Tips For Retaining Software Developers

Last Updated on 2024-10-11

Are you having a difficult time retaining software developers at your company? We curated a list of notable tips to share how Full Scale maintains an extraordinarily high retention rate. 

Employee recruitment and management is such a tedious process. This is especially true in the software industry where you have little to no flexibility in regards to the skillsets you’re looking for.  However, many employers don’t realize that the real challenge begins after an applicant has finally signed the contract.

Once you’ve completed the selection process, exams, and developer interviews, the real question comes into play: How do you retain software developers, especially the great ones?

If you’re looking for the answer to that question, you’re in the right place. Today, we’ll discuss how to improve your company’s ability to retain software developers. Here are the key points of this article:

• What Does a Software Developer do?
• Qualities of a Great Software Developer
• 7 Key Tips on How to Retain Software Developers
• Hire a Software Developer Today

To get started, let’s define what a software developer is. We will illustrate what they do on a daily basis so we can identify factors that directly impact their job satisfaction.

What Does a Software Developer do?

Essentially, a software developer is primarily responsible for designing, coding, unit testing, deploying, and maintaining a software product. While they may have varying specializations, the workload is basically the same. 

In that sense, software developers work with clients to define product requirements and turn them into working applications. They also work with fellow developers to build different components of a software product. Some teams may have project managers or team leaders to manage processes, priorities, and timelines.

Considering the fast-paced nature of the tech industry, software developers often encounter high-stress environments. How a developer responds to such stress directly reflects their desire and capabilities in handling their workload. 

So, when you find a software developer who performs well amidst adversity, you know they’re a keeper. Let’s discuss the common, shared qualities of excellent developers.

Qualities of a Great Software Developer

One of the primary motivations for retaining employees is to keep those who bring great value to the business engaged and continue to drive value for the business. Employee retention, in general, reduces development and turnover rate costs. 

Noting the key attributes of great software developers will help you retain these talented employees. 

1. Openness. They must be open to taking criticism and keeping transparency at work.
2. Positive attitude. One must stay professional and maintain a positive attitude toward any issue or situation. The ability to not be overcome by negativity or pressure is essential.
3. Flexibility. Being resilient and adaptable to change is critical. 
4. Passion. A checkbox culture does not drive passion. Employees dedicated to constantly improving their skill set, processes, and outcomes are passionate; they approach every task with focus and determination. 
5. Punctuality. A great sense of timing and dedication to punctuality is key. Employees who possess such an attitude are worth keeping.
6. Fearlessness. Team members who don’t get easily intimidated by challenges help improve the overall product. Being open to taking risks means the opportunity to develop better solutions. 

As an employer, it’s vital to recognize and validate these traits in an employee. In this way, you can understand their approach to work, strive to make the environment better for them, and attract more like-minded individuals to your company.

7 Key Tips for Retaining Software Developers

A Stack Overflow survey revealed that more than 60% of developers are satisfied with their jobs. This means that there is still approximately 40% who are mildly or not satisfied with their careers. To keep your software developers away from that forty percent, you need to reinforce actionable solutions that keep them happy. Here are seven recommended tips to make software developer retention easy.

1. Respect their market value.

Software developers will work at a hundred percent when you’re paying them a fair market value. Your compensation package should consider their qualifications and experience in the software development field. To do this, you can browse for different software developer salaries. Doing so gives you an idea of how much you should offer your software developers.

2. Avoid micromanagement

Software development is a fast, high-pressure environment. Provide a detailed vision and direction regarding your software project sufficiently. Micromanaging developers would likely only cause them to feel more stressed. To avoid micromanagement, but still maintain tabs on the workload, there are steps you can take. 

First, you can schedule a daily sync-up meeting with your entire team to discuss each individual’s progress. Another option is setting triggers for communication. For example, you may set task completion as an indication for a developer to give you an update. 

Lastly, you can encourage your team to send daily reports to track their progress delivery. Learn more about Full Scale’s platform helping growing companies to effectively communicate like this 24/7. 

3. Create a healthy working environment

Fostering an environment where software developers feel like they can breathe is imperative. Instill practices or activities that allow, better yet encourage, developers to make time for their personal needs. 

To do this, cultivate a culture of building healthy relationships with your team members. While software development is highly computer-centric, you need to acknowledge that it’s still a people-powered process. When employees feel that they can trust your company and it cares about their emotions and interests, you can retain them.

4. Offer a career advancement opportunity

Aside from a healthy working environment, a company that facilitates growth for its people can surely retain them. So what can you do?

One thing is to recognize the achievements and interests of your employees. Through this, you’ll be able to architect their career path in your company. Once you offer them career advancement opportunities, they will not only feel valued, but also confident and secure about their future with your company. As a result, you may earn their loyalty, and commitment.

5. Recognize their hard work

Similarly, you also need to acknowledge when an employee performs well. This can also be attributed to creating a healthy environment where an employee feels that their efforts make a difference. Additionally, this is to make them feel like they are part of the company’s or the client’s win. So, be sure to provide rewards or incentives.

6. Provide opportunities to learn new skills

Technology is fast and volatile. You can’t expect every software developer to remain stagnant in terms of skills and capabilities. Why? Not updating your tools is bad for your product, and also something that developers don’t like.

So, offer opportunities for your developers to learn new skills or enhance their current skillset. This will make them feel that you’re invested and care about their growth. In turn, they stay up to date with the latest technologies and deliver more relevant software products.

7. Establish a flexible work arrangement.

During the global pandemic, one demand voiced by employees is the strong desire for a flexible work arrangement. Many IT companies implemented work-from-home arrangements, and consequently, many employees have gotten accustomed to it. So, flexibility is something that many job seekers look for in a company. 

Hire a Software Developer Today

Software developer retention can always be challenging, especially for early-stage companies. One of the best things to combat this challenge is to hire reliable developers from the get-go.

This means that you need to recruit software engineers who already show a promising portfolio and experience. Partner with a dependable, proven offshore software development company like Full Scale to make building a team of developers quick and easy!

Let Us Help You Find and Retain Software Developers

Full Scale is your go-to offshore software development service provider. We are a Kansas City-based company that runs an offshore arm in the Philippines. By offshoring software developers, you save development costs and ensure software developer retention. Why? 

Partnering with agile offshore software development companies like Full Scale makes it easier to maintain and scale a team. This is because we have a pool of talented developers who can join your team at any time. 

Plus, Full Scale also takes care of the rigorous hiring process. From background checks, screening, assessment, tests, and interviews, we handle them all for you. So, you’re sure that the developer you hire is dependable and top-notch. 

We have already accumulated more than 1.5 MILLION HOURS dedicated to our global clients. 

Hire a Software Developer from Full Scale today!