How to find the best software engineers

The best software engineering professionals choose the best jobs. The career of this area of ​​technology is increasingly promising since before the pandemic.

Whether in the creation of platforms and applications or in the modernization of their internal systems, the constant digitization of companies has expanded the opportunities for software engineers.

The software engineering area is responsible for moving US$ 44.3 billion in the Brazilian economy and is already considered the 2nd best IT area in terms of growth and remuneration, according to CareerCast.

Software Engineering: What It Is And Why is so hard to find the best software engineers

From developing apps to building the structural design of programs and testing systems, there are many attributions of the software engineer within the context of the Software Development Lifecycle (SDLC).

To succinctly summarize the profile of a software engineer, this professional is trained in areas such as mathematics, engineering or computing and in the job market, and is responsible for designing and developing programs, applications, and systems in programming languages ​​such as JavaScript, Visual Basic, Python, C++ and C#-, for example.

Due to the high demand for software engineers, professionals working in this position are highly valued in the job market. According to Career Karma, salaries for these professionals hover around $92,046 per year in the US.

But, with excellent proposals for remuneration and benefits, competition for hiring these professionals also had increased a lot in the last years. So if you’re thinking about recruiting software engineers, it’s worth knowing how to find and attract them. Read on to find out what makes a software engineer an exceptional professional.

What makes a software engineer exceptional?

In the face of so many tech professionals in the workforce, what makes a software engineer exceptional enough to be included in the “Top 1%” group?

Every programmer starts by learning the basic languages, variables, methods, and API calls, then goes on to develop syntaxes, frameworks and progresses to an improvement stage.

However, there are some factors that, if put together, can make a difference in choosing between a medium and an exceptional software engineer. First, it is worth saying that a software engineer’s skill level cannot be measured solely by his technical skills.

An interesting theory that helps to understand these levels was published in Forbes Magazine and divides programmers into three categories:

• Level 1 (with grades ranging from 0.0 to 1.4): consists of “adders” (adders in Portuguese), software engineers with a ‘solver’ profile, and who work on the business fronts.
• Level 2 (with scores ranging from 1.5 to 2.4): brings together the “multipliers” and key executives who contribute to decisions related to software architecture, in addition to being recognized for their open-source skills and even as speakers.
• Level 3 (with grades from 2.5): they are global multipliers and have a community-oriented profile, in the creation of platforms and academic aspirations, and go beyond the scope of most companies, acting as consultants, for example.

According to Forbes, all these profiles of software engineers are interesting and valuable, but it is important that each task is assigned to the right professional, otherwise, there may be a breach of expectations and even a loss of quality in the construction of the software. Each engineer, if placed at the right level, tends to deliver their tasks satisfactorily, but the opposite can be catastrophic.

Anyway, there’s no secret to identifying exceptional software engineers: they have to write and read a lot of code, but also experiment with new technologies and still learn from the multiple developments and architecture mistakes.

See what are the crucial points to become one of the best software engineering professionals on the market:

• Study, study, and study: in computer science, studying never hurts. To achieve excellence and exceptionality the best professionals need to master a little of everything: if they stick to linear code or algebra, they’ll never reach level 2. Being curious and don’t limit themself to just learning a certain programming language is crucial.
• Focus on an industry/position: another important characteristic of the exceptional ones is that they develop skills that are in demand for the position they plan to fill. For example, Java and JavaScript, and SQL are widely sought for development positions, while Python is popular among data scientists and so on.
• Engaged with a community and competitions: among the 14 best programmers in the world, according to ITworld, are professionals who are very active in their communities, answering hundreds of questions from other professionals or participating in competitions that encourage innovation and creativity. This network of knowledge and ideas is the best way for developers to learn how to solve their everyday problems.
• Test and practice, even if they make mistakes: even if they’re not an expert at something doesn’t mean they shouldn’t try it. Not getting stuck or stuck is the secret of the best software engineering professionals. If they stick to what they already know how to do, they will never challenge themselves to do different and new things, nor will they ever create innovative software.
• They are fluent in English: with the pandemic and the growth of the home office, exceptional software engineers can find great opportunities to expand their careers by working for companies outside their countries. Therefore, being fluent in English is an important requirement for anyone who wants to be on the top 1% of the recruiters’ list.
• Knowing how to work in distributed teams, having processes, and being aligned with the company’s culture: high-performance software engineers have this tripod. Developing a strong culture based on trust and confidence is extremely important because it creates the trigger that connects your technical skills to the company’s objective.

High-performance teams are driven by a focus on aligning people’s aspirations and company expectations. Therefore, other values ​​will be fundamental and behaviors that make the best engineering professionals stand out, such as being always willing to face new challenges, being transparent, and working to achieve incredible results, such as average.

Ranking: who stands out in each SDLC role?

The software development framework is closely associated with key software development functions (SDLC). That’s why it’s so important to identify the right skills in software engineers to achieve great results.

Each professional will have a role with different and complementary skills needed to carry out the project activities. See a shortlist of these roles:

Management

During software development, the role of the manager is crucial. This professional needs to handle non-development work, review metrics, and monitor the entire development process.

Managing software development teams is the art of leading the cycle of product planning, programming, development, testing, and deployment.

Good leadership in managing high-performance teams usually encourages the team to develop their personal skills, while supporting their expertise in solving problems, leveraging their strengths, and addressing their weaknesses.

Some of the main functions of the Management Department include:

• CTO
• Technical leader

VP / Product Manager

Plans and executes a product that exceeds customer expectations. This professional plays a key role in bringing a product from concept or idea to market launch and beyond.

From identifying a market need and quantifying the opportunity to build the product roadmap and release the MVP to users, the Product Department has a key role in being the main customer representative and also being responsible for delivering a final product with a unique value proposition.

Some of the main functions of the Product Department include:

• Product Owner
• Project Manager

Software engineering

Engineers are naturally passionate about inventing, building, and testing new solutions applied as technology products. To meet company or customer requirements, engineers must be able to provide viable solutions ​​and muster strong analytical skills, to visualize processes and results.

Some of the main functions of the Engineering Department include:

• VP / Head of Engineering
• Front End Engineer
• Backend Engineer
• Fullstack Engineer
• DevOps Engineer
• Quality Engineer
• Security Engineer

Where Should I look for the best software engineers?

But after all, how can you find and hire the best software engineers for your company?

When we are talking about a company in the United States that wants to hire professionals for distributed and remote teams in order to reduce costs and scale high-performance tech products the difficulty is even greater.

Due to the high competitiveness and increasing difficulty in finding the best software engineering professionals, many companies are looking for nearshore teams and outsourcing help to handle the recruiting process.

Brazil’s tech talent pool is getting bigger and more interesting by the day. The country is harvesting some of the best software engineers and architects out there and is home to an amazing tech community. But hiring IT talent in Brazil (directly or independent contractors) can be expensive if you don’t know what you’re up against.

Brazil accounts for more than half of Latin America’s Unicorns. The country has one of the lowest attrition rates in the world and holds the 6th largest IT market. Great, right? That said, it does also have one of the most complex legal structures out there. Yes, and bureaucracy (a lot of). Unfortunately, isn’t in short supply here.

But, the entire process, from finding the right professional to running contracts, and doing the onboarding can be very time-consuming and complex. That’s where the legal representative comes in – a company headquartered that supports external companies in the recruitment and hiring of talent.

Ubiminds is the fastest solution on the IT market to build and scale high-performance teams. To ensure efficiency, Ubiminds is based on a custom-curated recruitment process that connects companies with qualified talent from different technology areas, such as Product Managers, UX / UI Designers, Mobile Engineers, Web Engineers, Backend engineers, and Specialists in QA.

Based on a culture of People First and Averaging on Awesome, Ubiminds assists companies in meeting the needs of technical staff, while proposing a new way to expand the HR structure, getting rid of bureaucracy. Ubiminds’ goal is to place highly skilled people in top-notch jobs, combining highly skilled technology talent and performance-based innovative companies—more than mobility, international experience: reliable, full-time work.

Did we spark your curiosity? Let’s chat!

Scheila Farias Silveira

International Marketing Leader, specialized in tech. Proud to have built marketing and business generation structures for some of the fastest-growing SaaS companies on both sides of the Atlantic (UK, DACH, Iberia, LatAm, and NorthAm). Big fan of motherhood, world music, marketing, and backpacking. A little bit nerdy too!