3 things to know when looking for a web developer

Tips

Dec 19, 2017

User experience design

We quite frequently come across customers hoping to have finally found a web developer or web development team that can speak their language and deliver on what was promised from the outset.

Far too often do we hear from individuals/companies about their experiences of having become dissatisfied with the outcome of the project and have found it impossible to continue to steer it back to safety.

The following three things to know when looking for a web developer are by no means posing as the definitive laws for hiring a developer, but they will help a great deal in setting the foundations of a feasible working relationship where both parties from the word ‘go’ are clear on what the expectations/deliverables are.

1. You’re in charge, so open up their CV.

If you’re hiring a consultant/company for its services, you’d definitely want to confirm that they’ve successfully delivered the service before. You are well within your rights to ask them to share the best work they harbour in their portfolio. The onus is on you to ensure that you’re happy with what you’ve seen and could potentially become a proud owner of. Look out for endorsements, set up a meeting with them (under no circumstance out source work to a web developer without actually speaking with them to ensure there are no language barriers – seems silly we know, but trust us).

Check our case study library for the kind of work examples you might be looking for.

2. Define exactly what you need from a web developer, and be very thorough.

Lets say you want to make a cake, but have no prior knowledge of cake-making. You are however, in posession of a very detailed set of instructions to help you with the process. These instructions consist of the exact ingredients and number required for you to achieve making the cake. Missing any of the ingredients will incur a cost, that being it may not taste as it should or the colour doesn’t look right, one of many things. Web development is exactly like that.

Describing how you want each page to work is key in the process of having a web site developed. You know how you want a page to work, so providing a good set of instructions of what each page should do not only helps developers to forsee problems that could arise or envisage how a page could be built from a technical point of view, but:
1. helps yourself and the developers to fully understand the tasks and processes required and provide insights and discover the best user epxerience.
2. prevents there from being any ‘outside of scope’ costs (having to develop features that were not outlined or missed in the initial brief).

Have a look at our web development services to see how we work.

3. Keep your eyes on the prize.

The project is your project, so make sure you keep track of the progress of it. In a sense, you are the project manager regardless of whether the team or web developer you’ve hired have a internal team structure. It’s your prerogative to set milestones, catch up meetings, be a fly on the wall, a general overseer. Let them know before hand that you would like regular updates, but do not become complacent and make sure you’ve been in touch for updates at least once a week (unless you’ve already agreed update intervals).