Understand why hire junior developers is the best for your tech team, even if you initially considered to hire a senior developer instead!
You need to ramp – up your tech team, so you start looking for an experienced developer. However, after weeks of search without finding anyone you can actually afford, you start thinking you may NEVER find the right person. ????
We know sometimes it’s absolutely inevitable to hire a senior developer, but other times it’s worth considering other options if the alternative is to eternally keep looking.
Such as hiring junior developers.
In this article we’ll give you 5 reasons why the time invested in training junior developers actually pays off!
By the end of the article you’ll be able to answer the question: “Why do companies hire junior developers?”
…and hopefully start applying it to your own project or company!
1 – Benefit from their just graduated knowledge
Not only they are up to date on industry trends – they just learned about it on college – but they know technology as any generation before: Millennials (born between 1981 and 1996) are known to be tech savvy, while Generation Z (born between 1997 and 2012) is known as tech natives.
So when interviewing potential tech interns, ask about extra school acquired knowledge. Expect to hear about Reddit, Udemy, Coursera. Even TikTok. ???? You’ll be surprised.
Plus, new ideas and a fresh perspective in a company whose industry demands constant novelty… how useful would that be?
2 – Help your employees develop leadership skills
Going from technical to management it’s a big step for developers. Sometimes too big to handle, as they go from programming all day to managing other developers without using their technical skills so much anymore. It can be overwhelming. ????
But mentoring tech interns can be a good middle step between the two positions. By doing so, senior programmers can develop and practice their leadership skills and confidence before officially taking on a leadership role.
So here’s another reason why hire junior developers: you’re not only providing training to the junior developers, but also to your employees. ????
3 – Get your employees extra time
After taking the time to give training to the junior developers, your employees can start passing on some of the routine tasks to them.
This will provide the former with the opportunity to apply their knowledge on a real project, and the latter with the extra time to apply on more complex tasks.
And providing your tech team with new challenges is one important way to keep them happy and motivated! Interested in strategies on how to retain your tech talent?
We wrote two articles about it: Employee Retention Strategies: Keep the Best Tech Talent by Your Side and 5 Questions CTOs Should Ask Themselves if They Want to Retain their Top Tech Talent.
Check them to learn more on the subject!
4 – Benefit from tech interns fast learning curve
If you think you’ll have to wait long before your tech interns start being productive, KWAN’s Head of Strategy and Innovation may help you change your mind:
Recent graduates have been studying for the last 3 to 5 years. Therefore, not only do they have a solid technical base, but they also have a great learning capacity. Let me give you a real example: a few years ago I had to create a team of 25 people, in about a month, to start a project in the banking sector. From those 25, 17 were just graduated. They had 2 weeks of training before entering the project and the results were very good. From those 17, the majority today is a manager or an architect. So why hire junior developers? For me the main reason is because, with just a few weeks of training, you can achieve the same results as if you were hiring seniors, their learning curve is indeed very fast!” – Rui Miranda, Head of Strategy and Innovation @ KWAN
5 – Don’t think “cheap labor”, think “recruiting strategy”
Yes, hiring junior developers instead of trained developers will allow you to save on the budget, but more importantly, you will have the chance to know these new professionals from their first working day ever!
You will influence and shape the way these developers work from now on. And you will be able to do it according to your organization’s best practices.
And because internships are limited in time, it can work as an extended trial period before you decide if a certain intern is in fact a good addition to your team.
By working with KWAN you will be able to outsource the best junior developer for your team, and for a lower price if you’re also outsourcing a senior.
How is this good solution for your project? Let’s talk and find out!
Why hire junior developers: final thoughts
Why do companies hire junior developers?
Well, because it’s worth it!
Big tech corporations, such as Google, Apple (and now KWAN too! ????) have their own tech internship programs because they:
- Recognize the value of a fresh perspective;
- Understand how important it is for senior developers to acquire and develop leadership skills by training junior developers;
- Know that by giving routine tasks to junior developers, seniors have extra time to work on more complex tasks;
- Realized how fast tech interns learn and benefit from it.
Finally, they know that training junior developers will help them improve their recruitment strategy in the long run.
But you can only achieve these 5 benefits if you know how to choose the right people…
For that, count with KWAN’s experienced recruiter team!
Get in touch and let’s find out together what kind of junior developers will be a good fit for your tech team.
Would you like to know how much it would cost before reaching out? Check our Tech Team Simulator!
