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How to Become a Great Engineering Leader, Former IBM Tech Exec Shares
For Employers Hiring developers Leadership and Management Management Tips, Tools, and Trends

How to Become a Great Engineering Leader, Former IBM Tech Exec Shares

Aviv Ben Yosef, a former IBM tech executive, shares his strategy to become a great engineering leader.

As an engineering leader, have you ever asked these questions?

You start with a small team of engineers, the company grows with time, and so does the team. 

While this is happening, how do you ensure that productivity does not get hampered? How do you build the team bond?  How do you ensure that new hires don’t feel like they are just an inconsequential part of this massive team? 

Most importantly, how do you become a great engineering leader in the process? 

Aviv Ben Yosef, ex-IBM Tech Exec, answers all of the above questions in this post. 

  1. A great engineering leader will figure out the WIFM for their team.

    Yosef says that he always keeps in mind the WIFM or What’s In For Me whenever he tries to make changes to his organization.

    Ass an engineering leader, you should always ensure that your team understands how the said change will positively affect them.

    Remember, no tech executive should change an existing process unless beneficial for the team and the company.

    So, make sure you go over the WIFM and have definite answers ready for your engineers.

  2. Try to retain talent but allow a healthy turnover.

    Most companies try hard to retain their employees for as long as possible. But, Yosef suggests that engineering leaders should accept and allow a healthy turnover now and then.
    Companies try to stop employees from quitting by introducing new positions or responsibility sets that the organization does not require.
    Yosef calls these developments a corporate debt that affects the team and hinders productivity.
    He insists that letting off some employees and hiring new ones can be beneficial in such cases.
    Yosef also emphasizes
    hiring junior and medium engineers rather than hiring senior engineers all in all. Hiring good senior engineers can be challenging and pricey.
    Instead, he explains that companies should hire junior and medium engineers and train them to the required level. 
  3. As an engineering leader, try to understand your role in the company and prioritize accountability.

    Yosef advises looking deeper into this question for anyone who is a new engineering leader/ manager or becoming one soon: “Why does the company need me?”
    You should be very clear about the benefits that you’ll provide to the company. In Yosef’s words: “You should know that you’re a force multiplier for the company, and be clear about your objectives and goals.”
    A true
    engineering leader holds accountability and responsibility. If something great happens, they share the credit with their team, Yosef says.
    But, if something goes sideways, they can take responsibility for the mess-up and guide the company in the right direction.
  4. Never underestimate one-on-ones

    As an engineering leader, these meetings may not seem essential, but Yosef states that one-on-ones should be the most crucial thing in your calendar. They help your team members become a better version of themselves.
    “You will have to invest time in the people around you. Without constructive criticism and feedback, growth is extremely challenging,” adds Yosef.
    Yosef adds that the one-on-ones should not just be about the manager giving the employees feedback. Leaders must listen to their employees and try to ease out their pain points.

So, what makes someone a great engineering leader?

A great engineering leader always knows their purpose and role in the organization. They are a beacon of light for every employee. They trust their employees wholeheartedly, and vice versa. They may have a team of experts working under them, but they always have sound knowledge and experience about the product they’re working on. 

A great engineering leader should have a great team of software engineers. 

But hiring a great engineer can be difficult. With Turing, you can unleash the world’s untapped potential. 

Spin up your engineering dream team with Turing’s Intelligent Talent Cloud and hire the top 1% of 1M+ pre-vetted senior software engineers with just a click of a button. 

Source: Manager’s Club

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By Nov 30, 2021
Here’s Why You Should Choose ReactJS for Your Project
For Employers Hiring developers

Here’s Why You Should Choose ReactJS for Your Project

ReactJS offers various benefits for application and web development which is exactly why it should be your preferred frontend framework.

The demand for a skilled workforce for web development projects and mobile applications has grown.To make websites and mobile applications user-friendly,  a front-end development library like ReactJS is critical. ReactJS is essential in creating the user interface along with other UI components. 

However, with new tools released every day and businesses looking to get more work done in a short time, the decision to choose the right framework, programming tool, and library is becoming difficult. In this post, I’m going to give you nine reasons why ReactJS deserves serious consideration.

To start, ReactJS is popular. According to a recent survey, ReactJS has been used to develop more than one million websites, including almost 300,000 unique domains. This ubiquity is why ReactJS is at the top of the most loved frameworks, with 74.5 percent of developers preferring it over other frameworks. 

What is ReactJS?

ReactJS is an open-source JavaScript Library facilitating front-end web development. Jordan Walke, the creator of ReactJS and an engineer at Facebook, came up with the idea to merge XHP, Facebook’s markup syntax into JavaScript. It helped them run various user interfaces at once, like newsfeed updates and chat, among others. After seeing how well the merger worked, Facebook made ReactJS open-source in 2013. Since then, ReactJS has become one of the most popular web frameworks.

We’ve listed some of our top reasons why you should choose ReactJS for your business.

Easy scripting

ReactJS offers a free extension, which goes by the name JSX. JSX simplifies the HTML markup in the library by writing shortcuts of your code and converting HTML mockups into ReactElement Trees. ReactElement Trees, in turn, make the application run faster.

Modular design

The modular design of ReactJS allows you to make small changes with ease. As a result, most developers can reuse the same objects and employ previously used assets without disturbing other components.

Reusable components

Reusable components offer their code for similar features without needing the developer to write it all over again. In addition, ReactJS lets developers use individual application parts on both server and client sides. These capabilities help save time, as they reduce the frequency of debugging existing code.

SEO friendly

One of the key aspects of web development is SEO. ReactJS significantly reduces page load time and provides faster rendering speed in comparison to other frameworks. Faster rendering speed helps reduce the bounce rate of your websites and pages. In addition to this, web applications and pages using ReactJS are easier to crawl. This improvement is accomplished by using Server-side rendering, which enables you to run the JavaScript code on the server side before sending the files to the user, allowing the user to see the content without allowing React to run. Further, server-side rendering makes the page load faster as Google doesn’t have to run JavaScript to crawl the page. 

Virtual DOM and Tree reconciliation

ReactJS developers write HTML using JavaScript, which allows them to keep a virtual representation of HTML, called Virtual DOM; this Virtual DOM renders an HTML tree virtually whenever the state of UI changes. So, you can make modifications without impacting the entire structure of the user interface. This, in turn, helps maintain high app performance on the front-end.

One way data binding

In addition to virtual DOM and Tree reconciliation, a one-way data binding model also ensures that changes in the child component do not impact the entire code. So, when you type a text in the input field, this model just updates the data model. And this is how one-way data binding makes code more stable for both application and web development.

Mobile app development

Apart from web development, the ReactJS framework was upgraded to facilitate mobile app development for iOS and Android platforms. At the same time, ReactJS also enables a smooth transition of code as code written for the web is easily compatible with mobile.

Easy to learn and use

Be it web development or mobile application development, developers familiar with JavaScript can easily learn ReactJS. What’s more, ReactJS is easy to implement and can also be used with existing application structures.

Strong community support

Many developers have ReactJS as their primary framework for web development. A major contributing factor is the strong community support React developers get from all around the world. In addition, experienced developers share insights about applying this framework in the form of blogs, in-depth articles, tutorial videos on popular forums.

ReactJS is an easy-to-use responsive JavaScript library that is beneficial for both small and big organizations. It is easy to scale even in a high-traffic environment. Furthermore, ReactJS facilitates simultaneous functions and easy changes for application and web development. However, organizations looking to hire ReactJS developers for their projects may need to spend a lot of time evaluating different candidates. 

This time-consuming bottleneck is why you need someone who can pre-vet excellent ReactJS developers for you. 

Enter Turing. Turing helps organizations hire developers with the right skillset after ensuring they pass rigorous tests. Turing.com has matched countless ReactJS developers with top US companies. The organization’s intelligent talent cloud sources, vets, manages, and matches developers across 100+ skills efficiently and effectively.  With Turing, you can access a talent pool of the top 1% of 700K+ developers with strong technical and communication skills. The best part? There’s no risk. Turing offers a free two-week trial period to make sure your developers deliver to your standards.

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By Nov 30, 2021
Three Steps to Onboarding Remote Software Developers
For Employers Hiring developers

Onboarding Remote Software Developers: Part One

No matter the size of your company, onboarding new developers is important. CTO at Relevant shares how you can develop an onboarding program with three steps.

After hiring software developers, guiding them through an effective onboarding process is critical for getting the new hire off to a good start.

This process helps remote developers feel valued and gain a better understanding of their roles and responsibilities. It also has the added benefit of boosting their productivity and performance, increasing engagement and loyalty. While the concept of developing an onboarding process has been around since the 1970s, a Harvard Business Review states that 22 percent of companies don’t have an onboarding process in place.

Ihor Feoktistov, CTO at Relevant, has outlined how companies can develop a strategic onboarding process with three easy steps to improve retention and developer satisfaction.

Three steps to an effective onboarding process 

Let’s look at them one by one.

Get the introductions right

Hiring software developers

Onboarding remote software developers: Introduction

After hiring software developers, bombarding them with information about the company during the first day is not a great idea. Fortunately, you don’t need to wait until a developer’s first official day to begin the introductions.

  1. While hiring software developers—usually during the last rounds—you can give them an idea about the tools and software platforms they would need to know. This knowledge will provide them with the chance to install these tools and get acquainted with them beforehand.
  2. Brief them about your company and the individual projects in which they’d be involved. Ensure they understand the short-term and long-term goals and the tasks they need to prioritize once they get started.
  3. After hiring software developers, it’s a good idea to give them an Employee Handbook that lists the rules they would need to follow. Furthermore, consider giving them a quick brief to highlight essential practices during their first onboarding meeting if the handbook is too extensive.
  4. Prepare your team for the new hire before their first day. This practice will ensure your team members are ready to assist the developer when they join. You can also assign a mentor who can guide the developer through their onboarding process.

Have their workplace set up beforehand

After hiring software developers and getting the introductions out of the way, the next step is to guide them into the workflow.
One recommended practice is to give the developer access to all programs, tools, and documents they will need to get started.
Here is a checklist by Feoktistov that you can use after hiring software developers to ensure you don’t miss out on anything important:

  1. Give new developers access to the corporate chat system. Add them to all the necessary channels and groups.
  2. Add them to your team’s project management system and ensure they have the privilege to edit tasks.
  3. Share your company’s internal documents, manuals, guidelines, etc.
  4. Give them access to the test environment and the API keys
  5. Introduce them to your company’s internal services, like IT support and DeskHelp.

Providing tools and documents only when a developer needs them might hinder their workflow and cause frustration and resentment towards the company.
After hiring software developers, it’s wiser to grant them access to everything they need and give them the time to get acquainted with everything at their own pace.

Provide technical documentation

After hiring software developers, you need to give them detailed information about the project. Without proper technical documentation, you can’t effectively integrate your new software developers into the project workflow.

Here’s is another checklist by Feoktistov that’ll help you ensure you’re providing all the necessary technical documents to your remote developer:

  1. Source Code
  2. Database & its setup guide
  3. Dependencies for the specific project 
  4. API keys and credentials
  5. Sample data
  6. Test suites
  7. Deployment credentials
  8. Development notes to give the new hire information about prior mistakes.

Pro tip: Questions to improve your onboarding program

Hiring software developers

Onboarding remote software developers: Questions for onboarding

No matter how strategically you plan your onboarding process, there is always room for improvement. Here are eight questions you can ask yourself to evaluate the effectiveness of your onboarding process after hiring software developers:

  1. Is the company welcoming?
  2. Are the employees happy to be working with the company?
  3. Is there an instance that highlights this?
  4. Do the employees understand the company’s vision and goals?
  5. Do the employees know that the company values them?
  6. Is the onboarding program engaging? Does it produce feedback?
  7. Does the company consider this feedback?
  8. Does the company have an extensive informational resources?

If you’re serious about upgrading your onboarding process, answer these eight questions honestly. Additionally, you can get your HR department, management team, and everyone else in leadership roles to answer these questions.

Summary

After reading through the blog, you may realize that an onboarding process after hiring remote software developers doesn’t have to be lengthy or complex. What’s important is having one in place.

Furthermore, this structure is not a rigid template; you can optimize it according to your company and developer specifications. While you can add additional steps to your process, these three steps are the ones you shouldn’t skip. If you’re looking for more details, here’s a more comprehensive, step-by-step guide on onboarding remote software developers in your company.

After hiring software developers, you should not expect them to be super productive right away just because you think you’ve perfected your onboarding process. 

Give them the time and freedom to settle into their role.

But before all of that, hiring software developers who are skilled and experienced is crucial. If you’re looking to hire remote developers for your team, Turing can help. 

Turing’s automated platform lets companies “push a button” to hire senior, pre-vetted remote software developers. Access a talent pool of the top 1% of 700K+ developers with strong technical and communication skills who work in your time zone. There’s no risk. Turing offers a free two-week trial period to make sure your developers deliver to your standards.

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By Oct 13, 2021
Full Stack Developers vs. Specialized Developers. Which software developer should you hire?
For Employers Hiring developers

Full Stack Developers vs. Specialized Developers: Whom Should You Hire?

Looking to hire software developers? You might have to pick between full stack developers & specialized developers. Whom should you hire? Read more to find out.

If you’re a manager looking to hire software developers, you’ll come across two options, Full Stack Developers and Specialized Developers. While one is a jack of all trades, the other is a full-blown specialist. Tech companies usually prefer full stack developers over specialized ones. So, should you follow the herd or go for software developers who are experts in their field? 

Let’s simplify this down for you. 

Here are the pros and cons of both, full stack developers and specialized developers: 

Who is a specialized developer?

A software developer who is an expert in a particular discipline is known as a specialized developer. A specialized developer, just like a full stack developer, knows the whole development process. But unlike the latter, a specialized developer will only focus on their particular area of expertise and offer all the solutions needed there. 

Who is a full stack developer? 

Software developers who can work on both—the frontend and the backend of a website or an application are known as full stack developers. Such software developers are well versed in areas like frontend development (Vue.js, Angular, Node.js, React), backend development (PHP, Java, NET), UI/UX design, markup languages (HTML and CSS), databases (Firebase, MongoDB, PostgreSQL, MySQL), software testing (TestComplete, Katalon studio, Postman, etc.), scalability, architecture, and the roadmap of a project. 

Full Stack Developers Specialized Developers

Specialized Developers: Pros and Cons

Pros: 

  1. High quality of work

    Since these developers are experts in specific disciplines, you can expect the best quality of work from them. And thus, a specialized developer may be able to produce more sophisticated results than a full stack developer.
  2. In sync with the latest developments

    A specialized developer is usually up to date with all the trends and development in their area of expertise. It is easier for them to shadow these updates as they’re focused on a particular part of programming and not the whole process.
  3. Dividing tasks among the team is easier

    When you are aware of the expertise of each team member, you can easily divide and designate tasks accordingly to it. This knowledge makes the allocation process a lot more effective and efficient, thereby saving time. 

Cons:

  1. Expertise comes at a cost

    You will have to hire two different software developers for the frontend and the backend. This specialization increases the cost of hiring as a full stack developer can do both.
  2. Developers need to depend on each other outside their area of expertise

    Cross-domain dependency will always be a con of a specialized developer. A specialized developer cannot single-handedly complete the whole development process, and they’re dependent on other specialized developers to complete their tasks.

Full Stack Developers: Pros and Cons

Pros: 

  1. Know-it-all!

    A full stack developer is a jack of all trades. Ranging from frontend to QA and testing, such a developer can handle it all. Full stack developers can quickly identify issues across the process and resolve them without relying on specialized developers.
  2. Cost-effective

    A full stack developer can handle the frontend and backend of an app or a website on their own. This ability means you can get a full stack developer to replace two or even three specialized developers at a much lower cost.
  3. Offers flexibility

    While a specialized developer will have to stick to his area of expertise, full stack developers are well-versed with the service and the client-side, making it easier for them to switch between different domains and reduce the development time.

Cons:

  1. They may not be in sync with the latest advancements in technology

    Now, it is not that full stack developers are not aware of what’s going on. But unlike specialized software developers, they have to work in various fields simultaneously. This generalization makes it challenging for full stack developers to be current on every technology they use.
  2. May not take full responsibility

    Full stack developers tend to work on various tasks simultaneously without distributing their work into smaller tasks. This tendency can result in confusion as no particular developer may take full responsibility for the job. And thus, it becomes difficult to keep track of the whole development process.

Now, the question is, how will you decide to hire between full stack developers and specialized software developers?

The answer to this question depends on various factors such as the size of the project, flexibility, budget, and quality. Let’s take a look at factors in detail.

  1. Size of the project you are working on
    Let’s say you’re a startup looking to hire software developers. In this case, you would want your team to work on a broader range of projects. Here, a team of full stack developers would be a better choice.
    But if you are looking to hire for larger projects, you’ll want specialized developers to work on assorted smaller tasks.
  2. How flexible is your project
    Your choice also depends on how frequently the requirements for your project will change. In case you have a project which has rigid requirements, specialized developers would be a better choice.
  3. The money that you are ready to spend
    As we saw earlier, a specialized developer will cost you more than a full stack developer. So, it all comes down to the budget you’re willing to spend on the hires. 
  4. The quality of work you’re looking for
    Full stack developers can work on various parts of a project, while specialized software developers are restricted to their area of expertise. However, this also means that the quality of the work is superior in the case of specialized developers. And so, if you are working on a project that demands the best quality of work, specialized developers will be your safe bet. 

Read the complete article here.

Still not sure if you should hire full stack developers or specialized developers?

Don’t worry! You can let our team of specialists analyze your requirements and match you with the top 1% from the pool of 700k+ professional software developers. There’s no risk. Turing offers a free two-week trial period to make sure your developers deliver to your standards.

For more information, visit Turing’s Hire page.

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By Oct 4, 2021
Technical interview questions for hiring teams.
For Employers Hiring developers Interviews

Former Amazon VP on Conducting Effective Technical Interviews

Neil Roseman shares insights on how to conduct in-depth technical interviews. Smart technical interview questions & a good hiring team are essential, he says.

Neil Roseman, former Technology VP for Amazon and Zynga, believes that most recruiters make hiring decisions based on basic credentials, GPAs, Ivy League college educations, and even SAT scores. But hiring a candidate involves a lot more quizzing them on technical interview questions.

Roseman has interviewed hundreds of candidates. He believes that you should carefully plan each step of the interview process to elicit detailed information on skill sets, actual accomplishments, cultural fit, and leadership potential. He also says that recruiters should make it easy for candidates to have open dialogues about their job experience and routines.

In this blog, Roseman explains how he builds interview processes from top to bottom to construct an effective organization, regardless of size or resources:

Carefully probe resumes

While screening resumes, Roseman keeps an eye out for areas where he can push candidates. “I always look for things where they have a measure of their success, especially if they make comparisons or use percentages. For example, [something like] I grew revenue by 50 percent or decreased downtime by 30 percent,” he explains.

Rather than merely being an observer, you want to know what the applicant actually did in their previous roles. Even the most successful company has a divide between those who get the most done and those who don’t. So, you need to try and figure that out during an interview. According to Roseman, this serves as a litmus test for how well they understood their role in the previous organization. 

Applicants may think it sounds nice to say things like: “I increased system availability by 50 percent.” However, if you’re interviewing someone for a system engineering position, for example, you need to know what, exactly, they accomplished. Roseman says that most of the time, when high-level assertions like these appear on resumes, it’s likely that the person hasn’t done them or was only a participant and knew very little about them. On the other hand, top applicants can always explain and back up their statements, irrespective of how in-depth your investigation goes.

Craft smart questions

Drafting good technical interview questions is vital. Hiring teams can refer to interview experience content on platforms like Glassdoor and Quora for inspiration.  It’s perfectly acceptable to borrow questions from these sources as long as you customize them, suggests Roseman.

Later, your entire team can brainstorm why you should ask a particular question, what the perfect answer will be, and even if the question is already on the internet, will it be fruitful to delve deep?

Roseman is particularly fond of questioning engineering applicants on product design. He says that great engineers should be more than order takers; they should be actively involved in product creation. Moreover, design questions can also help you learn more about how someone thinks. Drill applicants on previous products they’ve worked on and ask them to create a short portfolio management program to get to the heart of their competency. Depending on the role, you may also ask the candidate to elaborate on a more generic design challenge such as ‘design an ATM/Elevator for blind people’ or something more technical.

Assemble a strong hiring team

The hiring team you put together will determine the quality of the individuals you hire. Unfortunately, many businesses do not devote sufficient resources to preparing current employees to conduct peer interviews. Failure to do this is a grave mistake, according to Roseman.

Every hire necessitates careful consideration. Hence, leaders must train interviewers and examine their decision-making processes. 

In addition to this, the feedback given by the hiring team should be concise and conclusive. Roseman says that it is vital to keep two things in mind: 

1) You’ve wasted your time, the company’s time, and the candidate’s time if you can’t provide detailed feedback

2) If you get to the end of an interview and all you can say is: “Yeah, I kind of liked them, I think they’d be good,” you’ve, again, wasted everyone’s time

Generic answers lead to ambiguity among team members, so be precise about what you like and don’t like in a prospect.

Here’s a distilled list of the hiring rules mentioned above:

  • Start with a proper introduction to alleviate everyone’s nerves
  • Scour the résumé to understand the candidate’s experience
  • Don’t use applicants to “test” new questions. A set of predetermined questions can help your hiring team recognize excellent responses right away
  • Give plenty of time to code! This coding step is frequently overlooked
  • Investigate algorithms, data structures, code organization, and ease of use
  • Make a design inquiry. Examine how people think about the big picture

Your job as a recruiter is to evaluate a candidate’s talents, fit in your company’s culture, and future growth potential. Remember, you are a spokesperson for your company, and you must demonstrate the company’s ideals.

Are you struggling to vet software engineers/developers on your own? Turing can help. Turing’s automated platform lets companies “push a button” to hire senior, pre-vetted remote software developers. Access a talent pool of the top 1% of 700K+ developers with strong technical and communication skills who work in their time zone. There’s no risk. Turing offers a free two-week trial period to make sure your developers deliver to your standards.

For more information, visit Turing’s Hire page.

Source: Review.Firstround

 

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By Sep 17, 2021
Engineering Recruitment: Stripe's Former CTO on How to Get the Best Talent For Your Company
For Employers Hiring developers Interviews

Stripe’s Former CTO on How to Get the Best Talent for Your Company

Are you planning to hire software engineers or developers for your company? Take a look at how you can make the process more efficient and hire the best talent in the industry.

Hiring the right candidates for an organization is a challenging task. Greg Brockman, the founding engineer and former CTO at Stripe, a well-known engineering team in Silicon Valley, shares how the organization has been able to attract and hire the best software engineers through the years. Engineering recruitment can yield best talents if done correctly.

Here are the key takeaways:

Engineering Recruitment: Choose the right hiring channel

Stripe has four hiring channels. The first channel is Referrals. The organization has recruited some of its best talents through its referral system. Brockman says if you can tap the network of your first ten hires, you have broader chances of meeting some talented candidates. So get your engineers to list down the best people they’ve worked with and get them to work with you. 

The other two channels are Inbound and Outbound. If you are looking to create a developer-focused product for the Outbound channel, you will have to look around you. Analyze the community and choose what’s best for your business. “Be sure to create stimulating events for this community as it will help you identify the most promising individuals,” he adds. The Inbound channel includes the people who try their luck by emailing you after going through your careers page. 

The last channel is Recruiters. This channel sends a lot of people your way when you’re hiring. However, they’re not the “A+ talent” you’re seeking. And hence, Brockman says that one can have a hard time sourcing the right candidates through this channel.

Build a brand so that great people get convinced to join your company

When you’re marketing a product or service, you do it in such a way that makes people want to buy from you. The same goes for engineering recruitment. You will surely come across talented individuals who are already in demand in the market. The best way to get them to join your company is to build a brand that resonates with their aspirations. The right candidate should be confident that you are building something big, and they’ll be happy working with you. 

Brockman also emphasizes transparency. A candidate will want to know about the company’s work culture, finances, and much more before joining. So, he suggests that employers should be as open as possible during the hiring process as it will help boost the candidate’s trust in their company. 

Focus on distinguishing Great from Good

Hiring someone just because they have worked in Google previously does not guarantee a good fit for the job. Brockman reveals that Stripe has had a bad experience every time they’ve made assumptions about someone’s ability. 

Hence, the organization prefers getting references from people they already know.

In addition to this, Stripe uses a collaborative hack project — prepared in advance to ensure that they’re well suited for someone’s interests and skill set

Hire people, not just the skill-set

If you plan on hiring someone, don’t hire them just because they have the skill-set you need. Instead, analyze whether the person will fit into your company’s work culture. Stripe uses ‘The Sunday Test’ for this. If a person is in the office on a Sunday, will it restrict you from coming to the office and working with them? If the answer is yes, the candidate is not suitable for your company’s work culture. 

Keep in mind that the first hire in any department is crucial for the success of your company. That person will be responsible for building a team and inspiring the members to work with them, explains Brockman.

Last but not least, he adds that recruiters should trust their instincts. If you think a person might not be the best candidate for the role you’re hiring, you, most probably, are correct.

To sum up, recruiting the best talent is all about using the channel that works best for you, learning to distinguish exceptional from good, building a brand so that the right people feel compelled to work with you, and trusting your gut. With these practices, you can ensure that you hire people that align with your organization as a whole. Brockman concludes that these practices may lengthen the whole hiring process at times, but, in the end, the results will be fruitful. 

Are you struggling to vet software engineers/developers on your own? Turing can help. Turing’s automated platform lets companies “push a button” to hire senior, pre-vetted remote software developers. Access a talent pool of the top 1% of 700K+ developers with strong technical and communication skills who work in their time zone. There’s no risk. Turing offers a free two-week trial period to make sure your developers deliver to your standards.

For more information, visit Turing’s Hire page.

Source: Review.Firstround

 

Tell us the skills you need and we'll find the best developer for you in days, not weeks.

Hire Developers

By Sep 16, 2021
The Key to This Twitter Manager’s Interviewing Approach_ Clearly Defined Rubrics!
For Employers Hiring developers Management

The Key to This Twitter Manager’s Interviewing Approach? Clearly Defined Rubrics!

A set of clearly defined rubrics can make the hiring process much more consistent for hiring managers. Twitter’s Software Engineering Manager reveals how.

As a hiring manager, one should have a set of rubrics for the interview process, says Mallika Rao, Software Engineering Manager at Twitter. A well-structured set can help you to hire great talent. In the absence of defined rubrics, people default to their own criteria to assess candidates.

Rao goes further by elaborating her approach to hiring:  

Clear rubrics make the hiring process more uniform

Rao believes that well-defined rubrics make the hiring process consistent. “If you have the rubrics and the call structure in place, and you know how you’re going to sell the vision, goals, or inflection points in the product, you’ll be able to get a lot more out of that call,” she explains.

Rao also says that candidates should have a good idea of the team before they go on-site. “Leaders and hiring managers,” she says, “should provide candidates with relevant information and get them excited about the team.” 

Managers should be mindful of the levels they’re hiring for

For example, software engineering has various levels, software engineer 1, senior software engineer, etc. Leaders need to tune their questions for each of these levels carefully. Before the interview, they should mull over points like: Do they have a variety of questions for different roles? How do they level them? How do they write reviews? 

Setting the correct expectations and calibrating the panel that can evaluate candidates for each level is equally important. “If the company is in a position to think about it, topgrading can be a good idea,” Rao adds. Topgrading is a 12-step hiring process designed to identify top talent from a pool of candidates for a particular position, even before hiring managers have had a chance to see them in action. Unlike standard behavioral interviews, topgrading helps make informed and evidence-based recruiting decisions rather than solely basing them on job applications. 

As a leader, you must develop an interview process that gives you strong signals about the candidate. Then, once you have the cues, make your decisions using the rubric. “It goes a long way in having quick huddles to decide with the interview team if it’s a hire or a no-hire. It really helps the candidate and the team,” Rao explains.

At times, it is okay to override decisions

In an effort not to upset others, leaders might avoid tough decisions. Unfortunately, these delays do more damage than whatever fallout leaders are trying to avoid. 

On a similar note, Rao says that it’s okay for managers to override decisions. Even when the team says ‘no’ democratically, the manager might have good reasons to go ahead and close the hire; they might know something the team does not. However, managers need to keep in mind that they have limited matchsticks to burn. Their decisions can impact the team’s trust. And so, they need to be conscious of how they’re making decisions and keep the process as organized as possible. 

Managers must understand that hiring is not a general solution. Depending on the organization or vertical they are hiring for, they need to employ different hiring strategies. Though being mindful, flexible, and unbiased help, managers must be clear about what they’re looking for in a candidate. In addition, leaders should know the expectations of both the candidate and the organization well before making any hiring decision. 

Are you struggling to hire skilled and experienced remote software engineers? Turing can help. Turing’s automated platform lets companies “push a button” to hire senior, pre-vetted remote software developers. Access a talent pool of the top 1% of 700K+ developers with strong technical and communication skills who work in their time zone. There’s no risk. Turing offers a free two-week trial period to make certain your developers deliver to your standards.

For more information, visit Turing’s Hire page.

Source: Manager’s Club

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Hire Developers

By Aug 24, 2021
Want to Hire the Best Tech Talent? Build the Best Culture First.
For Employers Hiring developers The Future of Work

Want to Hire the Best Tech Talent? Build the Best Culture First.

Target Corp’s Senior Engineering Manager reveals three characteristics that make for a strong team culture: employee empowerment, appreciation, and trust.

In the last few years, there has been a sharp increase in demand for developers capable of providing solutions to complex software problems. As a result, organizations face an uphill battle as they try to recruit the most skilled technical talent. According to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, the demand for software engineers in the US will exceed the number of available developers by at least 1.2 million by 2026. 

Hiring great engineers is destined to become even more challenging. So how can organizations recruit the tech talent they need? One way, says Kate Wardin, a Senior Engineering Manager at Target Corp, is to build a solid software team culture that engineers will love.

Kate goes further by highlighting three engineering characteristics that make a software culture standout:

Remove roadblocks and empower your team members

Remove delays in projects as they lower both—motivation and productivity in teams. Encourage developers to suggest ways to make the workflow as fluid as possible. Spend time and energy to identify the painful processes that cause friction in work. This process can be as quick as asking your teammates, “What would make life easier for this team?” Act on their feedback immediately, and allocate appropriate budgets and time to fix the issues. 

Often, employees on the front lines are not involved in decision-making. Failing to solicit team-member input can be a very costly mistake, according to Wardin. Hence, it is essential to reach out to every team member to understand their ideas and perspectives. Build practices that amplify the voices of your team members. Ensure that you take decisions at the level where the best information is available. 

Share credit, take the blame, and put engineers first

Wardin recommends ‘creating a culture where employees advocate for one another, share praise for their peers’ accomplishments, and remain loyal to one another as they recover from issues.’ She explains that this will create a sense of inclusion and community among team members. 

As for taking the blame, bring an all-hands-on-deck mentality to fix issues during the production process. Focus on fixing the problem: Which tools, systems, or monitors can you introduce? Refrain from finger-pointing at all costs. Ensure that your employees don’t feel devalued in the process of delivering a solution. Create a no-blame process that encourages your people to spend their energy building superior technology.

Embrace vulnerability and build trust

Allow your employees to be vulnerable and make mistakes by setting the right examples. This practice will enable them to learn and grow through the process.

Trust is an essential characteristic of happy teams. There are two types of trust that you need to build within your team: affective and cognitive. Wardin explains: “Affective trust is ‘trust from the heart’—that sense of empathy based on feelings generated by interactions. Developing trust can be as simple as encouraging people to share stories about their life outside of work. Cognitive trust is trust from the head”—it’s your confidence in one another. You can develop cognitive trust by encouraging transparency and acknowledging areas where you tend to mess up.”

It is equally important to trust employees with their decisions and develop an open culture for better participation. Finally, focus on fostering an inclusive and psychologically safe environment for every person on your team.

We are at a pivotal point that demands organizations adapt to their employees’ needs and not the other way around. Recruiting and retaining the best talent will require employers to invest in their team’s culture just as they would invest in any other business asset. Therefore, engineering leaders should be relentless and consistent in their pursuit of exceptional engineering practices. Most importantly, they should articulate their intentions clearly and share their passion for improving the team’s culture with the team members to follow suit.  

Are you struggling to hire skilled and experienced remote software engineers? Turing can help. Turing’s automated platform lets companies “push a button” to hire senior, pre-vetted remote software developers. Access a talent pool of the top 1% of 700K+ developers with strong technical and communication skills who work in their time zone. There’s no risk. Turing offers a free two-week trial period to make certain your developers deliver to your standards

For more information, visit Turing’s Hire page.

Source: Techbeacon

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Hire Developers

By Aug 16, 2021
Developer on laptop taking the Turing test to get hired through Turing hire
BoundarylessEnterprise Case Studies Customer Testimonials For Employers Hiring developers

Learn how Turing helped Ohi Technologies hire Silicon Valley-caliber Remote Software Engineers

Ohi Technologies What does Ohi Technologies do? Ohi Technologies set out to build a 2-hour delivery platform for e-commerce companies utilizing smart warehouses and effective software solutions. What challenges did they face? Previously, hiring engineers at Ohi Technologies was a tedious process requiring a large pipeline of candidates. The amount of time and money spent… View Article

Ohi Technologies

What does Ohi Technologies do?

Ohi Technologies set out to build a 2-hour delivery platform for e-commerce companies utilizing smart warehouses and effective software solutions.

What challenges did they face?

Previously, hiring engineers at Ohi Technologies was a tedious process requiring a large pipeline of candidates. The amount of time and money spent on unsuccessful hires made the process costly and fraught with risk

In a prior role, VP of Engineering Nick Blanchet estimated it takes three months from start to finish to hire and onboard an engineer successfully. These challenges led Ohi Technologies to turn to Turing to fill their software development job vacancies. However, they initially felt that remote-distributed teams create other problems. Ohi was concerened having remote engineers would reduce transparency in productivity. Additionally, having a team of remote software developers would make it challenging to align time zones globally, and the overhead of performance management tracking and other HR responsibilities had the potential to slow them down. Not to mention that the overall cost of engineering in a highly competitive market was pricing them out.

How did Turing solve their problem?

Turing’s solution brought speed and efficiency to Ohi Technologies’ hiring process by providing pre-vetted and readily available engineers that could hit the ground running with minimal ramp-up.

“From the first call with Turing to hiring a team of three highly skilled software engineers that were able to start effectively handling tickets took less than one month.”

Additionally, Turing’s post-match product enabled their team to maintain productivity in a distributed team by providing visibility into their engineer’s daily activities. Turing also made collaboration and communication seamless by enforcing a required time zone overlap and daily updates. Turing’s approach to sourcing, vetting, and hiring remote engineering professionals globally at a very competitive cost enabled Ohi Technologies to find quality developers outside of high cost-of-living areas.

Results

Ohi Technologies was able to engage three Turing software engineers to scale their development quickly. The new hires enabled them to get their product to market rapidly and increase product demand and scalability. Ohi sees Turing as their long-term partner for building on-demand teams of engineers.

 

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Hire Developers

By Sep 9, 2020
How to keep remote software teams on schedule
For Employers Hiring developers

How to Keep Remote Software Teams on Schedule

Are you working with remote software teams? Here are eight tips that can help you make sure that your project is on schedule and your resources are not wasted.

For many managers, remote software teams are deemed undesirable because of the manager’s inability to physically supervise them, ensuring that they’re staying on schedule and completing tasks in a timely manner.

This concern can deter companies from hiring remotely, which is a shame due to all the benefits that come with employing remote workers- such as increased productivity and innovation, as well as decreased costs.

Luckily, in this article, we’re going to explore some methods as to how to keep your remote software team on schedule.

  1. Make sure that remote software teams have both a passion for the project, as well as the necessary skills to successfully complete it.

    During the hiring process, look for candidates with an obvious interest in the project that you’d potentially be hiring them to work on. After all, it’s no secret that an employee will be more dedicated to a project that they are passionate about.
    Additionally, test during the hiring process that the employee possesses the skills that they need to complete the project to your standards. A skilled employee is less likely to get caught up in obstacles than one who is less proficient.
  2. Make sure that you are aware of potential problems and how they may occur.

    As a manager, being prepared for a disaster and knowing what to do in the event that it happens, is the best way to keep a team moving forward. When assigning a project to a remote employee, do your research first and have a plan in place in the event of the worst case scenario. This will ensure that if the problem pops up, you’ll be able to fix it quickly, while keeping the employee on schedule to complete the project.
  3. Have regular check-ins so you know whether or not your remote software teams are on schedule.

    It’s difficult to feel as though you’re maintaining control over an employee when they aren’t with you in the office. Fortunately, with tools such as Skype, Google Hangouts, and Slack, it’s extremely easy to periodically check-in with remote workers. Check-in using video chat or simply a text chat. Ask the employee what they’ve completed, what they’re currently working on, and what they have left on their agenda for the day. If anything seems like it’s taking longer than it should or you think that another part of the process needs to be prioritized, don’t hesitate to voice your concerns. Open communication is the biggest key to success when it comes to managing remote workers.
  4. Assign deliverables to be completed in small chunks so that you have insight into how the project is going.

    Break the overall project into small parts and assign due dates for each section. This way, you can see each part of the puzzle as it’s completed, giving you an early look as to how everything is going to fit together to form the final product.
    Doing this will also allow you to catch any potential mistakes early on in development, saving everyone the headache of having to make corrections down the road.
  5. Assign buddies to your workers in remote software teams.

    Assigning buddies to remote employees is a great way to keep them on track. Additionally, by putting two minds together to complete a project, you’ll double their chances of success.
    Buddies can be local employees or another remote employee- whichever you’d prefer. Either way, assigning pairs when it comes to remote work is an amazing way to increase productivity, problem-solving ability, and more.
  6. Have a defined “problem escalation” process, which remote software teams can use.

    Similar to our point in #2, acknowledging potential problems and deciding how to solve them before they happen, is a great strategy when it comes to keeping employees from drifting off course. Nothing causes a project to be set back like the unearthing of massive problem, late in the game.
    While you, as a manager, should be aware of potential problems and methods for solving them, you should also make your remote employees aware of the problems and solutions. This way, if everything goes wrong, you’ll know that both you and your remote worker understand what went wrong and how to go about fixing it.
  7. Have a plan for securing additional resources, in the event of a problem.

    Should a problem arise, be sure that you have members of your local team on standby to help your remote employees out. When it comes to a crisis, you should have an “all hands on deck” policy, so that your remote worker doesn’t feel as though they’re an abandoned, sinking ship.
  8. Build in extra time and resources.

    If a project must absolutely be completed by a specific date, then be sure to start it early, setting the initial “due date” for weeks (or even months) before it is necessary to have it finalized. Additionally, take on the expense of being prepared by having extra resources available to employees while they work on the project.
    Extra time and resources may seem unnecessary at the start of a project, however, you and your employees will be grateful for the cushion, should a problem occur.

Once again, when it comes to a project being completed by remote employees, knowing how to dodge and fix problems before it’s a necessity, is crucial to keeping remote workers on schedule.

A remote worker that winds up off-schedule wastes company time and money, potentially even throwing off the launch of a new product.

To get the most value out of your remote employees, you’ll need to adjust your management styles to allow for as little error as possible.

Getting the most out of remote workers starts with the people that you hire. At Turing, we thoroughly pre-vet our remote software engineers, requiring them go through multiple rounds of interviews, testing, and background checks. After that, we only accept the top 1% of applicants into our database, guaranteeing that our customers are matched to the highest quality remote workers.

Visit our website to start building your remote team with Turing.

Tell us the skills you need and we'll find the best developer for you in days, not weeks.

Hire Developers

By Feb 5, 2019
Hiring remote workers
For Employers Hiring developers Remote First How-to

Hiring Remote Workers vs. Local Workers | Turing Hire

There are times and situations when hiring remote workers is better for your company, while other times, the opposite is true. Part of being a good manager involves being able to differentiate between these scenarios and make the best hiring decision for the company. To help you in doing just that, here is a brief… View Article

There are times and situations when hiring remote workers is better for your company, while other times, the opposite is true. Part of being a good manager involves being able to differentiate between these scenarios and make the best hiring decision for the company.

To help you in doing just that, here is a brief guide as to what questions to ask yourself when it comes to hiring locally vs. remotely:

  1. How long will I need this employee for?

    If you’re looking for a long-term employee then hiring someone locally and full-time is your best bet. However, if you just need to bring someone on board to complete a short-term project, you should consider hiring remotely. Remote workers very often operate as freelancers, meaning that they jump from project to project, rather than looking for full-time positions with companies. Due to this, if looking to assign someone to a short-term project, a remote worker will complete the job at a reduced rate, without any long-term commitments necessary.

  2. How much money is in the budget for new hires?

    The number one reason as to why companies opt for remote employees over local talent, is the cost. Employee benefits, taxes, and so on, wind up costing companies a fortune for every new hire. These expenses can be avoided by hiring a remote worker. For one, remote hires and freelancers don’t require benefits. For another, if you’re hiring remotely from the global market, certain U.S. taxation isn’t a factor, saving you money in that department as well.

  3. Are my current employees stuck in a creative rut?

    By working with remote workers, you gain access to a diverse group, including members from different disciplines and cultures, from all over the world. Diversity and different viewpoints often lead to innovative breakthroughs and new ideas among teams.
    Introducing remote employees to your existing teams can help spark some fresh, creative ideas and solutions so if your workplace needs to shake things up, hiring remotely may be the way to go.

  4. Do I have the necessary tools to work seamlessly with a remote employee?

    You typically don’t meet your remote workers and because of this physical gap, communication becomes even more imperative than usual. It’s for this reason that tools such as Skype/ Google Hangouts, Slack, Trello, and Time Doctor become so important. These tools, designed to improve communication between team members (especially remote team members) can help you, as a manager, do everything from keeping in contact with remote employees to monitoring their work hours.
    Before hiring remotely, you should look into these tools and be sure that you know how to access and use them. This could make the difference between a positive experience and a negative one, when it comes to remote workers.

There are many benefits when it comes to hiring remotely, rather than locally. If hiring a remote worker seems like the best fit for your company, it is absolutely something to consider.

If you’re interested in bringing a remote software engineer on board, look into hiring through Turing. Turing matches companies with elite, pre-vetted remote software engineers. By accepting only the top 1% of applicants into our engineer database, (only after they’ve gone through a series of interviews, tests, and background checks), we can guarantee the absolute highest quality remote engineers in the world.

Visit our website to start building your remote team, today.

Tell us the skills you need and we'll find the best developer for you in days, not weeks.

Hire Developers

By Feb 4, 2019
Attract best remote workers
For Employers Hiring developers

How to Attract the Right Remote Workers

Once you’ve decided to hire remote workers, finding the right candidate is half the battle. The best way to go about this is to adopt a “pull approach”, instead of a “push approach”. This means attracting the best candidates to you, as opposed to going out and scouting for workers. Here are a few great… View Article

Once you’ve decided to hire remote workers, finding the right candidate is half the battle. The best way to go about this is to adopt a “pull approach”, instead of a “push approach”. This means attracting the best candidates to you, as opposed to going out and scouting for workers.

Here are a few great ways to do just that:

  1. Sell Vision, Not Just Tasks to your Remote Workers

    You’re telling a story; you’re selling dreams; you’re putting your vision out there to inspire millions of people. Do not advertise your jobs as a mundane task-list, so to speak. Sell the vision- really, sell it. Talk about how the position can enhance the life of a remote worker, as well as the skills they’ll be using and learning. There is neither a shortage of talent nor of companies so it’s very important to make yourself stand out if you want to work with the best talent.

  2. Communication

    Communicate to your candidates how you will be working together, what your management process is like and what working at your company is like. Your language and grammar should make them want to be a part of the team. This isn’t about showmanship either- actually believe in and bring to life the picture that you paint. Satisfy your teams. Remember, too, that word of mouth spreads like wildfire.

  3. Benefits

    Add benefits for your freelancers. This can be along the lines of a monetary benefit or a free laptop. Small investments set you apart from the vast majority of companies recruiting remote workers. Most firms don’t offer any benefits to their remote workers, because their motive is to save as much money as possible. However, spending a few hundred dollars here and there on your remote employees will immediately make your company more appealing, as well as increase retention rates.

Half of the work when it comes to the process of hiring remote employees is finding the right candidates in a stack of applications. By drawing numerous qualified individuals to you, you will never be short of options, allowing you to hire the absolute best, in terms of talent.

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Hire Developers

By Feb 1, 2019
How to Find Best Remote Software Developers From Around the World
For Employers Hiring developers

How to Find Great Remote Candidates from Around the World | Turing Jobs

Here are a few tips that can help you hire the best remote software developers from a global talent pool with the help of Turing.

The world is your oyster. If you’re a recruiter or manager, do not limit yourself to within the confines of narrow domestic walls and borders—look everywhere! Obviously, the global talent pool is significantly larger than that of any one state or nation; however, with so many people, it can get a little tricky to find your ideal candidate. Here’s a list of five techniques that you can implement to hire and retain the best remote software developers from around the world:

  1. Take the road less travelled

    Make sure that you’re looking for talent in the right markets. You may be tempted to seek out candidates from big cities and countries- India, for example. However, it’s important to note that you’d be competing with multiple, large companies for talent in popular locations. Google, Microsoft, Facebook- all of these tech giants recruit heavily from countries like India and China.
    If you want to find the right talent and spare yourself a battle against bigger companies, you’d be better off looking for employees in less popular locations. At Turing, for example, we recruit extensively from Eastern European and South American markets, which aren’t the first places that come to mind when you’re thinking about hiring abroad. Due to this, we’re easily able to get great talent at a fraction of the cost. As a result, we’ve seen both our productivity and efficiency increase.
    So, if you want to find great talent around the world, you must be innovative and willing to take the road less travelled.

  2. Want to hire remote software developers? Ask around for referrals

    Birds of a feather flock together. According to a recent LinkedIn report, nearly 50% of businesses in the US get quality hires through employee referrals – so, ask around. If you have remote workers already, see if they know of any eligible candidates that would like to work for you. Incentivize this process (monetary benefits work very well) and you’ve got yourself a solid plan to find quality talent from anywhere in the world.

  3. Pull vs. Push

    Exercise a “pull” appeal over a “push” appeal. This means that you’re drawing potential clients and employees to you, rather than going out of your way to find them.
    The best way to do this is to establish your company as a place that people all over the globe are attracted to and want to work for. Highlight your global talent and inclusion; express how your business will change the world; and elaborate upon the global reach of your operation.
    In essence: create your brand. If you’re able to position yourself as an employee-centric company that provides a plethora of benefits to its workers and actively brings on global talent, then you’re far more likely to attract amazing employees.

  4. Remote software developers will prefer diverse work

    Nothing acts as a better incentive than the promise of performing exciting and diverse tasks. Make sure to involve your employees (local or global) in tasks that are engaging and exciting.
    Many roles involve a heavy amount of grind work, a.k.a. repetitive, monotonous tasks from 9 to 5. However, even in such roles there is always a way to make things exciting. Make it a point to involve your global employees in interesting and different projects, giving them the chance to grow. A healthy work environment will make for happy employees, which, in turn, will inspire positive word of mouth.

  5. Post in niche communities to find the best remote software developers

    Hiring remote software developers

    Post in niche communities



    There are three key steps to finding great talent: network, network, and network.
    In a 2017 report, conducted by LinkedIn, 95% of companies (surveyed in regards to their recruiting trends) stated that they’ve successfully hired from LinkedIn, while 24% pointed towards Facebook and 16% used Twitter. This just proves that you should be using social media platforms to your advantage. After all, thanks to the internet, the world is (quite literally) at your fingertips. That being said, be aware that different countries use different social media platforms so depending on which country you’re targeting, you may have to use a unique platform to post jobs. Make sure that you’ve done your research and are educated on how the country virtually functions.
    Additionally, be sure that you’re attending local and international conferences, as they make for great networking events. The further that you expand your circle of connections, the more likely you are to come across great talent.

Hiring talent beyond national and state borders means a larger talent pool, allowing you to connect with (and potentially hire) more talented workers, at a lower cost, than your competition.

The key to hiring globally is to look beyond the obvious markets, utilize social media and networking platforms, leverage your employees’ connections with a referral program, and position yourself as a company of choice for people all over the world. In no time, you will find your company full of international talent.

Tell us the skills you need and we'll find the best developer for you in days, not weeks.

Hire Developers

By Jan 31, 2019
People sitting at a table working on a compute looking to hire remote workers
For Employers Hiring developers The Future of Work

The Importance of Hiring the Best Talent, Irrespective of Where They Are Located

When it comes to deciding who to hire, most employers specifically look for applicants located in proximity to the office. Candidates who can physically come into the office every day is a preference shared by many companies. However, this approach (while traditional) does not always guarantee that the applicant awarded the position, is the most… View Article

When it comes to deciding who to hire, most employers specifically look for applicants located in proximity to the office.

Candidates who can physically come into the office every day is a preference shared by many companies. However, this approach (while traditional) does not always guarantee that the applicant awarded the position, is the most talented candidate available nor the best fit for the job.

Hiring remotely is a fairly new concept in the business world. Thanks to the internet, as well as advances in technology over the last few decades, it is now entirely possible for a company located in the United States to employ a worker from India, without anyone having to relocate.

The rate of people around the world opting to work remotely is continuously rising, allowing more and more companies a chance at choosing employees from a far wider talent pool. Despite this, many companies are too deterred by the thought of hiring someone who would never step foot into the office, to consider the benefits of remote workers.

Here are just a few benefits that come with hiring remotely that you should consider before writing off these applicants:

Remote workers are proven to have increased levels of productivity

In an experiment conducted by Stanford professor, Nicholas Bloom, it is proven that employees who work from home have higher levels of productivity and concentration. After all, these workers are in a comfortable environment, don’t have to worry about a commute, and have better work-life balances. Their happiness translates into quality work. Bloom recorded a 13% improvement in performance among remote workers.

Research show a decreased rate of employee turnover, among remote workers

In the same study, Bloom found that resignations from companies dropped 50% when employees were working remotely. After all, employees leave their jobs for a multitude of reasons, popular ones being too long of commute, need more time with their family, moving, etc. By taking away the stipulation that they MUST be present in the office to keep their position with the company, there are far fewer reasons for an employee to feel the urge to hand in their two weeks notice.

Companies are proven to save money when their employees are working remotely

Fewer employees within the office means that, as an employer, you don’t have to rent as large of an office space. Additionally, if your company pays for employee meals, transportation, relocation, etc.; you can cut all of those expenses by hiring remotely.

There are a vast number of benefits when it comes to hiring remotely, so why wouldn’t you choose an insanely talented remote worker over a locally based, yet mediocre, employee?

The concept of remote employees may seem strange at first, but the world is rapidly changing. Every year, more and more talented individuals decide to work remotely and this trend is only going to continue. Don’t miss out on the best talent that the world has to offer, solely because that employee works remotely.

If perhaps, you are on the lookout to hire talented remote developers, then you need not look any further than Turing. So just click here to hire pre-vetted, rigorously interviewed and top-tier developers from across the world.

Tell us the skills you need and we'll find the best developer for you in days, not weeks.

Hire Developers

By Jan 29, 2019
Personality Traits to Look for in Remote Workers
For Employers Hiring developers

Personality Traits to Look for in Remote Workers

When it comes to hiring remote workers, looking only at knowledge, skills, and experience is simply not enough. Regular hires will be in the office alongside you, day after day, giving you the opportunity to get to know them, supervise them, and directly communicate with them. When it comes to an employee working remotely, there… View Article

When it comes to hiring remote workers, looking only at knowledge, skills, and experience is simply not enough.

Regular hires will be in the office alongside you, day after day, giving you the opportunity to get to know them, supervise them, and directly communicate with them. When it comes to an employee working remotely, there will be a bit of a natural disconnect. Due to this, personality traits are just as important (if not more important) than basic qualifications as your company is deciding who to hire.

The following is a list of personality traits to lookout for while sifting through applicants:

  1. They’re a self-starters.

    Working remotely requires a great deal of self-discipline. You want to be sure that the worker you hire is independent and able to complete tasks in an organized, timely manner, without you having to constantly check up on them.
    In order to find the applicants who possess this trait, look for prospects who have worked remotely in the past. Be sure to check their references and look at work samples.
  2. Remote workers follow through.

    Make sure that potential hires are able to both start and finish projects in an efficient and professional manner. A good way to test this is by giving potential candidates a trial assignment or small project. This will allow you to gauge everything from their work ethic to skill level.
  3. Your remote workers are organized.

    Organization is key for a remote worker to be successful in their position and keep themselves on task, outside of an office setting. It’s a bit more difficult to really see who excels at organization and who doesn’t, but trial assignments, reference checks, and a Skype interview may give you a decent idea.
  4. Your remote workers are able to communicate effectively.

    How to manage remote workers

    Remote workers are able to communicate properly

    You need a remote worker who can communicate with you as effectively as possible. This can be a difficult task from miles and miles away, but communication is necessary to the success of the employee. Pay close attention to their communication skills during the interview process. Be sure that their messages are well-written and to the point, that you speak (and understand) the same language, and that they’re open to speaking over the phone or video chat throughout the day, as necessary.
  5. They have the ability to handle criticism.

    There may come a time where you may need to correct your remote worker. If they don’t handle criticisms with grace, then that could potentially cause serious problems over the course of their employment. Find someone who is positive and excited to learn and grow. To find these applicants in the stack, give some constructive criticism to the candidate during their trial assignment. How they react to it (check facial expressions, word choice, etc.), will tell you all you need to know.

Remote workers are the future of industry. While hiring someone to work outside of the office may seem like a strange and problematic concept, problems with remote employees can easily be avoided if you hire the right people.

If possible, try to hire through a website like Turing. Turing focuses on finding job placements for remote software engineers and only takes the top 1% of applicants. This means that every remote worker we match with a company, is guaranteed to be the best in terms of quality and performance.

Tell us the skills you need and we'll find the best developer for you in days, not weeks.

Hire Developers

By Jan 28, 2019
Things to Avoid When Hiring Remote Employees
For Employers Hiring developers The Future of Work

Things to Avoid When Hiring Remote Employees

Are you hiring remote teams? Here are the things that you should avoid while hiring remote teams in order to succeed in this boundaryless era.

Remote teams are everywhere.

I’d call them the future, but really, they define the present. In the United States alone, 43% of the workforce has already spent part of their career working remotely. If trends are anything to go by, this number is only going to continue to grow.

As a manager, hiring (and retaining) remote workers can be a challenging task. You’re looking for someone who is skilled, flexible, and a good communicator, while also being able to divide their time and prioritize tasks. With such a broad set of criteria and a seemingly bottomless well of candidates to choose from, narrowing down to the perfect candidate can feel a lot like finding a needle in a haystack.

If you’ve found yourself unsure of how to proceed with filtering through your stack of applications, simply follow this 4-point guide, outlining what to avoid when hiring remote teams.

  1. Hiring remote employees? “Versatile Communicator, Wherefore Art Thou?”

    manage remote teams

    Communication is the key manage remote teams

    Sound communication is the spine of any team. Therefore, it is important to hire people who are skilled (and versatile) communicators.
    For instance, you don’t want to hire an engineer who only uses e-mail as a means to communicate. Though text is the most common method of communication among remote teams, you’d ideally want a freelancer who is flexible and adept at different mediums—video, in particular.
    This probably goes without saying, but it’s also extremely important to hire workers who are comfortable with the language that you operate in. Very frequently, companies prioritize other qualities over communication and this just harms them in the long run.
    Other important qualities to search for are the abilities to both follow clear tasks and prioritize cleverly. Additionally, you want to be sure that the remote workers you hire are a good fit for your company’s culture.
    As a manager, your focus should be on the big picture and in the long run, communication has a substantial and directly proportional impact on productivity. By ensuring that you choose candidates who are able to communicate effectively, you will avoid a lot of potential problems in the workplace.

  2. Prioritizing only hard skills 

    Say you’re hiring a remote engineer and have two candidates to choose from:

    • Tommy, who’s very talented but has low self-direction and interpersonal skills.
    • Timmy, who isn’t quite as talented as Tommy but is more organized, alert and passionate.
      Who would you pick?
      If you’re working within a remote setup, it’s probably a better choice to hire Timmy.
      Things like self-direction and motivation can be worked on if you’re working in the same physical space, but it can get harder remotely. Due to this, it’s important to ask behavioral questions, along with skill-based questions, in order to understand what kind of person the candidate is, in addition to their knowledge of the field.
      Arguably, in the remote space, a more adept and sharper communicator is better to have than a very talented employee with limited communication skills.
  3. Ignoring time zones while hiring remote teams

    AMs and PMs flipped over their heads—what is time in the modern age?
    True, in today’s modern world, it’s easier to communicate across hemispheres, but still, it’s certainly better to work with someone operating out of a similar time zone.
    When hiring candidates for remote work, ensure that they are comfortable with your company’s hours of operations. At the same time, you must also be cognizant of their time schedule and be flexible accordingly.

  4. Targeting only the crowded talent pools when hiring remote teams

    You don’t want to be where everyone else is. If you can help it, search for workers in less crowded markets. For example, if you’re looking to hire remote engineers, look in Eastern Europe rather than India.
    The reasoning behind this is that in bigger and more popular markets, you’ll end up competing against business giants like Google and IBM for human resources. Any situation that involves you battling it out against a company like Google will be an uphill task that should be avoided at all costs.

Hiring remote workers can be tricky, but if you follow the right steps, it can be an optimal solution for your company. By knowing what to avoid when it comes to hiring remote talent, you will be able to easily narrow down candidates, making the process far less tedious, and therefore, less daunting.

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By Jan 23, 2019
Hire remote engineers
For Employers Hiring developers

5 Tips for Hiring Remote Engineering Teams

Is your company looking to hire remote engineers? Here are some tips that can help you hire the best remote engineering teams.

How do I hire a remote software engineer? If your company is looking to hire remote engineers for the first time, you may have a lot of questions about how to go about starting the process. If you’re searching for a beginner’s guide on where and how to begin locating the field’s best remote talent, then look no further.

Here are 5 tips to help you hire the best remote engineering teams:

  1. Similar working style when hiring remote engineers

    Hiring remote workers is a lot like entering a relationship. You’re a certain person; they’re a certain person. For things to work out, you have to have enough in common that you’re able to gel together.
    Here’s an example: You’re a manager that prefers video calling over e-mail. You work with remote teams and video calling allows for a more personal conversation, which is very important to you. Ergo, it is imperative that the remote workers you employ are comfortable with using video chat technology as a means of communication.
    It is important that your ideals and the ideals of your remote team mesh, especially since you will not have the opportunity to see them every day around the office in order to establish a working relationship.

  2. Quality above all else

    Half the challenges of working with a remote team can be solved if you work with high-quality, talented engineers. The best engineers are 800% more productive than average engineers—go for the best.
    As intuitive as this seems, it’s something a lot of companies overlook. As much as possible, do not settle; always intend to get the best resources for your company—quality above all else.

  3. “You say good morning when it’s good night”

    A large part of working together is communication. Due to the simple fact that solid and frequent communication is difficult across time-zones, working with remote engineers, based in a similar time-zone as your company, will make everyone’s lives easier.
    Of course, each company is unique, and you may have different priorities, but looking for persons in your time-zone is ideal. For example, at Turing we’ve implemented a sophisticated machine learning system that pairs you with an engineer that works best with your specific situation. Since the system is intelligent, it adapts to your dynamic and ever-changing needs without any difficulty.
    (Read more about our machine learning system here.)

  4. Hiring remote engineers? Don’t follow the masses.

    A Yoda-esque statement, perhaps: Look not where others are, but where they are not.
    For example, if a big company—Google, let’s say—has lots of offices in India, then you’re better off not looking for developers there because you’ll be competing with them for remote engineers. While engineers from India may be a solid option depending on what your company’s needs are, any situation that involves you competing with Google is going to be a battle that you probably won’t win.
    When searching for remote talent in the field of engineering, it’s best if you can find a market that’s not as saturated and look for workers there. Counter trends; think and look strategically.

  5. Hire pre-vetted remote engineers

    If you’re a hiring manager looking to hire remote engineers, one question that will come to your mind is: Are these remote engineers reliable and credible enough to work with?

    You will have to ensure that whoever you hire is trustworthy, experienced, and can fit right into your company’s culture. You will have to grow through various rounds of interviews, do a background check, and spend a lot of time screening the candidates for the right person to hire.

    Or, you can go for the pre-vetted remote engineers. What does a pre-vetted engineer mean? It means that the remote engineer has been screened and has passed various rounds of interviews and tests that have been carefully designed to select the right candidate.

Summary

Hiring remote engineers is not an easy job. But, as the talent shifts to a boundaryless landscape, you’ll have to adapt to the new working environment sooner or later. Ensure that you hire the right people that are trustworthy and experienced. It’s also important to find engineers that align with your company’s values and ethics. A boundaryless landscape will also mean that your team will be working through different time zones. You will have to ensure that a seamless process is in place to ensure smooth operations across the teams.

Turing is the first talent cloud platform that hires remote engineers and developers from across the globe. With the carefully designed AI and machine learning, Turing provides you with the top 1% of 3 million+ pre-vetted, experienced professionals. Turing’s selection process is rigorous to ensure that you get to hire the best! 

At the end of the day, it is important that you hire remote engineers who are trustworthy, experienced, and fit easily in your company’s culture. With Turing, you can hire such professionals with just a click of a button. 

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By Jan 23, 2019