How To Hire Best Mobile App Developers
Having a brilliant mobile app idea doesn’t mean that you will become successful tomorrow. The major component of its success is in the hands of mobile app developers. So it’s crucial to find a skilled team of engineers who will understand your plan and find the best way to bring it to life. If you are lost in a ton of mobile app development companies, this guide will help you avoid common pitfalls during the process of finding developers.
Selection Criteria
Portfolio
Look at the company’s portfolio, it is usually placed on their website. If there is no portfolio, the company is probably not trustworthy. While browsing the portfolio, find out if the company has expertise in technologies and industries similar to those you plan to go with. You are lucky if you also find a step-by-step description of their development process.
Client reviews
Analyze clients’ reviews and the company’s reaction to them. Reviews may be found by searching for “company_name reviews” or visiting popular review websites such as GoodFirms or Clutch. Also, you can find some useful information on the company’s website and their LinkedIn profile. But don’t trust all the reviews — some companies buy positive reviews.
Location
American and European companies usually have higher hourly rates, however, communication with nearshore developers may be much more convenient. Next door cooperation may become a benefit if your requirements are not clear.
Communication
From the first second of communication, take notice of how quickly managers reply, and whether they are friendly and polite to you or not. Consider if they ask questions to outline all your requirements and if your application idea excites them. Also, you should ask as much as possible questions to provide them with more details. Below, we described some common initial questions to ask your contractor.
Common questions
- Why should we choose your company?
- Could you share a list of your recent clients?
- What was your best mobile project? What was the worst one? What problems did you face with while developing them?
- Is my idea viable in your opinion and why?
- What will you do if the deadlines expire?
- Who can I connect with in case of an emergency?
- How is the development process going?
- Who will own the source code?
Does the company understand your industry?
To build a suitable app, the company needs to have experience in your niche or at least understand the specificity of your business. If they claim to have experience in the area, ask them to prove it by sending a portfolio of similar projects.
How will we communicate?
Frequent communication is the most important component of a successful development process. Be attentive if the company is located in a different timezone; constant attempts to match your work schedules will tire you out faster than you get your app ready. Even if you are ready to accept such a challenge, discuss all the aspects in detail:
- how you will communicate (via phone, Skype, Zoom, or through email);
- how often you will get the project updates;
- who you will communicate with.
What about the budget?
Ask the company to send you a calculation of the project cost, the hourly rates they used to estimate it, and development steps description with approximate deadlines. The budget will grow, remember it. Adding new features, managing unexpected bugs, waiting for your approval — all these things matter. Also, ask them about how they will deal if you are not pleased with the final solution.
What will be the app testing method?
According to the research by Adjust, users delete buggy apps in 5.8 days since the last usage. So, stable work is essential to succeed. For this, the company has to be able to fix the bugs as soon as they appear. Thus, ask them how they eliminate errors.
What about data safety and back-up plans?
If hackers get access to your application, they can reprogram the app’s features and redesign it to spread mobile malware. The consequences may be unpredictable, so you’d better look for the companies that concern for security.
Does the company provide technical support after a mobile app is launched?
Mobile app development includes a lot of stages; their number usually varies from five to ten. Sometimes, after the product launch, users find bugs that need to be fixed. Of course, it requires the involvement of the developers that worked in the project and it’s great when the company offers post-release maintenance.
Does the company offer marketing services?
This is not an essential part of your cooperation but some mobile app development companies offer marketing services. It can save a lot of your time and money because you will receive all-inclusive development and promotion services in one place.
Who will submit a mobile app to the app store?
If you are a non-technical person and want the company to do everything for you, look for the ones who know how to publish the apps at the app store. It may turn out to be a long and complex process that your contractors should be ready to cope with.
It’s Time To Make a Choice
You collected all the information about your possible contractors; now it’s time to decide which of them will implement your idea.
The first and most important is not to hurry. Weigh all the advantages and disadvantages of every company, taking your impressions into account. In the end, select the most suitable one and give them a test task before taking up the entire application.
I hope the article was useful for you, I will be pleased to see any of your reactions.