Recruiting Today’s Software Developer Candidates

Years ago, entry into a career as a junior software developer required a relevant undergraduate degree, topped with experience in dealing with several projects.

Today, many roles favour experience over a degree and more developers are avoiding the traditional route of studying at a university to kickstart their career.

If a serious developer is thinking of pursuing a career in software development, they ’could’ get all their knowledge and skills from books combined with online courses, leaving them to only think about how to gain real experience within the industry. This is true even for those considering a career change.

In a survey of 64,000 developers, 50% replied yes to completing an online course. The biggest challenge within the industry is the ever changing technology. Employers recruiting candidates based on their current skills need to consider how well they will adapt to learn new technology. For this reason, the trend of recruiting within the technology industry no longer relies heavily on the material of university degree syllabuses.

We can see how the technology sector’s recruitment process can work differently in comparison to other sectors, whilst providing a spirit of innovation for other sectors to also dwell on.

Online Portfolio of Experience

The best way for any candidate to prove their experience is to showcase their work in an online portfolio. Outlining in detail the solution to the original brief or problem gives prospective employers a chance to identify their suitability to their in-house roles.

GitHub and Quora are popular community sites that also give a good indication of a candidate’s expertise and experience. The online sharing of work publicly to solve problems can build on their reputation to see how talented they are.

Having a strong presence on LinkedIn also speaks louder than a university degree and is more prominent than a candidate without a LinkedIn account. Similarly, someone who is great at interview will not be worth more than someone who scores higher on a practical assessment. Getting noticed out there really doesn't need a science degree.

Candidate Availability On the Job Horizon

It’s not just candidates looking for employers, companies can only hire from the pool of candidates that are available to them. Similar to buying a house on the market, some software developers only become available to recruit when they make the decision to look for a new role elsewhere. Leaving a job is influenced by a variety of factors:

• How they are valued within their current workplace (salary)

• Wellbeing and what their relationship is like with their line manager or colleagues

• Their current location and commute to work, and whether they are willing to relocate

• Limited opportunities to grow upwards on the career ladder

• Subscriptions to social media avenues where they can hear about new roles

• New prospects in the new year

Interestingly, in a survey by Glassdoor, 52% of Software Engineers said they would change employers for less salary, as long as the company had great culture. At SRGEurope, we strive to fit our candidates into the right environment, with the right employer for them.

Contact us to find out how we can help you develop your career further.