Hire SQL Developers

Hiring quality talent today has become a challenging task for companies and recruiters. Even headhunters are having trouble finding skilled developers available for new projects. According to Forbes Advisor, 36% of HR leaders lack the resources to recruit top talent and face at least 30% of employee turnover. Employee turnover is incredibly pricy since companies have to announce job openings repeatedly and spend hours on interviews and other recruitment processes.

To avoid this time-consuming and pricey process, companies turn to outstaffing agencies to hire SQL developers and fill the skill gaps in existing teams. Outstaffing has gained traction recently, and even large companies like Accenture and IBM have successfully hired professionals from outstaffing services.

Since companies place such importance on having an efficient SQL server, improving database management systems, enhancing data modeling, and writing custom SQL queries, the necessity of hiring an SQL developer grows. We offer you a guide to hiring SQL developers and evaluating outstaffing companies for collaboration.

What Expectations Should You Have from an SQL Developer?

SQL developers play a critical role in companies. Large enterprises, mid-sized companies, and even startups don’t exist without data storage and analysis—all things expected to be taken care of by an SQL developer. These professionals manage and maintain the data backbone of your business. Their responsibilities often include maintaining database management systems, creating complex SQL queries, and designing data storage solutions.

Here’s what SQL developers typically do:

• Design and implement RDBMS
• Develop complex SQL queries for data retrieval and data analysis
• Create and optimize stored procedures, functions, and triggers
• Integrate databases with other systems and applications
• Perform database performance tuning and optimization
• Manage data storage, backup, and recovery processes

This list can help you understand what your potential SQL developer can do and what to expect from them. Highlighting your expectations before crafting the SQL developer job description is essential. Do you need someone to optimize existing database systems or create a new one from scratch? Once you clearly define your goals and requirements, you can look for an ideal SQL developer.

How to Evaluate an SQL Developer

Hiring developers doesn’t come without the assessment or evaluation process. If you decide to hire freelance SQL developers, you’ll have to go through the evaluation process. We created a little guide with four essential evaluation steps needed to choose the right candidate:

• Technical skill assessment
• Expertise evaluation
• Portfolio review
• Communication and team collaboration

Technical skill assessment

Your tech recruiter will probably tell you how complicated this process is, and it goes beyond these four simple steps. However, these are essentials to evaluate candidates to get the whole picture, starting with technical skill assessment. A professional SQL developer should have a strong understanding of the following:

• Structured query language
• MySQL
• PostgreSQL
• Microsoft SQL Server
• SQL query creation
• Designing storage procedures

Outstaffing companies have pre-scanned SQL developers, so consider that such collaboration can save you time and resources.

Expertise evaluation

Experience is a surface-level term. Some companies define quality experience as years of working as a professional SQL developer, and others value the amount and diversity of the projects the developer has worked on. You can’t just trust the portfolio or the resume that says 4+ years of experience and count it as expertise. You should also assess the projects they’ve worked on and how they can handle some necessary processes.

For example, depending on your company’s needs, you may prefer to hire an SQL developer with experience in various relational database management systems. If your company uses Oracle, you’ll need to hire a candidate with experience in Oracle SQL Developer. Hire an SQL server developer with experience with data analysis and security practices and access their ability to implement encryption.

Portfolio review

Portfolios show if your SQL developer has experience that can help fulfill your company’s needs. Explore each portfolio you encounter from your candidate list and look for the projects that resonate with your company’s requirements and needs.

Communication and team collaboration

Last but not least, you must evaluate the communication and team collaboration abilities of your potential SQL developer. SQL developers rarely work alone. Even if you hire one freelancer, they must work with project managers, designers, and stakeholders. Effective collaboration requires excellent communication and collaboration skills.

Often, companies face issues when hiring new candidates and realize they lack collaboration skills, making project management tricky for the rest of the staff. At Glorium Technologies, we regularly reassess our developers’ communication and tech skills to ensure they can collaborate comfortably.

Essential Skills to Look for in the Right SQL Developer

Hiring developers involves another evaluation stage, which centers around skill assessments. This section of the guide will explore some of the critical skills a professional SQL developer should have.

Technical skills

SQL developers work with large datasets and create environments where companies store, manage, and extract data more efficiently and securely. So, it makes sense that technical skill assessment is essential. These skills are what you should look for in a desired SQL developer:

• Expertise in SQL Server
• Experience with multiple relational database management systems (RDBMS)
• Strong understanding of data modeling and query optimization
• Proficiency in popular database tools like Microsoft SQL Server and MySQL
• Ability to design efficient databases and create complex SQL queries
• Skilled at troubleshooting database performance issues

When looking for SQL developers, expertise in certain database systems such as SQL Server should not go untested. It is a relational database management system developed by Microsoft that is famous for its reliability in supporting many features such as security, availability, storage, and data analysis. An expert SQL developer with knowledge of SQL Server can clean up the databases and enhance their efficiency, create highly efficient stored procedures, and guarantee flawless database integration into the business applications. Furthermore, SQL Server provides built-in functions for data management and graphing, which can be used to improve BI initiatives, which makes SQL Server a database solution that can be trusted by companies.

Soft skills

SQL developers often work with other teams to implement data-driven solutions. They interact with other developers and project managers (stakeholders, etc.), so your candidates should be able to follow basic project management guidelines, communicate their concerns and complex ideas to other team members, and be able to make transparent decisions. These are the soft skills you should look for in your SQL developer:

• Strong communication and collaboration abilities
• Capacity to communicate complex technical concepts to non-technical stakeholders
• Effective teamwork and adaptability to changing project requirements
• Capability of working independently and taking ownership of projects

Additional relevant experience

As for the additional expertise and skills, it depends on the type of SQL developer you’re looking for. These skills and experience differ by their seniority levels, too. Ideally, you should be looking for an SQL developer with these skills:

• Experience in AWS RDS, Azure SQL Database
• Familiarity with data visualization tools for practical data analysis
• Knowledge of database security practices to safeguard sensitive information
• Background in database design and storage optimization

How to Find Top SQL Developers

Let’s address the fact that finding qualified talent is challenging. Factors such as organizational change, employee turnover, better offers, strained career paths, and more affect potential candidates’ and new hires’ decisions. According to Forbes Advisor, 45% of employees feel burnout and fatigue due to organizational changes. For others, a deciding factor is the fact that 44% of companies don’t offer attractive career paths, and hence, 75% of employees will actively look for new roles at other companies.

These statistics only scratch the surface, and there’s more to why it’s so difficult to find a suitable candidate and keep them for years.

In this section of the article, we’ll offer several methods of hiring top SQL developers and keeping them for good. We’ll also explore the superiority of each method so you can make informed decisions.

Hire freelance SQL developers

If you’re looking for a flexible and cost-effective option for short-term projects, then hiring freelance SQL developers can benefit you. Upwork, Freelancers, Fiverr, TopTal, and similar platforms have thousands of developer profiles. You’ll attract a lot of cover letters, but keep in mind that scanning through them is a must.

Pros of hiring freelance developers:

• It’s cost-efficient: Freelance developers normally charge lower hourly rates than full-time employees. This makes the freelance approach relatively cost-efficient for short-term projects
• You’re flexible with your choice and adjustments: Once your project grows and requires more skillset, you can scale up based on the project requirements. Or, if you feel like the developer you hired did their job, you can scale down
• You get access to a global talent pool: This pro is pretty self-explanatory. A global talent pool means more skills and extensive expertise
• The hiring process is relatively quick: Freelance platforms make it easier for hiring managers to find and access talent

Cons of hiring freelance developers:

• You may face inconsistent availability: Freelancers almost always juggle multiple projects, which means that they’re not fully concentrated on your project, resulting in delays and mistakes
• You may face limited accountability: Consistent quality of the freelancer’s work is difficult to track. They usually work independently, and it’s up to them if they follow the project timelines or not
• It poses security and data risks: Assessment procedures require you to ensure the freelancers follow strict security practices. Otherwise, they can pose potential risks
• You’ll get limited long-term support: Freelance developers are rarely available for long-term engagements, and you’ll need to look for new professionals (and train them) if project requirements change

Hire dedicated SQL developers

Forbes Advisor research also reported that companies, on average, spend $1,400 on new employee onboarding. On top of that, only 24% of the companies have a structured onboarding process, which leads to high employee turnover. Still, businesses value dedicated personnel and spend hundreds of hours looking for the top picks.

Hiring a dedicated SQL developer will take a lot of time and money.

Pros of hiring a dedicated SQL developer:

• You’ll get fully committed professionals: Dedicated SQL developers work exclusively for your company and are focused solely on your projects
• They understand your system better: Once they gain in-depth knowledge of your database structure and project requirements, they can be beneficial in troubleshooting and optimization
• You’ll have long-term stability: This model is great for long-term project involvement and stability

Cons of hiring a dedicated SQL developer:

• It costs more to hire and onboard a dedicated employee: Salaries, benefits, and infrastructure alone can cost you a lot. And as we already mentioned, onboarding can also take some time and money
• Your project will rely on a few developers: Dedicated developers are usually limited by company requirements, and this can disrupt the progress significantly
• You’ll face recruitment complications: The recruitment process takes a lot of time and money. Employee turnover is another risk that can leave you looking for new developers every 90 days

Hire SQL developers from outstaffing companies

Outstaffing companies provide an opportunity to have skilled SQL developers in your team but not be tied up with all the associated costs of staff hiring. This model is best suited to contracting unique talents for your project, growing your team rapidly, and managing broad database development solutions.

Pros of hiring SQL developers from outstaffing companies:

• You’ll get access to skilled professionals: Outstaffing companies provide a team of experienced SQL developers with various specialization fields such as query optimization, data analysis, etc.
• You’ll be able to scale your projects up or down: If your project requirements change, you can change the collaboration model or consult with the outstaffing agency
• This model is cost-efficient: Outstaffing models may contain administrative support, recruitment, and infrastructure; overhead cost is lower than in regular employment
• It increases your company’s flexibility: Outstaffed SQL developers become a part of your team but are still considered employees of the outstaffing firm, providing you with more options concerning the distribution of tasks
• You can focus on core business processes: When you outsource your recruitment and staffing needs, they allow your in-house team to remain productive in core business operations while you work with the specialists regarding your database
• You’ll reduce your HR and administrative workload: When you’re hiring developers from outstaffing companies, you’re also subsequently outsourcing recruitment and hiring tasks

Cons of hiring SQL developers from outstaffing companies:

• You may face slight integration challenges: Some developers can slow down the company culture adaptation
• Communication barriers may occur: If you’re hiring an SQL developer from a global talent pool, language barriers may pose a risk of miscommunication. This isn’t an issue if you scan the outstaffing company and make sure their developers are proficient in your preferred language

How to Hire SQL Developers From Outstaffing Companies

We recommend working with outstaffing companies to hire a suitable SQL developer. You can scroll up to find the pros of hiring developers from outstaffing companies, but we’ll never tire of exploring the benefits.

You’ll reach a global talent pool, which means more choice and flexibility, less costs, and an accessible recruitment process.

However, hiring professionals from outstaffing companies isn’t a walk in the park. You’ll still have to go through an assessment steps and choose the right outstaffing company. Granted, this is an easier process than looking for dedicated SQL developers on job boards and freelance platforms, but you still need to be cautious.

Define your requirements for a suitable SQL developer

You already have the project. Now, define the expectations you have for the potential candidates. Scroll up and take another look at the key skills your SQL developer should have, and note the ones you desire (experience with Microsoft SQL Server, data analysis, stored procedures, etc.).

Research reliable outstaffing partners

Find outstaffing companies and select a few for the final assessment. Go through their success studies, portfolios, developer expertise, tech stack, and more. Request initial consultations with their hiring experts and ask questions.

Interview the candidates

Outstaffing companies will provide you with a list of suitable candidates after they explore your requirements. That’s how it works at Glorium Technologies. We listen to your expectations, and after carefully reviewing your company’s needs, we deliver a list of SQL developers who we believe you might like. You can interview the candidates to assess their technical skills and communication capabilities.

Set clear expectations and KPIs

This will help you analyze how successful the hiring process was and give the outstaffing company information about your expectations. KPIs also ensure that your new developers understand your goals and can work toward delivering results that align with your business goals.

Explore collaboration models

Professional outstaffing companies offer flexible collaboration models. Our models include staff augmentation, a dedicated team, and outstaffing services. You can fill in the skill gaps in your pre-existing development team, hire a whole new team for a new project, or build a remote tech hub.

Request additional professional engagement (if needed)

Outstaffing companies like Glorium Technologies offer additional professionals like project managers in case you need one. Hiring an external project manager who has experience working with the development team, you’re outstaffing can help you focus on core business processes.

Maintain communication and give regular feedback

Once you choose the right vendor and hire a suitable SQL developer, we recommend keeping in contact with the provider and giving regular feedback. Not all hires are a good match, and you may need to change the developer, scale up, or request different collaboration models. Whatever your challenge is, top outstaffing companies will help you solve it.

How Can Glorium Technologies Help?

Glorium Technologies has been helping companies develop software, adjust, and improve their teams for 14 years. Our SQL developers are skilled, professional, and expressive. With hundreds of developers on board, we guarantee that the right professionals are available for the project, from a junior developer for simple SQL queries to a senior specialist for data modeling, data analysis, experience with Microsoft SQL Server, and effective stored procedures.

We also offer flexible and comfortable collaboration and pricing models. Let us transform your data into valuable insights with our top-tier SQL talent. Fill in our form to build your development team or request a free consultation with our expert.