Successful Startups Know How to Motivate Top Software Developers
by Melisa Joeleo It Consulting ServicesThere’s an 87 percent employment rate among software developers. On
average, there are five jobs for every software developer, according to
a study by VentureBeat. The demand for software talent is still on the
rise.
Consequently, it is not surprising that human resource managers
have a tough time recruiting, hiring and retaining software developers.
Developers are fussy about selecting the companies they will work for.
Even when they agree to work for a company, they can easily leave for
the next at a split second, leaving behind a mountain of
disappointment.
But surprisingly, successful companies seem to have a
formula for hiring, motivating and retaining top software developers.
So how are they doing it? They use three Fs to inspire the best
software talents:
Freedom
Flexibility
Fun
Let’s look at each one more closely.
1. Freedom.
Smart CEOs and COOs are not only good at their jobs, but they also have a knack for understanding and hacking their coders.
With
a million activities going on in a startup garage or apartment office,
the grind and the constant pivot, the iteration and the race to
outperform the competitors, the race to win a client and a customer -- startup managers are focused on motivating their software developers.
They
achieve this by giving them freedom to make their own work choices.
I’m not saying that developers should be given the opportunity to have
the final say about the company’s product development, but managers
should empower them to execute projects based on their own decisions.
Of
course, developers must respect the company’s rules and regulations.
The techies feel more connected and engaged at work when they are given
the power to make decisions about things like design and coding
standards. They feel more relaxed and happy because they aren’t trapped
in your “vision.” You make their work life freer, more creative and
flexible.
Speaking of flexibility ...
2. Flexibility.
You may think that
successful startups have been run strictly by the books, that they fire
staffers who show up late to work or don’t resume work on time after
lunch breaks. While some companies are very strict -- Amazon and Apple
come to mind -- others are pretty flexible. For example, VMware, a
widely successful virtualization company, allows all of its employees
-- from coders to secretaries -- to set their own working hours
according to their needs.
Upwork, the largest online freelance
marketplace with more than 10 million freelancers, is doing so much for
remote workers. The company has an excellent flex work arrangement
with super flexible office hours to keep their top software talents
motivated.
3. Fun.
Flexibility is not just about giving
your developers the freedom to work remotely or to choose when and
where to work. Flexibility is also about giving them a moment at the
office to have a little fun.
Most software developers are
big-time gamers. They like to decompress by playing video games, and
they’ll never tire of the challenge of getting to the next level -- and
the next. The playing itself fuels their creative juices.
While it
cools them off, it also often helps them think positively and come up
with newer and better creative ideas for their projects. Successful
companies understand that, and they capitalize on it.
OfficeVibe,
for example, has an impressive “gamified” workplace for its coders and
other employees. The gesture will surely motivate the talents to work
for the company a lot longer. Whether a developer is bored or they just
need to take a minute to play, they can spend some time playing and
recharging, and then they can resume their work more energized than
before.
Conclusion.
Recruiting and hiring
software developers is not an easy task. With more available jobs
waiting than developers to fill them, it’s not easy to hire and retain
top software talent for your company. However, managers at big companies
understand what motivates developers, keeps them engaged and
encourages them to stay:
Freedom at work
Flexible work schedule
Fun environment
Give them these three incentives, and they’ll be all yours, hardly considering a transfer to anywhere else.
This Article Source is from : https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/315461
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Created on Jul 19th 2018 06:47. Viewed 535 times.