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If you want to hire a HubSpot developer to help you, you likely have many concerns and questions. What type of HubSpot developer do you need? Why does HubSpot certification even matter? Where can you find the right person? Given the current labor shortage, is finding someone even possible? If you find candidates, how can you choose the right one?
Your Hiring Guide for the Perfect Developer
We know it’s a lot to think about. The days of just tossing out a “Now Hiring” sign and the right person showing up are over. While you don’t have to know everything involved in development, it is crucial to have a basic understanding of what’s happening when you need someone to work on your HubSpot CMS.
In this blog post, you’ll learn the basics of what front-end development, back-end development, and full-stack development are. You’ll also learn some strategies you can use in hiring a developer who carries the HubSpot certifications you need for web development.
Front-End, Back-End, Full-Stack: So Many Terms, So Little Time
A developer is a person who has the important job of website design. Depending on which development process they specialize in, they may also be referred to as design development experts, website designers, CMS developers, or by other specific titles.
When someone is a certified developer, it means that they’ve taken a specific exam and passed it. Passing the exam gave them a certificate. HubSpot certifications are examples of this.
When you are hiring a developer, you need to first determine which type of developer you need: a front-end developer, a back-end developer, or a full-stack developer. A front-end developer works on the end user side of the website — the website that your clients see. They make sure that web design elements your clients interact with work as they should.
A back-end developer builds and manages the technology that supports the website. So, for example, they may build and maintain the server, an app, and a database so that your clients have the experience that they expect and need to have while interacting with your online presence.
A full-stack developer has the knowledge and experience working with both the front and back-end web development processes and elements.
When It Comes to HubSpot Developers, Which Is Best?
The real question you should be asking is: what does your team need? When it comes to hiring a certified developer, there is no one size fits all approach. First, consider your web development needs when hiring a web developer.
If you already have a bigger company, you may already have a back-end developer even if they aren’t HubSpot certified. If you’re moving to HubSpot CMS, your back-end developer is still your current biggest asset.
However, you’ll still want to find a front-end dev with HubSpot certifications for design development. If your developer has additional back-end knowledge, that’s even better. HubSpot relies on its own programming language.
Hiring a certified developer to work with your existing developer can make the development process of your new HubSpot CMS much smoother.
Why Is “Certified HubSpot Developer” an Important Distinction?
Web development relies on various computer programming languages. The most commonly referenced are HTML, CSS, and JavaScript.
Yet, when it comes to really making things work the way they should for you and your clients, we hate to break it to you, but those three don’t even scratch the surface of what’s really happening in development services.
For example, did you know that there’s a coding language involved that’s named after a snake? Python. And, again, we’re not including every programming language involved in both front and back-end development.
Why was that short paragraph on web development programming languages necessary? Because HubSpot CMS relies on its very own proprietary language: HuBL. It is an extension of Jinjava. In addition to HuBL, HubSpot CMS also uses Node.js, Ruby, PHP, and Python for developing custom integrations.
Since HubSpot created a specific language to handle their CMS, they created a development course to certify front and back-end developers.
Why the HubSpot Certification Matters for Web Dev
HubSpot CMS is a powerful tool that can manage leads, handle your inbound marketing, and can do practically anything you want as long as you have the right certified developers to assist with crucial design elements and API needs.
Certified developers are experienced in HubSpot’s coding language, HuBL, and more traditionally used languages. HuBL is based on Python, but it isn’t exactly the same. So, it is essential that if you hire someone to work on your HubSpot CMS, they have experience using HuBL, not just Python, Java, JavaScript, HTML, PHP, CSS, and the other more traditional programming languages associated with both front-end and back-end development.
HubSpot certification also includes HubSpot API development. API stands for Application Programming Interface. This allows your HubSpot CMS to work with other apps made by third parties. Your CMS would have custom automation or workflow thanks to a HubSpot certified web development professional.
These custom workflows would be chosen based on team dynamics that perfectly fit the needs of your sales process or other needs of your business.
Finding HubSpot Developers to Fit Your Needs
So, now that you’ve decided which type of web development professional you want, you’re ready to start your search.
Before we get started, we’d like to provide a gentle reminder regarding the current labor shortage during the pandemic. Even under the best possible conditions, it may be challenging to locate and hire the best person.
Do your best not to get discouraged. Use all of your best resources to fulfill your needs. Here are some tips to get you started.
Use Direct Hiring Websites: Indeed, LinkedIn, and College Job Boards
Job boards such as Indeed and Monster are a great place to start. The key to writing a good job post, regardless of whether you post it on Indeed, LinkedIn, or on a college job board, is to make it eye-catching.
LinkedIn can be an absolute asset between its groups, your professional profile, Pulse, and your company profile. Post a job, write about the job on Pulse (as well as what your company is up to), and share that your company is hiring on your professional profile and in groups.
Make sure that when you share it to your professional profile you share it publicly. You can even use hashtags. No, you do not have to accept resumes through your account. You can include the hiring instructions in the post (even if it links back to an indeed.com listing or job listing on LinkedIn!).
Don’t be afraid to post the job to a college job board. It isn’t just new graduates who will see the job. Alums also have access to these job boards as well. Even if new grads see the post, you may get someone with limited experience, but you also have the opportunity to help someone grow!
Forums, Subreddits, Slack, Discord, and the HubSpot Dev Forums
If you have at least one web developer (or know one), ask them where a good place would be online for you to post the job opening. There’s a good chance they know of at least one forum, subreddit (yes, really), Slack channel, or a Discord server where the job can be posted.
The key to keeping in mind with this tip is that you will likely need to do this more than once or “bump” the post. When you “bump” a post, you comment on an existing post to raise it back into view.
Another option is to visit the HubSpot Dev Forums. Although you will still need to adequately screen potential candidates, this may be a decent place to begin your search for a certified HubSpot CRM developer.
Partner with a Recruiter
So, what if you don’t want to spend the time seeking out potential candidates on your own? We know it can be a headache to spend the necessary time going through this process and there’s a lot on your plate.
To make the most of your time as a business owner, your other option is to partner with a recruiter who can search for you. There are two things to keep in mind about this option.
On the one hand, hiring a recruiter frees you up because you’ve partnered with a professional who takes this task on for you. There are even recruiters who specialize in finding front-end, back-end, and full-stack web developers. You can focus on what you need to focus on. They find the people, go through the resumes, and perhaps do the first round of interviews. High-five, right?
On the other hand, there is a cost involved to get the job done. From that perspective, you must determine whether the cost is worth the time savings for you.
What If You Have No Candidates?
First, take a deep breath and remember what you read earlier in this post about the current state of hiring affairs. Next, how many places did you post your job opening? Hopefully, you posted it in more than one place…and hopefully, you shared it out more than once as well.
With that out of the way, now we have to ask you some tough questions:
- How does your job posting read?
- Would they have to work mandatory overtime?
- Are there any red flags that make people not want to work for you?
- Do you offer competitive pay?
- Do you offer good benefits?
Now, let’s talk about perks!
Think about why someone would really, really want to work for you. Regardless of whether you’re offering a remote position, in-house position, or a flexible option, you need to make what you have to offer attractive.
Think of it this way — there are plenty of people who will work from home for a little less pay if they’re given unlimited PTO and can be in their PJs and get the job done. But also remember that cool perks won’t take away from bad pay or forcing people to always be in the office.
Should You Choose a Full-Time or Freelance Developer?
Whether you should choose a full-time or freelance certified developer depends on your needs. You can start by asking yourself these questions:
- Is this a one-time project? If you answered yes, a freelance web dev might be right for you.
- Do you have ongoing projects in mind? If you answered yes, a full-time web dev might be the right choice.
- What industry are you in? If you have multiple sites or if you are a marketing or advertising agency, you may need a full-time web dev.
- How big is your current team? By this, we’re asking you to look at your current development situation. Generally, when it comes to website development and website design, it is not a one-person job unless you’re a very teeny tiny company. If you already have a big team, you may only need a freelance web dev unless you’re growing and everyone has a full plate. At that point, it’s time to consider another full-time team member.
We know it’s still a tough call figuring out if you need someone full-time or if a freelance certified developer will do the trick. We’ve got good news for you — we can assess your current tech stack to help you with this critical decision.
Before Hiring: Ask HubSpot Specific Questions
Depending on whether you’re hiring front-end, back-end, or full-stack, you’ll want to ask specific questions to gauge their abilities before even scheduling an interview. Here are a few examples:
- Do you have experience creating, editing, and implementing themes for HubSpot CMS? This question is designed for front-end development
- How would you manage Web Services API versioning? This is a critical component in API design. It includes three parts: URL or route versioning, versioning using a custom header, and query string parameter. HubSpot CRM supports API use which allows you to do some pretty amazing things! However, you need someone who really knows their stuff to make those amazing things continue to be…well, amazing!
- If you’re creating a SaaS that relies on the HubSpot platform, you may need to ask more in-depth questions involving database table design or management. It would be crucial to ask questions to learn more about the full-stack developer’s experience in this realm.
Because of the importance of making sure your HubSpot CRM works the way you need it to and, more importantly, the way your clients need and want it to work, choosing the right certified website developer for your needs shouldn’t be a guessing game.
You’ve Identified Candidates! How to Know If They’re Any Good?
You’ve narrowed down the pool of potential applicants, and it’s time to start the interviewing process. We know it can be tempting to just look at a resume and say, “You look great on paper – you’re hired!”
But trust us when we say that you don’t want to do that for your hiring process.
It’s critical to ensure that the CMS developer you’re interested in has the necessary experience working in HubSpot and development services. Here are some questions you can ask your CMS developer candidates to pick the right one for your needs.
General Development Questions You Can Ask at an Interview
- Which languages do you know? At the very least, they should have experience in the following programming languages: HTML, CSS, PHP, JavaScript, and JQuery.
- How many years of experience do you have creating user-friendly web design elements?
- Do you have experience in cross-browser testing?
- Explain some essential design elements. The purpose is to ensure that they understand the basic elements and how the development process takes place.
These are only a few general development questions you can ask. Additionally, you may have noticed that the questions were explicitly geared toward front-end development. Even though they are geared toward front-end development, some of the concepts regarding basic web design would still be known by a full-stack developer.
Specific HubSpot Questions You Can Use During the Interview Process
Since you want specific knowledge to work on your HubSpot web design, you should have specific questions prepared for the interview process.
- Do you follow HubSpot’s Modular Development, or do you use HubSpot templates?
- When involved in website design, do you code from scratch, or do you prefer to start with a HubSpot theme?
- How do you define a user-friendly web design?
- Why did you decide to become HubSpot certified?
- As a web development professional, what do you believe to be the benefits of HubSpot CMS?
Knowing more about the candidate’s experience with HubSpot will help you better understand if they are the best person for your needs!
Making an Offer to Your Favorite HubSpot Certified Web Dev
You found the one. The perfect developer. Now it’s time to make an offer to your favorite HubSpot certified web dev. This is done through a formal job offer letter or email. The job offer includes the following information:
- The date the web dev job begins
- Information regarding the pay
- Whether the job is in-house or remote
- The hours the web dev is expected to work and/or be available
- The official job title
- Benefits that come with the position
The letter often includes congratulations and a warm welcome along with the official offer. It may include a date by which the candidate is expected to respond and accept the offer.
Although many job offers are considered formal letters, more informal job offers are quite common. The Betterteam.com website has several examples, including an example of how to discuss why a specific candidate was chosen.
They Accepted! Now What?
Let us be the first to congratulate you on your new hire! We certainly don’t have to tell you why it’s important to keep any employee happy, but…you also spent all this time reading about how to hire a HubSpot certified web developer.
Make sure that you provide them with proper onboarding. Nothing is worse than just getting thrown into the deep end of the pool. Sure, your web developer is a professional, but they’re still new to your company.
Along with onboarding comes proper training. Make sure they have what they need to get the job done in the way you want it done. You know how your company operates, but they should also know and understand this as well.
Onboarding and training go along with company culture. It can be challenging for newcomers to feel as if they fit in. Culture is one of the main reasons why people leave jobs, even if they are well-paid. Ensure that your new employee feels valued and accepted within your company.
Evaluation and opportunities to grow are also keys to employee happiness. It is human nature to look for the chance to improve and to grow. Make sure those opportunities are present.
We spoke with our very own HubSpot certified web developer Michelle to get her advice on what you should know about keeping your web dev truly happy:
- Challenge them to help them grow! “I enjoy new challenges. I love to see what I can build and how creative I can be when solving a problem. Give me some parameters and a challenge, and I am happy dev.”
- Make sure they know what you expect. “To get the best experience when working with a developer, set clear, descriptive parameters, share your use cases, any look and feel you want, and any designs you have in mind. Even a drawing on a napkin is a good place to start.”
Continuing to invest in your HubSpot developer will help them stick around for the long term. Hopefully, this guide will help you find the right candidate for your business that will help you and your business goals.
