Companies are trying hard to evolve and for this reason, they are looking for everything that falls under the hat of innovation: from management software to improve productivity to the exploration of new sales channels up to the world of apps and e-commerce. Surely this is good news for software developers who, fortunately for them, find themselves almost all fully employed with rates and salaries that are rising more and more. On the other hand, it is becoming more difficult for companies to adjust to the tariffs and it is increasingly difficult to be able to create those conditions that allow developers to be attractive.
But why should a company care about being attractive? Because developers today are not only looking for a competitive salary, they also want better working conditions. They want to be able to work with the technologies they value most, with the flexibility of location and time that allows them to manage multiple orders and projects, and they want to have a real impact on the growth of the company. Last, but not least, they want to be able to work remotely, but not only that, they want to be able to manage how and when to work from home.
If until a few months ago we only talked about the benefits of remote working, now that desire to interact with people is starting to emerge and therefore to be able to independently decide how and how much to work remotely rather than in contact with colleagues. So it’s no wonder that 30% of developers prefer a hybrid work model that balances home and office. Are companies ready to give their software developers this degree of freedom, and above all do they have the means to manage it?
This degree of working freedom is not easy to conceive, but it is even more difficult to manage it. The digital world and the works born with it confer this degree of freedom because a PC and a good internet connection are potentially enough to practice them. However, this requires companies to control and monitor tools, in the absence of which there is a risk of losing control of resources and of the project itself.
What companies are looking for
Smaller companies that want to start a software development project, regardless of development needs, are likely to look for people who are already fully educated and competent because they do not have the internal tools to train them. However, these people are the hardest to find on the market, they represent scarce resources.
Smaller companies may also want to collaborate with freelancers so as not to take the risk of hiring a resource that costs a lot and that in any case, they do not have the means to monitor and the tools to supervise. The large company, on the other hand, can afford to collaborate with junior developers and train them to make them grow over time, they can also afford the business risk and hire an internal resource who will work full-time and will not have other projects to carry on that could interfere or steal time to your project.
What developers are looking for
What is taken a little too much for granted are the needs of those who offer their work and skills. We are led to believe that the only balance is economic treatment and we underestimate other factors that should instead be taken into consideration. Remote working is certainly much desired because the developer’s work is extremely compatible with this way of working even if many developers, as we have already pointed out, are looking for a hybrid model and the reasons are to be found in the dynamics human, for example, the need to relate and align in person with a work team. Remote working is therefore still a current topic after all and companies have begun to digest and apply it. However, there are other factors to take into consideration that are dear to developers and it might surprise how some of what we thought were important values play a marginal role, while others seem to be highly sought after.
