Good & Bad Indian Programmers – How to hire the best

Developing and releasing new software products can be complicated. Within each step of the software development and approval process, many variables exist. While things can go right, there are even more chances of things going wrong—and with blunders comes the possibility of returning to the starting point.

As frustrating as these obstacles are, there are ways to overcome them without severely hindering your progress. But this is possible when you hire good Indian programmers.

“In 2015, somebody claimed on Reddit that Indian programmers are bad coders due to fewer skillsets for managing the complexity of requirements or mentoring offshore developers lead to additional costs.”

So what skillset makes good Indian programmers different from bad Indian programmers in the software development market? To answer this, we have outlined the blog post demonstrating the best practices that 99% of successful coders in India or across the globe implement, and the other 1% fail to perform.

Who is Considered a Good Programmer?

A good programmer understands problems clearly, breaks them down into hypotheses, and comprehensively offers solutions. Let’s divide programmers into three very broad categories:

• Adders: They can solve several critical programming concerns, given enough time. Programmers at this level are the ones who do line-of-business work, write scripts to get data, answer questions that executives or stakeholders care about, etc. The good ones want to elevate their skills beyond this level, remove themselves from limited segments and work on more general “core” areas.
• Multipliers: At this level, dedicated programmers are capable of selecting technologies, making architectural decisions, and writing or maintaining useful libraries. They usually have open-source contributions to their name, speak at conferences, and are often executive-equivalent in importance to their companies.
• Global Multipliers:  These programmers design platforms, build communities, and develop concepts such as Google’s MapReduce. Their ambitions go beyond most companies’ parameters, so they’re often consulting independently or highly paid in large firms’ R&D labs.

Also read: Why India Houses The Best IT Programmers Of The World?

Now, the question comes – what are the best practices that 99% of successful programmers implement and the other 1% fail to perform? Let’s find out.

1. They Keep Their Code Clean

The term clean code is commonly used among dedicated software professionals and their peers in the software development market. Several videos, courses, and books are written on clean code, emphasizing its different approaches and illustrating how to implement these practices. Simply put, the Clean Code principles state that developers should write self-explanatory, easily understandable, and easy-to-maintain code. Poorly written code can result in total project failure and redo from scratch. 

Further, it dictates that the code should be as concise as possible. Also, it makes optimizations effortless and results in smaller build sizes executable. Therefore, from naming conventions to the accurate number of code comments, implementing Clean Code principles into practice improves the productivity and performance of developers, contributing directly to project success. To achieve successful results, keeping the code clean is one of the best qualities of a good programmer.

2. They Are Well-Verse With Documentation

Software documentation is a crucial process in the overall software development process. In simple terms, it can be described as a written text with graphics or illustrations that explains software or program to its users. Users can be anyone from a programmer, system analyst, and administrator to end users. It enables them to figure out how our code works quickly and easily. At multiple stages of development, various documents may be created for different users. 

Documentation becomes even more crucial in modular programming because different teams develop different software modules. If anyone apart from the development team wants to understand a module, comprehensive and detailed documentation will make the task easier.

Following are some guidelines for creating the documents −

• Documentation should be from the point of view of the end-user
• The document should be clear and specific
• There should be no repetition

3. They Pick the Right Tools

Like a chef wouldn’t use a butter knife to chop the vegetables, choosing the right tools matters to developers. This applies to what developers want as an application’s stack and what they use to implement the solution and track issues when they arise. Making the correct choice and having sound knowledge of these tools can greatly impact how a developer performs and is one of the critical skills for a software developer.

Let’s look at a use case. Choosing a low-grade debugging tool at the start would result in a developer spending a lot of effort and time following and debugging issues. Hence, before heading into the development process, take a step back and explore all the tools accessible to you. Your tool preference should complement your technology stack, reduce manual efforts, and significantly improve development performance.

4. They Are Efficient Through Optimization

Optimized code requires skills one can gain with practice, exposure, and experience. This process has a substantial impact on the performance of your application. Therefore, if an application is troubling in loading, the developer probably needs to optimize it. 

After the performance, processes like caching, response optimization, SQL query optimization, SEO, accessibility, and user experience come into consideration, which also greatly impacts the success or failure of an application. 

If a user encounters a challenge in landing on the website or faces trouble navigating what they want to do, your business might lose a prospective client. That’s why developers must focus on optimization parameters while developing and designing the application to ensure end-users satisfaction.

5. They Are Willing to Adapt

The world of technology is evolving and transforming rapidly, with the introduction of new and the evaluation of existing technology happening regularly. For example, JavaScript was mostly the same for the last few years, but now it’s evolving rapidly and becoming a critical tool for digital application development. 

This need of the hour leads to a significant demand to modernize the language to meet competitors’ standards in the software industry. Along with JavaScript transformation, many new libraries and frameworks have been introduced.

This technological advancement demanded that JavaScript developers be more adaptable to cope with advancements. Indian programmers are good at adapting to technological evolution or advanced processes workflow. 

Adaptable resources add value to the organization’s success as its culture keeps evolving to meet the changing demand of the technical market. 

That’s why developers need to keep updated their skills in the latest technologies and wear different hats according to the needs of the hour. 

6. Self-evaluate Along The Way

Once, an architect designed a library that was honoured by all for its brilliance. The structure begins to crumble as the architect did not consider the books’ weight shortly after opening the library. The exact scenario is valid with software development, as a developer needs to consider the most generic details and evaluate the application on all fronts.

A developer must test code, detect issues, and fix them by developing every feature of the software. Self-evaluation of the developed feature leads to less technical debt and fewer bugs in the later stages of the software development life cycle. Ensure not to release buggy code or, in other terms, always consider the weight of books.

Is Hiring Programmers from India a Good Idea?

Hiring developers from India has several advantages, but you must consider the ins and out to make a good choice. When you hire Indian developers, ensure they are up to date and are aware of the latest industry standards and evolving technologies. Further, they must be willing to learn and contribute. They love collaborating with diverse developer brains globally and understand how the codes work. Searching in the right places for good Indian programmers with pre-defined requirements and business goals would give you a good mix of talent and skill.

Also read: Why are Indian programmers good to hire for programming?

Commonly Asked Questions about Indian Programmers

Qn 1: What are the qualities of a good programmer?

Below are the five crucial characteristics of good programmers:

• Endless patience. 
• A high degree of problem-solving skills
• Desire to learn and evolve
• Logical thinking. 
• Self-discipline.

Qn 2: What makes a strong coder?

To become a great programmer, one must have sound knowledge of the tech domain and the ability to understand concepts quickly or learn with evolving technology and frameworks.

Qn 3: Is it hard to find good programmers?

It is extremely hard to find a good programmer in India or anywhere in the world if you don’t put the right questions at the right time. 

Qn 4: How do I hire a good developer?

Look for the following characteristics when looking to hire a good developer.

1. Dedicated domain expert
2.  Flexible and familiar with diverse software environments.
3. Must have strong communication and collaboration skills.
4. Must have sound knowledge of documentation 
5. They must be clean coders.
6. Must have sound knowledge of git, wiki, and required frameworks

Qn 5: What do companies look for in a programmer?

• A quick problem solver and possess a proactive approach. 
• The ability to learn new technologies at a fast pace. 
• The ability to bring innovation to the table by adopting evolving technology transformations.
• Efficiency and dedication.