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Finding the right coding professional  can be troublesome while trying to cope with the post-pandemic work style and work environment. Work From Home (WFH) makes for a less-interactive work environment. This is a natural concern for hiring managers and human resource recruiters who need to integrate new coders into their IT teams. 

Meanwhile, the shortage of talent and the inability to accurately assess available applicants can add up to a possible hiring disaster. And, moreover,  you really cannot convince the developers in your organization to stay with the organization in the long term. A study claims that 55.6% of developers do not stick to one company for longer than 3 years. 

We know you would not wish to hire second-rate programmers when it comes to your core team, which is Information  Technology. However, you must understand that coders are not created by their academic credentials! A survey claims that 31% of developers in small companies do not even have an undergrad degree. Furthermore, 9% to 18% of developers in large organizations do not have degrees, either. However, having said that not everyone can become a good developer. 

There are certain skills that turn a regular professional into a coder. These skills consist of 9 prominent and must-have technical know-how skills, as well as 11 important soft skills. In this article, you will be able to understand what skills the coding star of your IT team possesses. You will also be able to know how to identify new coding talent for your organization. 

Must-Have Skills For An Ideal Coder

Coding is as technical as it is psychological. A coder needs to not just have the knowledge of the software application they are working on, but also the cognitive ability to analyze and solve problems as soon as they encounter them. The position demands focus and attention to minute details. But, do you think you can assess these only  from a job interview? It is clearly difficult. 

To help you gauge the right skills and abilities of your coding candidate, you might need the helping hand of the PMaps Coding Assessment. It sets a bar for your applicants to compete on, by evaluating for a balanced proportion of hard skills and soft skills. This pre-employment assessment filters out the candidates who fail to pass your bar of expectations. It also shortlists the top coders among your bunch of applicants. 

However, the major question still persists… What are the hard and soft skills assessed by this test? The section below answers this in brief. 

Hard Earned – Hard Skills

How proficient must a developer be in their hard skills to be efficient at their work? Well, no proficiency in the computer language or the field has ever been enough for programmers to perform well on their job. For a job with demands as complicated as its skills, hiring can only be done on one condition. 

This is if the candidate can wear multiple hats to handle all the technical needs of the company. This  requires the knowledge of: 

• Data Structures & Algorithms
• Database & SQL
• Object-oriented Programming Languages
• Integrated Development Environment 
• Cloud Computing 
• Web Development
• Containers
• Text Editors
• GIT version 

Soft Skills – Being Soft Or Tough As A Person

Will only hard skills be enough to make your coder an ideal professional? Unfortunately, NO. The job of a developer is at the core of any company. Along with the responsibility, comes the pressure of deadlines. For selecting a good coder from the pool of applicants, you must be aware of the important soft skills that they can use in different regular and emergency situations . 

These competencies can be assessed with the help of the right coding assessments. This is where  all applicants are administered a set of questions that will test for  the following soft skills:

• Emotional Intelligence
• Self-Awareness
• Empathy
• Patience
• Open-mindedness
• Problem-Solving 
• Critical Thinking
• Time Management
• Teamwork 
• Accountability
• Adaptability

Conclusion

Hiring a fool-proof developer can be difficult, but is not impossible. The PMaps Coding Assessment screens your applicants and gives you an accurate profile report. It indicates whether the candidate has a good balance of hard skills and soft skills to be able to perform as an effective coder in your organization…or not! It eliminates the chances of bias, reducing the possibility of a bad hire. Choose your developers wisely with PMaps. Connect on call or on email to learn more about our services. 

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