ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Flutter offers some truly exceptional possibilities, with over 2 million developers adopting it since its inception three years ago. However, only a quarter of them use it regularly. Yes, Flutter is new, and evolving, and calls for specialized training, turning your search for skilled Flutter professionals into a real quest. But what if your next big project can't afford to wait?
At Requestum, we know how to tackle this underlying challenge and more, which is why we share our insights on how to hire Flutter developers and not go wrong, go bankrupt, or run out of time.
Understanding the Market
Flutter is perfect for creating appealing, eye-grabbing applications. However, despite the lucrative labor market opportunities awaiting them, most programming beginners certainly find it too complex. Hence the shortage of Flutter developers persists.
The platform is advancing, but experienced specialists are scarce, making it challenging to differentiate between Junior (1-2 years), Mid-level (3-4 years), and Senior (5+ years) developers. Still, the demand for them remains high in the mobile app industry, which is expected to dominate most other software and commercial niches for understandable reasons.
According to recent surveys, Flutter surpasses React Native as a preferred tool, becoming the primary choice. This can be seen in the increasing number of big companies using Flutter, including Alibaba, Toyota, BMW, eBay, Nubank, and many others.
Rates to Hire Flutter Experts
You can find Flutter specialist candidates on specialized platforms, job boards, social media, and employment agencies. The key to making the best possible choice from the get-go is focusing on the right takeaways. Let’s take a look.
Dev’s location
To avoid frustrating pitfalls, the most important thing is to settle on an optimal collaboration model with a candidate. With a specialist or agency based in your region or even city, you get numerous conveniences in this aspect, requiring less communication and travel expenditures in general.
Alternatively, offshore development offers a broader workforce selection, potentially with lower rates. Higher rates may not necessarily indicate the best quality, as demonstrated by examples where Eastern European companies performed equally well but charged significantly less than North American or European counterparts.
Dev’s experience level
Professional competence, knowledge, and experience are paramount. You don't want your project to hit a roadblock in the most unexpected of ways. So choose the most capable and promising rather than the cheapest.
Carefully scrutinize the dev’s image and reputation. There are cases where the excessive ambitions of industry "giants" didn't yield the desired results. This is why you should shape your final choice based on the project's urgency and the availability of specialists in the market.
The Options to Hire Flutter Developers Externally
Outstanding in-house teams grow over time, gathering enough specialists to tackle all project needs at once. But until that happens, you'll have to seek and cultivate qualified pros. This takes tons of time and effort. And what if you don't have it? You'll have to weigh your options and look for the right people externally. This is where you get three main options.
Outsourcing
Going for outsourcing, a third-party company takes up project tasks (fully or partially), including management. This way, you save time, training costs, office expansion space, and utility expenses. The outsourced contractor handles labor conditions and legal matters, helps with organizational aspects, gains valuable experience, and focuses on other tasks.
Pros:
- Broad access to talent
- Cost-effective, especially for short-term projects
- Unwavering focus, as they concentrate on your project only
- Experience, as you're not limited in choice
- Team size flexibility
Cons:
- Possible communication and time-zone challenges
- Less control over the project and team dynamics
Freelancing
Specialists from different parts of the world are ready to work at reduced rates due to various circumstances, geographical, political, or otherwise. However, the reliability of freelancers can be questionable - each case is unique, and accolades can be faked. Yes, overall costs are lower, but you'll have little control and very specific working relationships.
It's important to understand that such employees cannot be fully devoted to your project. They may even work on several simultaneously. Security and development quality issues are also possible. But this is a suitable option for small projects or one-time tasks.
Pros:
- Cost-effective for small projects or tasks
- Flexibility to hire on a per-project basis
- Wide range of expertise available
Cons:
- May face reliability and availability issues
- Less control compared to in-house teams
Outstaffing
Turning to outstaffing, you rent qualified personnel for the time being. This allows you to immediately expand your possibilities where needed without going far. You can hire a fully remote team or handpick temporary employees to strengthen your team by filling expertise gaps. You can also keep your project manager maintaining all processes.
Pros:
- Simple and fast team expansion
- Access to a larger talent pool at lower costs
- Cost savings
- Developers working exclusively on your project
- Better control
Cons:
- May still face communication challenges
- Project management responsibilities rest on you
- Less integration with your company
Hire Flutter App Developer by Skills
Your Flutter-focused employees should possess skills in mobile app development, UI/UX design, Agile methodology, and software testing. But they must also be familiar with the following things.
Dart
Dart is the primary working tool of Flutter professionals. Using it, the specialist must be able to write code, create descriptive documentation for it, and reorganize it into a readable state. A high-end expert must be a programming polyglot actively using Java and Kotlin, Swift, and Objective-C.
Flutter SDK
Flutter SDK is an open-source framework by Google for building beautiful, natively compiled, multi-platform applications. Proficiency with Flutter’s environment is a crucial skill for leveraging the platform's potential. A good specialist can overcome a range of technical difficulties if they also know how to handle Android Studio, IntelliJ, and Visual Studio Code.
Databases
Using third-party libraries in a project can cause compatibility issues and require extra time and effort. Without SQLite, MySQL, and PostgreSQL, development is inefficient or even impossible, so an expert should have a good grip on these, too.
REST API
Integration with other platforms’ APIs can pose challenges and require additional effort. Working with different platforms can be complicated due to differences in APIs and underlying requirements. A Flutter pro knows their way around this aspect.
Version control tools
Understanding Git, including commits, branching, merging, conflict resolution, and Jenkins is necessary. This allows easy rollback to previous versions in case of issues - an invaluable backup plan that a Flutter pro must be able to initiate.
Soft skills
Last but not least, communication skills. These include a willingness to collaborate and adapt to the dynamics of an active team environment. Furthermore, selected specialists should be natural problem solvers and stay updated on the latest market updates and standards.
Tips on Conducting Technical Interviews and Portfolio Assessments
Surround yourself with the best minds, and you will certainly hit your success mark. To identify them, study the portfolio of completed projects and talk to them personally. The interview is a key criterion.
It's good if your “partners in crime” possess qualities such as sociability, dedication, and enthusiasm. Make sure you are dealing with valuable professionals. Evaluate future workflows and professional approaches, and inquire about the standards and processes implemented.
Explore candidates for successful projects and adoption of advanced technologies. Examine their challenges and solutions. Find out what questions concern the staff, etc. They should reveal their entire development process, pricing, and indicate their competitive advantages.
To better determine professional skills during an interview, you can ask questions such as:
1. What format should be used for markup files? Trick question - there is no such thing as layout files. Flutter uses widgets and does not require separating code and markup like older frameworks.
2. What is the main difference between Flutter and WebView? Web applications go through a number of levels before execution, requiring more resources and causing delays. Flutter apps compile into their ARM code to work faster and more efficiently.
3. What are the three folders inside a Flutter project for? In the lib folder, Dart files are stored - the project's core. The iOS and Android folders contain tools for adapting the core to a specific platform and obtaining the necessary permissions and features.
4. How to best ensure consistent Flutter code formatting? The DartFMT tool replaces spaces with Dart formatting.
5. What is the Scope Model? Scope Model or Business Logic components are shared architecture templates that separate business logic from user interface code. This improves performance and uses less dynamic (state-tracking) widgets.
Pay attention to communication methods. When choosing a contractor, get complete information about packages or services, pricing models, payment procedures, and invoicing. Clarify how they measure results. Find out who will take personal responsibility for your project.
Summary
Finding good programmers has always been a challenging task, so it needs to be planned with consideration of a bunch of factors. Unfortunately (or fortunately), a knowledgeable approach and consistent preparation are the only ways to find employees who may determine your company's future.
To handle all that, you need a professional recruiting partner. The hourly rate of our dedicated development team is lower than hiring individual employees. Contact us to get to know people who will lead the development of your next big thing. Namely, we will help you hire dedicated Flutter developers who will perfectly meet your project requirements.
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