Tech industry employees are one of the most sought-after and highly skilled as employees to hire. However, recruiters increasingly find it challenging to hire tech team members. It is difficult to determine and hire tech team members when you are not a techie yourself. To make it easier, here are 10 tips from Bayzat’s CTO on hiring tech team members:
– Determining the size of the team and the hierarchy is an essential first step towards building the right tech team. At Bayzat, the team is broadly divided into squads which are expected to function as self-sufficient and self-organizing teams. The squad leader is a hands-on software engineer with added responsibilities of planning and coordination. The squad members themselves are specialized frontend and backend software engineers. The squad size is limited to seven people since any more than that makes communication and planning difficult, and reduces productivity.
– Apart from technical skills, culture fit is critical for anyone joining the team. Specifically for the engineering team, this translates to good communication skills and being resourceful. At Bayzat, iterations are more important than the perfect software. While designing and detailing complex systems, it is important to know where to stop. This is why we also look for a pragmatic approach to problem-solving in a candidate. Other than that, product-awareness, management skills, and leadership potential are qualities that would contribute towards tailoring the growth path of the individual.
– Building the right culture for the team should be a top priority. Making mistakes and turning them into learning opportunities is crucial for continuous growth. The safe choice is not necessarily the best choice and we ensure the high-risk and high-reward nature of the startup is embraced on all fronts. The team members must feel empowered to take initiatives and additional responsibilities if they are willing to. Keeping in mind that compared to other industries, tech industry usually has a higher ratio of non-confrontational personalities, open and direct communication is quite helpful
– While relevant industry experience is important to look for, do not get hung up on it. We’ve seen engineers with industry experience have shorter warm up periods, however, the initial benefits are diminishing in the long term. This is because acquiring the domain know-how is not the biggest challenge amongst team members. Hence, prioritizing industry experience is not as important as prioritizing culture fit and technical capability while hiring tech team members
– Once hired and onboarded, it is essential to understand why the team members are with your organization and what drives them. According to a famous framework, the autonomy, mastery, and purpose are the main drivers for intrinsic motivation. We ensure to continuously evolve the physical and social environment towards productivity while also building a personal growth path for everyone and assisting them in the journey. This is a good way to retain your team.
– As we collectively move towards building a more tolerant society, diversity plays an important role in team hires. Since the Bayzat team is geographically distributed, it has been easier for us to achieve national and cultural diversity and successfully create an environment where a variety of ideas and approaches coexist. As the team leader, it is your duty to have the team feel that different ideas, approaches, theories, and personalities are welcome while achieving coherence in certain matters to avoid different forces pulling from different directions
– In the tech industry, rapid and dynamic changes in the market and customer expectations are quite common. Under such circumstances, burnout is a challenge. The way we deal with this is by transitioning into a state of emergency where we work overtime and make critical decisions promptly. Once these “crunch times” are over, we communicate the motivation and the goals clearly and allocate time afterward for the team to refresh.
– Finally, do not compromise on culture and stick to the principles of your organization. Invest more time and energy in building sincere relationships. While technical capability is important, culture and relationships keep a team from falling apart.
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