In the current climate, it’s not easy to get a job. Whereas candidates used to be able to lock down a position with a solid resumé and a charismatic smile, current applicants are put through arduous tests and stressful interviews just to be told they aren’t a good fit. However, while most industries are experiencing an overabundance of talent, one sector is still in need of quality employees: software development.
According to the State of Software Development in 2017 report from Coding Sans, the biggest challenge startups are facing in software development is hiring talent. Considering the need for software developers and the notable lack of candidates in this field, this problem is to be expected. So how can you fix it? Fortunately, Coding Sans provides some solutions to this all too common issue.
“The most popular way to overcome this challenge is to hire a head hunter or agency and also to use professional connections to get talent on board,” wrote the authors of the study. “Another way is to allocate more time for hiring and posting job offers on job websites.”
Why are these positions so hard to fill? The study, which surveyed 126 people working at startups, that it takes on average a little more than seven weeks to recruit a quality software developer. That, in so many words, is a very long time, especially in the startup world. The study also showed that startups value past experience over everything else when hiring a software developer, followed by culture fit and test/side projects.
Building a team is hard enough as it is. Interviews take time and resources, training is a complicated and exhausting process, and tragically enough, new employees don’t always work out. When you add the complication of a small talent pool to choose from, and the burden can often be too much to bare, especially for budding startups that need all the resources they can get.
If you want to check out the rest of the study, you can download it here. If you’re interested in finding out what other challenges startups are facing in software development, check out the graph below from the Coding Sans.
