Remote development is getting popular among businesses today. It provides the flexibility of work to remote developers helping deliver successful products faster.

Finding the right team of remote developers is a challenging process, but when it comes to hiring someone to work remotely for you, the challenges become even more daunting.

With the remote revolution being unstoppable, companies of all sizes are exploring the “remote work” style and are seeking the best remote talents across the globe.

According to the Gartner report, remote mass workers in the US could stay after COVID-19.

However, hiring the right remote workforce can be turmoil for many techs & product companies who have never worked remotely and found it hard to cope with this new normal.

If you are still in two minds about reaching out to a global talent market, this article will guide you through checking every skillset required for remote developers. Let’s have a look at all of them.

1. Must Possess An In-Depth Technical Knowledge

One of the most vital skills that a remote developer must possess is an in-depth knowledge of trending technologies and the rich industry experience required for the project. Ensure the developer is experienced well while working with multiple technologies, preferably in similar projects.

They should also know the industry-driven standards and find robust and reliable solutions for all issues that arise during development.

The remote worker must possess development and deployment processes, task management software, version control, full-stack, etc.

Moreover, to ensure your chosen developer has the required skills, you can:

• Ask for work samples
• Conduct a technical interview
• Hire web developers from hackathons
• Present them to mock programming scenarios
• Ask for a credible reference

2. Must Be Flexible in Learning & Work Patterns

Having great technical knowledge is not enough for the remote developer's professional growth. They must follow a flexible approach to their work. They must be keen to adapt to project demands, arrange a schedule per deadline, and modify work patterns based on the project’s requirements.

The developer should feel comfortable and flexible when dealing with issues and take feedback positively. The programmer must be equally invested in your app or website's success and take ownership of their work.

3. Must Have Good Intuition Power and a Positive Attitude

Not everyone owns a good intuition power. When your experience doesn’t provide the solution, intuition does.

Great developers create intuition by working with algorithms extensively. So that they can understand issues faster, come up with a better solution, and provide creative ideas. 

You can complement intuition with a positive attitude. The candidate must be enthusiastic about their work and deliver their best, especially evident through an online disc assessment.

Not only the developer considers only compliments for their, but also he should be ready to take criticism positively without being offended.

4. Must Own Problem Solving Capabilities

Problem-solving ability is an add-on skill that adds a sparkle to the candidate's profile and personality. They need to be able to solve issues on time, crack out a solution and deal with unforeseen problems efficiently. Be it a bug in the code structure or a scalability issue during deployment. Your developer must be well-equipped to address each of the matters smartly. 

The problem needs to be solved beyond doubt while working with complex codes and teams. 

5. Must possess Enthusiasm And Built Innovative Ideas While Working Remotely

Your remote developer must feel enthusiastic and innovative while writing code. It is quite possible that they may not find ready code snippets in many cases; then, they can use their creativity to find a reliable solution.

Their enthusiasm and creativity led them to learn new programming languages and experiment with codes and designs.

They might ask you some questions showing their curiosity about work:

• Is there any features missing from the website?
• At what situation this code would not work?
• Can you find bugs in my product?
• Is your code scalable?

These questions help the remote developer to identify which areas need improvement.

6. Must Own Good Communication Skills and Team Management

Good communication skills work simultaneously with development expertise.

Good communication skills go hand-in-hand with development expertise. An experienced and expert remote developer must be capable of communicating seamlessly with their manager and teammates about the goals, ideas, and issues associated with the project. 

Remote workers often face specific communication challenges while working remotely. Remote developers must possess an ability to always keeps in touch with superiors throughout an entire project means letting your managers know about the overall progress of the project and the bugs coming on the way. They must know all the remote tools for smooth communication and keep everyone involved on the same page faster and easier.

These remote tools help you communicate and work seamlessly with your teammates while you can also manage your work at the same time.

7. Have Past Working Experience

Remote developers are experienced when dealing with trending technologies and standard programs under the employment of top companies.

Understanding the latest coding languages is crucial for remote developers as not every company uses the same infrastructure.

As they do not come to the office regularly, it was believed that they own a certain level of expertise with the programs necessary to complete the task.

With experience, they already have the technical know-how to get things done. But they still need to be trained about what the company wants them to do.

8. Have An Ability To Provide Creative Solutions To Unique Problems

It might be possible that remote worker faces some critical problem during remote working, and they won’t have anyone to consult to fix the problem immediately.

In such a case, they could email the client about how they will fix the problem, but still, it could take a long time for them to respond.

But this is not the right solution to go ahead with since the developer could be working outside regular business hours, and the problem needs immediate attention.

In such situations, remote workers must have the ability to come up with a unique solution without contacting any employer for help.

Even if the employer is not satisfied with the solution they come up with, it could still be considered a temporary fix before a better one can be implemented later.

9. Must Have Good Interpersonal Skills To Work With Team Working At Different Locations

Good interpersonal skills are harder to find in the employee's skill set. To check the candidate's interpersonal skills, you can share your company culture and the team's interest and preferences about the company to see if your candidates share anything in common.

The remote worker must have good communication and interpersonal skills to work with other teammates working at different locations.

Moreover, make sure you learn more about the remote worker's personality, taste, behavior, etc. 

You can also conduct a personality assessment or quiz/questionnaire asking questions that prompt responses about their values, cause they believe in, or unique personality traits.

The answers to these questions will provide you with a clear idea of the candidate best fits your organization or fulfill your project requirements. 

10. Must Have Remote Work Experience And A Strong Knowledge Of Remote Tools

Permanent employees who never worked remotely would not get acquainted with remote tools. But with remote workers, the case is not the same. They must understand remote project management tools including Trello, Basecamp, Asana, etc. This will make you spend less time training them.

They should know every tool used during remote working. It helps remote developers to manage their workloads, track project deadlines and connect with their managers and teammates easier and faster.

So, asking about their past working experience and knowledge about remote tools is a must while hiring remote developers.

Concluding Thoughts

So, hiring a remote developer with a suitable skillset and experience is quite challenging.

There is a vast talent pool of remote developers seeking jobs. Also, a cheat sheet will enable CTOs to simplify their remote hiring process.

Identifying this skill set in candidates can enhance your productivity in the results of your recruitment process. However, before the hiring process begins, employers need to know where to look.

At Classic Informatics, we have over 300 software experts on board to help you plug any type of technology gap. You can hire remote developers or build a dedicated team for your next project. 

We can help you with a good start for any project or take an existing one to the next level by providing a pool of expert talent. Also, you can scale your team up or down by hiring remote developers from us.