Hire Flutter Developers: How to Find the Best Fit
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More chaptersThe growing competitive landscape in the tech world requires businesses to optimize mobile app development as much as possible. This includes reaching as large an audience as possible upon release and ensuring a consistent user experience across different platforms, all while staying within budget. Cross-platform development, hence, has continuously seen a rise in its popularity.
Developers have a variety of mobile development frameworks to choose from, but one name has appeared to be a constant favorite: Flutter. It was deemed the most widely utilized cross-platform mobile framework worldwide, according to a Statista survey in 2023.
Despite the growing popularity of Flutter, finding skilled developers proficient in the framework can still be challenging. A framework’s popularity doesn’t necessarily translate into a readily available talent pool. This article will discuss recruiting high-quality Flutter developers, including the key skills to look for and how to budget to find a winning team for your business.
Key Takeaways:
- Having a strong team of Flutter developers on board allows you to build robust and appealing cross-platform mobile apps, rapidly develop prototypes, and save costs.
- A professional Flutter developer possesses essential technical skills, including Dart proficiency, state management, version control, and an extensive understanding of Flutter’s widgets and SDKs.
- Flutter outsourcing companies, specialized recruitment agencies, and freelancer platforms are some sources to hire Flutter developers or Flutter developer teams.
Why Flutter? Understanding Flutter for Hiring Decisions
To make effective hiring decisions, both business owners and hiring managers need to understand why and how Flutter might benefit the company.
Benefits of Flutter App Development
Flutter development boasts the following clear advantages:
Cross-platform Development
The 2023 Statista survey stated that around one-third of developers use cross-platform technology or frameworks. Instead of developing two to three separate apps for different platforms, a single codebase allows cross-platform apps to reach a broad audience while shortening time-to-market.
Saving Costs
The ability to use a single code base for multiple platforms not only streamlines the development process but also reduces software development expenses. Instead of recruiting 2 to 3 different development teams to build apps for, let’s say, Android and iOS, just having a single team (in this case, a team of Flutter developers) will produce the same results.
Fast MVP Development
For businesses who are looking to build rapid MVP, Flutter offers Flutterflow. Imagine it as a drag-and-drop interface, where you can arrange and resize elements, with the framework doing all the coding for you. This low-code tool gives companies the chance to test user hypotheses and quickly start over if it doesn’t match the initial goal.
Diverse Customization Options
In addition to its low-code tool, Flutter also offers a wide range of dynamic libraries to customize widgets, animations, rendering and gestures. Utilizing the framework’s hot reloading features, a Flutter developer can see changes instantly without the need to restart the entire app - saving a lot of time.
Backed by Google
The Flutter framework and Dart programming language, Flutter’s underlying programming language, are both backed by Google. This means developers don’t need to worry about the app’s compatibility with Google’s systems or APIs.
Software to Build with Flutter
Flutter can be used to create a variety of mobile apps. BMW, Toyota, Hamilton, Alibaba Group, Google Pay, Cryptograph, and Philips Hue are among the many popular names built using Flutter. The list doesn’t end here, of course, as Flutter is a great choice to use in developing the following apps:
- Business apps: This includes inventory management apps, project management apps, or customer relationship management apps.
- E-commerce apps
- Social media apps
- Educational apps: This includes online learning platforms or interactive learning tools.
- Gaming apps
- Health and fitness apps
- Utility apps: This includes weather apps, productivity tools, calculators, or converters.
- Augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR) applications
- Internet of Things (IoT) apps
Hiring Flutter Developers: Core Competencies
A skilled Flutter developer should possess a range of basic skills, both hard and soft ones. Here is a checklist to help both recruiters and aspiring Flutter developers to achieve their goals.
Flutter Developer Hard Skills
Proficiency in Dart
Dart is the core engine that powers Flutter. Skilled Flutter developers should have no problem with utilizing Dart to generate clean and efficient code.
This skill can be broken down to understanding Dart’s basic syntax, structures, and unique features, e.g., Dart’s JIT (just-in-time) compilation.
Flutter Framework Fundamentals
As a Flutter developer, understanding the framework’s core concepts, like widgets, layouts, and animations, is a must. This might involve experience with managing widget lifecycles and state and stateless widgets.
Version Control with Git
Cross-platform development requires that changes made in one platform don’t negatively affect another. Being familiar with version control maintains consistency, facilitates collaboration across different environments, and effective codebase maintenance.
State Management
In a Flutter app, the state refers to all the data and resources the app needs to display its interface and manage things like memory or network connections. State management is the process of organizing the app so it can efficiently access and share this data between different widgets.
Flutter development offers several state management approaches like Porivder, Rivepod, Redux, or Blox. Developers should have experience in implementing the right approach for their Flutter projects.
Flutter SDK and Widgets
Although Flutter is well-known for its widgets and customization capabilities, it is crucial to keep in mind that these widgets are the building blocks of the Flutter app’s user interfaces. This skill is non-negotiable. Top Flutter developers have extensive experience with the framework’s built-in widgets while having solid knowledge regarding responsive design principles to maintain unique widgets with a unique theming.
API Integration
A frequent task Flutter developers need to handle is integrating APIs. This includes efficient data retrieval, optimized data handling, making network queries, and the ability to convert data between JSON and Dart objects.
Testing and Debugging
Every Flutter app developer should be aware of ways to create reliable mobile applications - through rigorous testing and debugging. Hence, being able to conduct widget testing, unit testing, and integration testing is another crucial skill.
Flutter Developer Soft Skills
The best Flutter developers have strong technical skills and a range of soft skills.
Communication Skills
A project’s success is achieved through team effort. Communication skills, hence, are a core competency to contribute to the team’s success. This skill includes more than verbal and written skills; it also includes good listening skills.
Problem Solving and Communication Skills
Though every framework and programming language provides developers with a clear guideline, the ability to think critically and devise innovative solutions is what drives a project toward success and demonstrates the developer’s expertise.
Collaboration
A project entails complex processes and constant team collaboration. Being a team player can improve not only the workplace experience but also the product’s quality. Zippia’s study showed that collaboration can result in a 34% increase in product quality and a 30% increase in product development efficiency.
Where Can You Hire Flutter Developers?
With the list of skills down, the natural follow-up question is, where do you find high-quality Flutter developers quickly? There are three places to look: Flutter app development agencies, specialized recruitment firms, and freelance platforms.
Flutter Outsourcing Development Company
Flutter outsourcing development companies offer a full-package choice. They will hire Flutter developers for you, assist with app design and development, and even post-launch app maintenance. All you need to do is let your partner know your vision and goals.
If you would like a little bit more control, these companies also provide dedicated software teams. This means they offer Flutter developer teams for hire, which, again, saves you a lot of time and money recruiting, onboarding, and labor wages.
Benefits
- Cost-saving solution
- Extensive access to the global talent pool
- Access to the newest technology
- Near-continuous testing cycles.
- Rapid development cycles with constant professional input
- Seamless team collaboration
Drawbacks
- Possible miscommunications
Specialist Recruitment Firms
Similar to outsourcing companies, specialist recruitment firms will do all the interviewing and screening steps for you. You might need to sit in for the last interview rounds to make the final call.
Benefits
- Personal recommendations
- Flexible recruitment, as developers might migrate into an in-house staff
Drawbacks
- Doesn’t fit the scale of complex projects
- Difficulty in team building due to time-zone differences
- No guarantee of post-launch maintenance as developers work per contracts
Freelance Platforms
Last but not least are freelance platforms. Platforms like Fiverr allow you to view developers’ portfolios and compare rates. However, your in-house team will need to do the entire recruitment process.
Benefits
- Lower rates
- Flexibility to scale the team up or down
Drawbacks
- Little commitment
- Difficulty in validating skills and experience
- No long-term support
A Closer Look at Flutter Developer Salary
As you might expect, it is hard to pin an exact number for a Flutter developer’s salary. The number might vary, depending on the location (different living standards, for example, translate to higher salary), number of experiences, and the complexity of the project. Here is an estimated salary range of Flutter developers depending on their years of experience:
- Entry-level developer: Around $70,000 to $73,000 per year.
- Mid-Level Flutter Developer: Approximately $80,000 to $120,000 per year.
- Senior-Level Flutter Developer: Typically between $121,000 and $160,000 per year.
Do keep in mind that these numbers might change depending on location and other factors. Make sure to consult your partner, or agency, or talk directly to the freelancer to obtain the most accurate range.
Tapping into Vietnam’s Flutter Talent
With all this information at hand, you can now hire Flutter developers like a pro.
We suggest that you tap into Vietnam’s lively Flutter talents – especially at Orient Software. Not only are many developers here proficient in English, but they also have a keen interest in staying up-to-date with the latest technology trends. In addition, the financial benefits in Vietnam are highly attractive.
Vietnam is more than just a dot on the tech map; it’s a shining star in the Flutter development landscape. Contact Orient Software today to learn more!
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