Software as a Service became the most common form of cloud-computing applications that implies the minimum hardware and skills required to use its products.
When using a SaaS product, a customer needs access to the Internet and a browser application, and that’s pretty much it. Logically, the unprecedented easiness of the use of software attracts more customers, which opens more opportunities for IT business growth.
Should you want to join the club of successful and popular SaaS producers like Google Suite or Slack, you need to hire skilled and experienced professional developers. They will do their best to produce the best and the worthiest product. Read on and you will get to know whether you really need to hire these specialists, their roles, and responsibilities, where you should search for these specialists, and the most effective tactic to hire them.
Skills, Roles, and Responsibilities of SaaS Developer
A SaaS developer’s main task is to produce and maintain a valuable application that can be accessed through a simple browser on a desktop or mobile and does not require any specific skills or knowledge. Still, developing an easy-to-use app does not mean that a SaaS software development engineer must have not so many and not-so-difficult responsibilities.
Responsibilities
A SaaS software developer must be able to operate these tasks:
– Analyzing customers’ needs and turning them into the future application design
– Translating the application’s design into the code
– Ensuring the platform’s security, reliability, and scalability
– Designing the prototype of the software
– Improving the app’s design
– Building the product together with all of its features
– Integrating third-party services into the program through APIs.
– Designing test cases to check if the code is quality
– Debugging and improving the code
– Conducting the maintenance of the application
Roles
SaaS developers play key roles in producing new SaaS applications because they are responsible both for researching and analyzing the needs of the target audience and the process of designing, building, and testing the end application. They use a set of tools and technologies to complete the above-mentioned, including a mockup generator for the purpose of creating a new product prototype before finalizing the design. Thus, the importance of SaaS developers for your business is hard to overestimate but the requirements for these specialists are also high, as to perform such a number of tasks these professionals must have quite a lot of skills.
Technical Skills
A confident SaaS development engineer should be keen on as many programming languages as possible. The most principal skills that a SaaS developer needs to build a worthy SaaS product are:
– Java
– JavaScript
– Python
– Ruby on Rail
– GitHub
– Django
– Hadoop
– Big data
– DevOps
– Spark
– Agile
– SQL
– MongoDB
– Dot Net
– Node.JS
– Network Security
Still, aside from this capacious list of programming languages and technical skills, it’s also desirable for a SaaS developer to be able to design an application’s UX and UI.
Why Hiring a SaaS Developer is Really Important for Your Company?
Yes, the main reason must be that soon SaaS service apps will be the main items on the application market. People are not interested in returning to old-fashioned programs and more and more SaaS solutions will be appearing at the Play Market and Apple Store. This makes SaaS developers really valuable but aside from developing new SaaS apps, there are other reasons to hire these specialists:
– Helps to enhance the service’s reliability and security
– Helps in getting the advantages over competitors
– Facilitates improving user experience and service ranking
– Improves the project’s delivery time
– Helps in understanding what the customers need
– Aids in setting and maintaining the highest industry standards for SaaS service
In other words, having a SaaS developer on your staff will help you, among other important things, to deliver the best possible SaaS application that would get right to your customers’ hearts. Because of this alone, it is worth searching for SaaS developers for your company right away and hiring these specialists in the shortest time! Another question is where can you find these professionals?
Where Can You Find SaaS Developers?
SaaS development engineers can be found both on freelance job platforms such as Upwork or Fiver and in SaaS software development companies, or you can outsource a team of SaaS developers. Each of these options has advantages and drawbacks, but in sum, it’s more preferred to work with a company than with separate freelancers.
Of course, you can find high-end SaaS developers working on a freelance basis. Still, working with freelancers is about certain specifics. The thing is freelancers love more freedom and for them, it might often be troublesome to deliver their work on time. Moreover, one freelancer can have many orders and yours can be of not the highest priority for the professional.
Working in a SaaS development company is more beneficial in this sense. Once you sign up a contract with a SaaS development company, you set the terms of your order delivery and the deadline at once. Aside from this, the company values its reputation as the demand for its SaaS software development services is directly dependent on it. Thus, it is disadvantageous to be late with the work for them, so you can feel safer in terms of the deadline if you refer to a SaaS development company.
Another good choice for you is to hire an outsourced team of SaaS service development specialists: for example, one day it may be reasonable to hire a remote part-time CTO. However, it would demand referring to a special company that provides quality outsourced teams of SaaS professionals. Why? – Because it is a bit troublesome to search for such companies yourself and find the optimal variant in terms of work quality and price.
How to Hire SaaS Developers Appropriately?
First, you should determine the qualities you want to see in your SaaS developer:
– Experience is essential. A developer with experience in your business will be more familiar with your demands and be able to start working on your project right away.
– Price is another crucial component to consider. Once you’ve narrowed down your list of potential developers, you may compare their prices to see which one best fits your spending limit. Just remember that worth and price are different things. There are some excellent developers out there whose prices are not that high.
– Communication – You’ll need to speak with each possible developer. Those who can express their opinions clearer would be the best candidates as there will be no chance for your future application’s development troubles because of communication failures in your software SaaS development team.
It’s time to invite potential SaaS developers to an interview after you’ve trimmed down your list of candidates. You should ask the developer a few questions during the interview to learn more about them and determine whether they are a good fit for your company.
Here are some crucial inquiries to make:
– How long have you been working in the sphere? – Even though it may even seem senseless, you need to confirm that the developer is a respectable specialist with a solid track record. A complete newbie in the field with no prior experience is not someone you want to hire, is he?
– What is your history? – Check to see if the SaaS developer has previous expertise working in your sector. Additionally, be certain that they have a basic understanding of your company. They will find it simpler to comprehend your demands and develop the ideal software program as a result.
– How do you develop your products? – You should find out how the coder operates and how long they suppose the project will take to complete.
Additionally, you should learn how they interact with their clients. You can use this knowledge to make successful software timelines and future plans.
Conclusion
SaaS developers play key roles in producing new SaaS applications because they are responsible for the process of designing, building, and testing the end application. The requirements for these specialists are high, as to perform such a number of tasks the professional must have quite a lot of skills. SaaS development engineers can be found on freelance job platforms such as Upwork or Fiver or you can also get their services if you refer to a SaaS development company.
Aside from this, you can also get back office outsourced services. Each of these options has advantages and drawbacks, but in sum, it’s more preferred to work with a company. As for hiring SaaS developers, you should first determine the aspects that weigh most for you. It’s recommended to pay attention to such factors as experience, price, and communication. After narrowing down the list of candidates based on these aspects, it’s time to confirm the required qualities in the process of the interview with a potential SaaS developer for your company.
Author Bio:
Anastasia Stefanuk is a passionate writer and Information Technology enthusiast. She works as a Content Manager at Mobilunity, a provider of dedicated development teams around the globe. Anastasia keeps abreast of the latest news in all areas of technology, Agile project management, and software product growth hacking, at the same time sharing her experience online to help tech startups and companies to be up-to-date.