You are ready to make the move from a web app to a progressive web app, but where do you start? You’ll comb through your existing development team and likely come up short on skills related to progressive web app development.
So you need to hire someone to update your web app, or build you a progressive web app from scratch.
Hiring people can be a cumbersome, especially related to technical skills, but here are three important things to consider so that you don’t get stuck with a progressive web app development professional who can’t deliver on their word.
Communication Skills
Development is about much more than coding, and if you don’t hire progressive web app development professionals with at least decent communication skills, you’re going to be left wondering how your project is ever going to get finished. Communication skills continually rank as one of the most important hiring considerations across industries. If you think developers will just sit at their computers and code all day, think again.
Progressive web app development experts are an intricate part of your development team, and they need to be able to act the part. If you hire a developer who can’t articulate issues, changes, challenges, or even wins for the product, you’ll be looking for another developer in short order.
What’s the best way to find out about a developer’s communication skills? Talk to them, of course. Gone are the days of developers hiding in their basements with hoodies and bowls of Captain Crunch cereal.
Developers need to bring their A-game to discussions, planning sessions and have the ability to interact with others professionally.
You need to be able to call upon this person at a moment’s notice and not worry about whether or not they understand what’s at stake. You should expect any progressive web app developer you hire to have excellent communication skills.
Technical Skills
Developers for progressive web application development have a unique skill set that other developers do not have. It doesn’t mean that general developers can’t learn those skills; it just means they are different.
The idea is the same, but the execution of the idea is very different. When hiring a progressive web app development expert to consider the following skills in your applicants:
- The ability to visualize how the progressive web app will look and function
- The ability to understand how users interact with the web app to create a memorable experience
- The ability to plan and prioritize iterations of the web app
- The ability to assess the current web app and determine changes that need to be made
- The ability to use a variety of progressive web app programs including AngularJS, Webpack, Github, PWABuilder or another platform your company plans to use
- The ability to create a wireframe for the progressive web app for presentation purposes
- The ability to test and measure performance of the web app
- The ability to create an icon app
- The ability to establish and use best practices for app implementation
- The ability to receive and learn from feedback
- The ability to deliver projects on time
While the last one isn’t really a technical skill, it is an important skill to have. Given that you are likely hiring a progressive web app developer to add to your existing team, you’ll be spending enough money in salary and project dollars that it will be helpful to have your project delivered on time.
Be sure to talk to your development team and find out what skills are missing from the group right now and try to supplement those skills in the new person you hire to fill the role of progressive web app development professional.
Past Experience
To determine a good fit for your project, you’ll want to get samples of every applicant you are considering for hire. Take the time to review their work and be sure to have someone on your development team assess the work from a general development perspective.
For example, some programmers complain about the way other programmers write code: does your applicant write “neat” code or is there work all over the place? Do your current developers have a hard to understand why your applicant used a certain language or why they executed a command in a certain way?
If your developers are confused by what the applicant has presented, you should pass. Confusion leads to delay, which leads to increased cost.
You’ll want to hire a developer for progressive web app development who can present their work in a clean and focused way. This makes everyone’s lives easier and showcases their ability to stay organized and focused on the work.
You can ask them to do a short sample of work for you if you feel like they might be a good fit for your development team, but usually, a solid portfolio will speak for itself.
If an applicant presents without a portfolio, move on to the next candidate. Any good progressive web app developer is going to have some kind of portfolio to show you, even if it is just pet projects that they built their portfolio.
Good developers practice their craft even when they aren’t working because they know it’s important to stay on top of the changes happening online.
Don’t accept any developer’s excuse for not having a portfolio unless you found them in a college classroom and plucked them from the seat for an interview yourself.
When hiring a progressive web app developer, you might also consider hiring a contractor to do the work on a one-time basis and then your current development team can manage the day-to-day aspects of the web app.
If you go that route, you’ll need to ensure your existing development team gets the necessary upgrading they need to be able to support a progressive web app, but in the long run, it could save you a lot more money.
However, if you want to add to your existing team, bringing on a long-term progressive web app developer will be a good use of your time and resources.