Education Ecosystem Blog

A Step by Step Guide for Hiring a Remote Programmer:

There are many websites that offer services of a remote programmer. The trick is to hire the right one and knowing which one is the right one. The very first thing you should do is define the coding project you need to get done. The problem parameters your programming project would have and the desirable state of solutions for them. After you have analyzed this, make sure you clearly understand the purpose of the coding project. The goals you need achieved for the main objective of the programming project. All the work tasks in the future would be gauged on the success it brings around the objective of the coding project. There could be problems with your project objectives, so embrace the possibility of slight changes in what needs to be achieved.

Some of the core questions to ask when defining the programming project:

1. What is the problem?
2. What is the purpose of this coding project right now?
3. What can be the possible solutions to these problems?
4. What can we spend on it? (Budget)
5. When does it needs to be complete?
6. How much does this problem affects our business/website model?
7. How much would it cost to live with this problem?

Next, you need to be sure if you want a remote programmer who guides you along the programming project, suggest changes or improvements. Or you have the solutions figured out, and you need the remote programmer to implement those solutions to the letter.

You need to have clear instructions and project description, defining exactly what would be required and what performance parameters would be checked. You should also check rates of good remote programmers. Learn the average asking rate by taking some quotations for your coding project.

You can ask for a programmer’s statement of how he/she understands the programming project and its parameters. A solution explained by the remote programmer in this statement which provides clear outcomes. You should also establish every kind of cost and fees that the remote programmer asks for and the timelines for various processes in the programming project.

You should be sure to be on the same page with the remote programmer’s proposal and see if he/she is compatible with your company/website’s norm and values.

One of the most important factors for hiring are the timezone adaptability especially if the remote programmer is in another country. And the control of technical resources such as web backend portals. Both of you should be clear on the hours of time and the communication channels to use. This is a common problem where, communication at times is done through email when you may want a quick voice chat over Skype, Whatsapp or instant chat on Google Hangouts, a more collective update on Trello or any other combinations of tools. The communication tools should be for quick and easiest travel of information from you to the remote programmer and vice versa.

Before you decide on hiring the remote programmer. Give him/her a small part of the programming project and see how well they do it. Gauge their performance based on the task and if the remote programmer generally does a good job, talk about the shortcomings first and see if they can be resolved or are too petty to be considered. You should be sure to have a fixed payment for the small task pre-decided. Any work asked to do for free is disrespectful and may not land you with good quality remote programmers if they agree.

After you have completed all that. Congratulations, you are good to hire your remote programmer.