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Whether you’re looking to develop a mobile app for your business or you want to create premium apps to expand your investment portfolio, the steps involved are the same.
After fine-tuning your idea and drafting your budget comes the next important step—the coding process. And if you don’t know jack about programming, you’ll have to hire a seasoned app developer to handle the task.
The success of your app will depend on how well it’s coded. A well-coded app will create a good first impression because users won’t have anything to complain about. But a badly coded app will be ridden with bugs—and this annoys users more than anything else.
With the above in mind, you need to be careful when hiring a mobile app developer, so you won’t wind up with the wrong person. Asking these four questions will help you choose the right developer for the job.
1. Can I see examples of apps you’ve developed?
A good candidate should readily provide you with more than enough examples of their past projects. Looking into these will help you figure whether they have the skills and experience to create the kind of app you’re looking for.
When looking at their past projects, don’t just look at the apps’ user interface and functionality. Take some time to read user reviews, as they are more than likely to reveal any coding flaws. If the coding flaws are too many, that’s a warning sign.
2. Can I have the contacts of your current and past clients?
A good developer would be confident enough to give you the contact details of their current and past clients. By speaking directly with those clients, you’d be able to verify if the developer actually built apps for them, if they were satisfied with the developer’s work, and if the developer works within budget and delivers on deadline.
Note, however, that some developers might offer only references that they’re sure will give a good account of them. To find out more about any developer, you can check their LinkedIn profile to see if you share the same ex-colleagues or professional connections. If you find any, contact them to ask questions about your candidate’s experience, weaknesses, and so on.
3. How do you communicate with clients you’re working with?
Communication plays a significant role in the development of an app. If you clearly and frequently communicate your desired design and functionalities with your developer before and during the coding process, you’ll most likely wind up with exactly what you want. So, ask to know which communication channels your developer favors, and how often they respond to communication via those channels.
Aside helping you to gauge your candidate’s responsiveness to communication, asking this question also helps you to know if you both favor the same communication channels. For example, if you’re not familiar with Skype—that’s dumb, though—you might not be able to work with a developer who only communicates via that platform.
4. What are your fees and payment terms?
Though seemingly simple, this question is more important than you can imagine. Aside letting you in on how much you’ll pay for the job, it will also help you understand what the developer would be charging you for and how exactly they charge.
Some developers’ charges will include the cost of submitting your app to mobile app stores and the cost of subsequent updates and upgrades. Also, some developers charge only an upfront lump sum, while others charge for each subsequent update or upgrade assignment.
This question will also reveal—indirectly, though—whether your developer will relinquish full ownership rights to you or they have something else in mind.