Building a technical team from the ground up must be done as intentionally and systematically as possible. You have to know exactly what you want and what your business needs. Then you start tracking down the relevant talents for your team.
A technical team is essential to your business because they are directly involved in the technological development of your product. The team helps your business navigate the Tech market and usually consists of engineers, network architects, UI/UX designers, analysts, and hardware experts. Depending on what service your company offers, your technical team could be just two software engineers in a shared working space or a third-party organization where you outsource your technological needs. However, as a business owner, you can choose to build your team in-house.
How to start building your internal technical team
With how fast technology is advancing, it has been projected that by 2030, the world will have a shortage of tech talents of around 85.2 million. This shortage is projected to cost $8.47 trillion. So, it may already seem like a fairy tale hiring the team of your dreams. However, this is possible. So, here are some ways to make this happen when you send that recruitment notice:
Have a clear direction
It is crucial to state exactly what you want. It will help the tech talents you talk to understand your requirements and what you need. So indicate what skills you need, specify what the role will be, and what they will be doing in your company. It’s also great to think first in the direction of who is not on the team. Whom do you need that’s not currently on the team? What skills are your current technical team members missing?
Lay emphasis on your company's strengths
Everyone wants to work at a company that is prestigious and established. Even if yours is not established yet because it is a startup, it does not matter. Your company will still have strengths and benefits it could provide for the potential hires. So lean into whatever it is.
You could also talk about any project your company is working on. Projects are an excellent way to show the people you want to hire that your company is fascinating. Talk about the relevance of the project and how it will influence the world outside. Also, mention how they will fit into the project.
Identify the goals of your company.
Tech talents want to understand what the recruiting company is all about. They want to know the company’s goals and drives. They need to understand what the company stands for to see themselves as part of it.
Pay attention to your competitors.
Research your competitors to keep an eye on tech talents that can help improve your company, especially those who provide the same services or substitute products to yours, and those who may have more client base than you. You should also research "SEO competitors." These are competitors that rank higher when you search the keywords your company is targeting. Know what your competitors are offering their team members. Know the ins and out of your competitor’s business.
Use the right job sourcing platform.
To get the right talent for your team, you may have to source for them yourself. You could use some available platforms, like LinkedIn, Indeed, and Jobcase. However, online communities for developers like Github and Stackoverflow could prove more valuable because more niche specialists are here. You could also use some technical recruiting platforms such as HackerEarth and YouTeam to provide suitable people for you.
Use online tools to test their technical skills
When you have found your preferred candidates and subjectively assessed them using your criteria. It is good to evaluate their capabilities objectively using tools. There are quite a number of online tools that you can use to do this, such as CodeSignal, TestGorilla, Coderbyte, HackerRank, and Qualified.io.
Apart from the fact that these tools help you choose the most competent candidates, some of them also objectively assess behavior. This enables you to make more informed decisions free from any bias.
Candidate qualities that will help you grow your business.
After you have found candidates, the next thing to do is screen them for particular qualities you need. Remember that you are not just looking for a competent tech person. You are also looking for someone who can work in a team and add value to your company.
To build a solid technical team, here are the qualities you must look for:
Candidates with good communication skills
Communication is very important in a team. People must know how to speak, when to speak and how to convey their thoughts, ideas, and critique to others in the group without causing any issues. According to a McKinsey report, employees with effective communication improve their productivity by 20-25%.
Communication is not just important within the company but also with people outside the business like contractors or customers. Effective communication will form the foundation of how good your business relationships will be.
Candidates that are team players
Your employees being team players is just as important as being competent in their work because teamwork is what will make any team productive. Your company will have projects that will need people from different niches in tech working together. If these people part of the project do not have a team player attitude, then that project may be doomed from the start. So, you should choose people who have shown that they work well with others.
You can find out if they are team players during the interview phase not by asking close-ended questions like, "Are you a team player?" outrightly. Instead, ask questions such as the following:
- "How patient are you?"
- "Do you feel compromise is an important thing?"
- "What would you do if your ideas were rejected in a team meeting?"
- "Do you prefer to work alone?"
How your candidate will answer these questions will inform you if they will be a good team player or not.
A team leader
The importance of a leader cannot be overemphasized. Often, projects fail because there was no good leader and not necessarily because the people were not competent. A good team leader will organize the group, delegate responsibility, and motivate people to do their jobs.
Sometimes an excellent technical team leader may not be someone with an educational background in tech. So, be sure not to limit your search there. In these cases, going for experience is a good choice. A great leader has several qualities including creativity, the ability to overcome challenges, see things through, encourage people, etc. A team leader gets things done!
Specialists in different fields
Rather than trying to hire a master of one, it is better to hire people who excel in different tech fields. Not only does it cause better productivity, but it increases creativity in the company. This is because when people from other areas bring their ideas, it always has a unique perspective.
For instance, in product design, the opinion of a UX expert will be more helpful than a database management expert. On the contrary, the database management expert's opinion will be more beneficial in cloud customization than the UX expert. This type of balance is what is needed in a team.
There’s a great chance that someone who knows even a bit in different fields is a curious individual. Curiosity is a trait you should look for when recruiting a technical team member.
People who also have business skills
At the end of the day, you are running a business, and as such, you will need the input of people who have a background in business. You will need to market and sell your product or service to make a profit. Thus, hiring a tech person with a business background is essential because they use their experience in tech and understanding of the market to help sell your products.
Someone with user experience design expertise
Having someone with user experience design on your team is vital because it gives you and your team insight into how the consumer will use your product. 70% of online businesses fail simply because of bad usability, so making the consumers' experience as seamless as possible is crucial.
When building a technical team, you need someone who can best look at things from the consumer’s perspective and tailor whatever project or product you have to fit their needs.
