5 RED FLAGS To Watch Out For When Working With An App Developer
The rise of technological conveniences in this day and age has opened doors for more flexible working arrangements. The freelancing platform has become more prevalent for the convenience and the logistic solutions it allows. Working with freelance developers within your locality or overseas, is but a few clicks or a Skype message/call away.
But for all the promise and ease that freelancing platforms bring to your business, it is far from perfect. Despite its recent rise into the mainstream, the freelance world is not without the occasional freelancer who is the stuff of nightmares. And unfortunately, we have not been spared from experiencing those horror stories we hear so much about.
Ahhh, that app build is full of bugs!
So for this week, Fizzbuzz has gathered what we have learned from our own unfortunately unsavory experiences, hoping that you (yes, you, the one reading this) would not fall into that same trap.
Duh-oh!
Here are red flags to watch out for when hiring an app developer.
1. Beware the developer who knows everything.
Dangerous is the man who thinks he has nothing else to learn. Being an expert and being plain arrogant are two different things.
The former is confident enough of his knowledge and expertise and value learning from experiences, even if it sometimes means they learn from mistakes or from other people. The latter simply thinks he is the god of the coding world and cannot learn from individuals he deems to be lesser “experience”.
Recommendations and options are always welcome, but a developer who jumps into assumptions, and especially when they don’t even come up with a complete discovery process, will lead you down that dark alleyway where too many become casualties to reckless assumption.
We’ve learned that to avoid this, one can take precaution by asking the developer for their UX research and for them to enumerate their discovery process. Slowly back away from the type of developer who immediately “knows” what your company needs or what the best solution is, right off the bat — even without asking you the important questions.
2. Professionalism, What?
Okay don’t get us wrong. We’re not the armchair types and we certainly know that professionalism is sometimes subjectively defined. But there are general standards of professionalism — such as how one communicates to the team or to the project manager.
Beware the app developer who takes his sweet time with replying to your emails (if they ever read the ones you’ve been sending them).
Also keep an eye out for the app developers who are always in a rush during a routine update call. They just seem to want the call to be over and can’t wait to get out of there. They often rush through your questions or concerns. In a series of three questions, they skip over the first two and just straight away addresses only the last one.
Or worse, they show disregard for deadlines. Okay, not everyone beats a deadline 10 out of 10 times. But we can often evaluate when a task requires more time than initially allotted. The common courtesy is to inform the client or the project manager.
So when that app developer misses a deadline without even giving you a heads up, you’ve been shown a major, blazing red flag. Stay away. Professionalism really is just prioritizing the company and giving them the time of day because they paid you for it. It’s not rocket science. Just plain decency.
3. Beware the app developers who cannot admit that they’re lost
Do you know de wey?
Work with app developers who see the value of transparency. We stress this point precisely because our business at Fizzbuzz thrives in a collaborative culture. We know the value of a cohesive team and believe that such a characteristic is an ingredient for success.
So when an app developer does not own up to what he knows and what he doesn’t know, major red flag. The confidence to own up to one’s shortcomings is not a sign of weakness, but a show of confidence and experience.
Developers often get typecast for being the cerebral types. But there really are some who become too fixated on “not being wrong”, that they will oftentimes fail to see alternatives. They get caught up in defending their decisions because they made it and therefore it cannot, will not be wrong. Stay miles and miles away from a sinking ship like this one.
Observe how that app developer reacts when they’re faced with a difficult or unfamiliar issue. Do they admit that they’re running into a roadblock, and ask for assistance? Or do they completely turn a blind eye and before you know it, your app is infested with bugs?
4. There’s no follow up on action items
Consistent communication is only one part of a successful project implementation. The process should likewise come hand in hand with significant notes of action items.
A good app developer (or any team member) should be able to keep track of action items that they’re responsible for. More importantly, they should have the initiative to follow through with the same action items.
So when your app developer cannot be bothered with updating you of their tasks and corresponding status updates, you are in for a world of hurt. Disengage and save yourself.
5. They do not ask you for feedback, nor do they welcome one.
You don’t say?!
Okay, that app developer may be the “qualified” expert of the code building universe, but that does not necessarily nullify the importance of a client’s feedback. Granted that the client is not a coding virtuoso, they, however, bring a different set of eyes to the project. They have information or inputs that are not within the immediate sightline of a developer.
There is success in a collaborative environment. And a great developer to work with will always refer back to you with opportunities for you to provide your input in an app build or design.
In conclusion
While we at Fizzbuzz believe that everyone has the propensity for improvement, we are also not idiots. We know our limits and we know when an arrangement is doing more harm than good. One app developer is totally not worth losing our time, money, wits over. We can’t keep staying in a “bad relationship” hoping for a change.
Girl, bye!
So before you fall into another pit of unreturned emails, ignored deadlines, substandard codes, and stress-induced migraines, take heed of this cautionary list of red flags to watch out for. When your next candidate ticks more boxes in this list, do as every wise horror-movie hero does, run away to safety.
Run, Forrest, Run!
