The accessibility of digital products between now and 2010 is like night and day. Web products are now faster, performing better, and more robust. One of the main reasons behind it is the cloud — an incredible technology that revolutionized the whole industry and changed how we work and experience digital products within as little as a few years.
What are the main advantages of the cloud for businesses themselves?
- Much easier scalability, important especially for young startups — cloud engineers are now a must for such businesses from day one.
- An amazing option for DevOps teams as the cloud makes it easy to implement continuous delivery and integration in a project. Your product will, then, get updated faster and more frequently, meeting the needs of customers better.
- An easy way to optimize costs and space — servers are taken care of by the cloud provider and there are often many payment plans available for every budget.
- Cloud works perfectly for distributed teams who need to have access to the company’s important data (including the digital product’s code itself) fast and securely from all across the globe.
Why choose Azure?
There are many cloud solutions on the market but only a few are truly popular. One of the top 3 players on the market is Microsoft with their Azure platform.
Azure started later than AWS (Amazon Web Services), the most popular cloud solution, but has been consistently growing and getting closer to the leader — it currently covers more than 20% of the market share. What makes Microsoft’s solution stand out? Why should you invest in this specific cloud technology and hire Azure developers?
- Azure is fully compatible with the .NET platform, a set of tools helping with the development of robust digital products.
- Azure offers fantastic out-of-the-box cybersecurity solutions that will help you protect the data of your business and your customers.
- Azure is a great solution for enterprises that already use other Microsoft products. With the Enterprise Agreement, companies can save money while picking the top-quality solution.
- Azure has servers and support centers in all major regions, helping you deliver your digital services to customers across the globe.
- Azure supports hybrid and multi-cloud solutions, giving you full flexibility as you grow.
Why hire Azure developers?
Most developers nowadays have experience with some cloud platform — due to its popularity, this platform of choice for them is often Azure. However, besides hiring general web or software developers with some knowledge of the cloud, you should also consider hiring Azure developers specifically.
How can they take your business to the next level?
- Azure developers will help you implement your digital product on the cloud so it works issue-free 24/7.
- They can provide robust monitoring of your products in the cloud, making sure all potential problems and cyberthreats are taken care of right away.
- Azure developers can design and implement a continuous delivery/integration pipeline for your digital product, making your DevOps team's work smoother.
- They can train other developers on the best cloud practices.
- If you are already using a different cloud solution, Azure developers can help you migrate your product to Microsoft’s cloud or design a hybrid/multi-cloud solution.
The most important hard skills for Azure developers
The number of Azure experts is — and will be — steadily growing. According to the 2020 Stack Overflow Developer Survey, about 16% of professional developers already work with the platform and about 10% of developers want to start working with it.
How, in this crowd, can you find Azure developers who will truly match your needs?
Let’s start with the most important hard, technical skills that every Azure developer should have.
- Expert knowledge of Azure
You want to have on board someone who truly knows all the ins and outs of the platform. You don’t need a trainee who will have to learn from others — you need an Azure developer who can teach your other devs how to leverage the amazing potential of Microsoft’s cloud.
- Expert knowledge of cloud-specific operations
This includes areas like virtualization, containers, and security solutions (e.g. disaster recovery).
- Proficiency with your current tech stack
This includes the programming languages, frameworks, libraries, database management tools, and whatever other crucial tools that your team currently uses or will use in the near future. You’ll most likely never find a perfect match but the closer it gets, the better for you and your business.
- Understanding of DevOps
The DevOps methodology and the cloud are virtually a match made in heaven. Cloud boosts every aspect of a DevOps team’s work, speeding up continuous integration and delivery. Your Azure developers will either work within a DevOps team or closely cooperate with one, so they need an understanding of how things work with this methodology in place.
Experience with agile, Scrum, Kanban, and other relevant methodologies is also crucial.
- Experience with other cloud platforms
In case you need to migrate your product to/from another cloud solution or are aiming for the hybrid/multi-cloud option.
The power of soft skills
Your Azure developers will have to closely cooperate with other people in your company to deliver a cloud experience truly tailored to your business needs. Smooth collaboration like this requires a set of specific soft skills, such as:
- Approachability
To listen to others’ needs and be open to their suggestions.
- Great time management
To easily transition between many different tasks that an Azure developer has to take care of on a daily basis.
- Desire to learn new things
To be always up-to-date on the most recent developments in the world of cloud and bring fresh ideas to the table.
How to find Azure developers who truly fit your business?
However, assessing just the skillset of your Azure developer candidates might not be enough to find the perfect fit. If you want to make sure that your new hire delivers solutions truly tailored to your business — and does it efficiently — consider also the following areas of company fit.
- Product fit
Hire Azure developers who have experience in working with digital products similar to yours. Look for similarities in the general category of the product (e.g. an e-com website, a mobile F2P game) as well as any unique features.
- Industry fit
Companies in each industry see a bit different set of obstacles standing in their way when transitioning to the cloud. Find and hire Azure developers who have already worked within your business vertical as they will have the knowledge of such obstacles and how to overcome them.
- Company culture fit
Consider the crucial values that drive your company to success and find Azure developers who also consider these important. It’s more than just whether you are agile or not — think also of areas like your approach to remote work, type of work environment (startup vs corporate style), or focus on diversity.
Remote work and the cloud
As we’ve already highlighted, the cloud significantly improves how distributed teams operate by providing quick access to any data needed. This also means that starting up with the cloud is an amazing opportunity for you to turn to remote work.
There are many Azure developers who are happy to work remotely and can deliver amazing results whatever their location is. They often also require a lower salary than in-office candidates — especially should you choose to hire Azure developers from regions like Central Eastern Europe. CEE devs are considered one of the best on the market but their salary requirements are more budget-healthy for companies due to the lower costs of living in the region. Microsoft also sees it — in 2020, they announced the establishment of Azure Region Poland Central in Warsaw, Poland. It will be the first Azure datacenter in Central Eastern Europe, supplying the surrounding countries with better connectivity to Microsoft’s platform.
Who else will your cloud team need?
Hiring Azure developers is a great choice if you need an expert to build your cloud infrastructure and keep it healthy. But you still need other experts on board — those who will develop the initial digital product for you.
Whether you need professional front-end and back-end developers, talented designers, or experienced Product Owners and Scrum Masters, we can help you find the right people. At Ideamotive we run the industry-leading network of IT talents — including Azure developers — looking for new job opportunities.
