft skills needed for remote work.
Communication is always a key factor, but with this type of employment is absolutely crucial. If you hire developers from foreign countries, test their English knowledge beforehand.
Try to stick to team members with strong work ethics and self-discipline, so they will be able to strive without constant monitoring on your side.
Do some basic research on candidates online, scroll through their social media and try to find their profiles in professional communities on sites like Reddit, GitHub, and StackOverflow.
There you can not only find an example of code and reviews from previous clients but also learn about potential team members evolving in their respective fields, learning about new professional tools, and interacting with other IT professionals.
Hiring Process
When you build a remote software development team, hiring options basically aren’t limited at all.
Work hard on job descriptions, try to include every piece of information about company policies, duties for every team role, and other crucial stuff to eliminate possible unfit candidates.
After you find some viable developers, you can start the interviewing process.
Even if you are using the services of an IT staffing agency or outsourcing vendor, insist on participating in interviews. Be aware, that according to research, top tech talent is unlikely to go through more than four stages of the interviewing process.
During initial video calls you as a business owner will need to assess candidates’ soft skills, English proficiency level, overall attitude, and possible cultural differences.
After that comes testing the hard skills, so if you don’t have a tech background, leave it to the tech lead.
Factors To Consider
There are several crucial factors to consider, especially if it’s your first time building a remote development team.
First of all, when you hire IT professionals from different countries and continents, you will need to consider different time zones and scheduling problems it may bring.
If it is impossible to find perfect candidates close to your time zone, try to assemble a team of specialists from the same region, so you can arrange work calls and team-building exercises for the whole group at once.
Another important factor to keep in my mind is the importance of communication. When with in-house full-time employees some little problems and misunderstandings can resolve themselves without your participation, with this cooperation model you will need to always keep in touch with every team member.
There is basically no such thing as over communicating while managing a remote team.
To avoid major problems among employees, try to have some general vision for team culture and hire people who fit in.
There is not a lot you can do to improve team communication if you initially hired the wrong people.
Try to confirm candidates’ ability to work rem | otely. Ask them about their internet connection, the technologies they use, and how they approach data security.
Data leaks can be a major problem with remote developers. It is perfect if potential team members have some previous experience working remotely on their resumes.
Final Thoughts
Building a remote software engineering team is a crucial skill in today’s market. More and more top tech talent prefer to work from home and you as an employer will need to meet this demand sooner or later. Learning how to assemble and manage such a team today will be a great investment in the future. Hope that you find everything you need to know in this post.