This article is part of our Software Development resource section.
Non-Technical Interview Questions to hire a Software Developer
Hiring software developers is a key stage of building a successful team to reach your business goals. Hiring is one important part of the broader software development process, where the right technical skills and people are needed to build, maintain, and improve digital products. Developers are the make-it-happeners, the ones who bring your vision to life. So you want to recruit the best, the most motivated, and results-driven professionals out there. Therefore, it comes as no surprise that assessing developers’ technical skill is just half of your recruiting assignment.
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Find people’s power source
If you want to build a team of high performers, you should look into their personalities, too.
- What drives them?
- What motivates them?
- What makes them go that extra mile?
There is a saying which goes like this: “Hire enthusiasm and hunger over skills”. Although slightly overstated, it does have a taste of truth.
People’s intrinsic nature is almost (if not exactly) as important as their hard skills. These qualities become especially valuable when developers work as part of a collaborative software development team where communication, adaptability, and shared responsibilities affect the success of a project.
In the tech world, hard skills are the very ground. Soft skills, however, are the seeds. Besides their professional competence, there are some other factors that directly influence developers’ performance. Culture is only one of them.
Clearly define the goals of the interview
Interviews are a very structured and well-defined form of communication. Therefore, you should have specific assessment parameters to keep in mind and skillfully invite your candidates to elaborate exactly on that ground.
In this article, we have you covered. If your hiring strategy involves an external team, understanding how to properly outsource custom software development can also help you establish clear expectations, responsibilities, and communication from the beginning. We go over 5 crucial aspects to keep in mind when recruiting a technical candidate and the non-technical questions you should ask to bring those aspects into the spotlight.
So let’s dive right into them. When building a team internally is not the best option, businesses can also consider the reasons to outsource custom software development services and determine whether external expertise fits their project needs.
1. Intrinsic motivation
Being simply good at something is never enough. Instead, the best candidates are those who are constantly looking to improve their skillset. Therefore, pay attention to why people took a specific position.
Q: Why did you take your most recent job? What was your motivation to commit to it and what made you give up?
Asking about the past jobs detaches them from their present application, which subtly makes people more honest about their primary motivations.
2. Fail management
Mistakes are a natural part of growth. However, you want your team to perform at their best. And if mistakes occur, you want them to take responsibility for coping and solving them efficiently.
Therefore, aim to listen to a specific situation when they have mistaken and more importantly – how did they overcome the situation.
Q: Tell me about a professional mistake you made and the way you reacted/solved it.
Being aware of common mistakes while outsourcing software development can help businesses avoid unnecessary costs, communication problems, delays, and poor project outcomes.
3. Behavioral patterns
Challenges are a natural part of work. This is especially relevant in specialized fields such as fintech, where open banking software developers may need to handle complex technical, security, and regulatory challenges. Some people approach them enthusiastically, with curiosity and an open mind. Others get set back when challenges emerge. And that’s a point where you need to know exactly where your candidates stand.
Q: What was the biggest obstacle you faced on your last project? How did you feel about it and which actions did you take?
Questions like these can be particularly useful when evaluating developers for emerging technology projects, such as creating WebAR with a software development company, where problem-solving and adaptability are important.
4. Truthfulness of past experiences
Having some experience bullet-pointed in their CV is essential, but not enough. For website projects, employers can apply the same principle by learning how to hire the right web developer and evaluating candidates beyond the skills listed on their CV. At this point, looking into candidates’ experience from a non-technical point of view definitely has its perks.
Listen to their interpretation of how they excelled and how they perceive their growth factors. These qualities are closely connected to the competencies of successful software developers, which include more than technical knowledge alone.
Q: Tell me about the 3 most valuable skills you have polished during the last 3 years of experience. Did you learn them the easy or the hard way? What helped you excel?
For specialized ecommerce roles, these questions can also help when you need to hire a Magento developer with both platform-specific expertise and practical problem-solving skills.
5. Commitment scout
Here’s the truth. The talent you hire is the talent you put into your business. For mobile projects, these considerations can also help when learning how to hire the best mobile app developers on a budget while balancing technical expertise with development costs.
Reread this.
You should seek not only to validate candidates’ professionalism but also their willingness to commit to reaching your objectives and how exactly they plan on doing so.
Q: What makes this project/position attractive to you? Which personal input you can bring to the team and how is that valuable to meeting our objectives?
Key take-aways
Recruitment can make or break your game. If you are considering an external development partner instead of hiring individual developers, understanding what makes a good software development company can help you evaluate its technical expertise, communication, and reliability. This is a stage where you can not admit failure or underachievement. Fortunately, there are some online projects like Turnkey Labs devoted to helping you hire the people who can serve your particular objectives and values the best.
Businesses that prefer working with an established provider can also consider a software development company when they need access to multiple technical specialists and development resources. When mapping your objectives with the right candidates, they focus on your particular needs and values.
Thus, using Yourshoring services saves your two most valuable resources (time and money), while helping you acquire the third one: human talents.
This way, non-technical founders can get all the support they need in recruiting technical talents and building a high-performing team.
Needless to say, that is the green light for bringing visions into reality.
