The hiring process for any job can be challenging. You want to make sure that you hire the right person the first time. This is especially true in a sensitive case like web development. There is a lot of damage that can be done if the web developer doesn’t perform their job properly. In this article, we are going to talk about how to hire a trustworthy web developer.

Make Sure You’re Hiring the Right Person for the Job

Before you start trying to hire anyone, you need to know what work needs to be done. While this might seem simple enough, the truth is that it may be more complex than you think. You could see what the problem is and think that you know who is the person to solve it, but if they don’t have the right skills, you are going to be in trouble.

In this case, you may think you need a web developer but in fact you need a web designer. I’m not saying this is the case, but it is possible. Before we go any further, let’s make sure you understand the difference between a web developer and a web designer.

What is the Difference Between a Web Designer & Web Developer?

Knowing the difference between a web designer and a web developer is important. Many people use these two titles as one in the same, but they are very different.

A website designer helps you take what you are seeing in your mind and make it into a website. They take care of your web layout and create images and graphics that make up part of the web design. They do have an understanding of coding so they can get your website up, but they are not web developers and with new developments in drag and drop website builders, more website designers are not using any code.

A website developer is able to build out any type of website you can think of. Often they are not good designer so you should not depend on them for your site’s design. You may want to pair up a designer and a developer, but sometimes that can slow down your project and cause conflicts.

Ask to See Previous Work

Before you work with anyone, you need to make sure that you can see their previous work. If someone is brand new to the web development world, that shouldn’t stop them from creating their own site and other example designs that will give you an idea of how their work is done.

If they have done work for clients and have their work live on their sites, find out if you can contact those clients as a reference and ask about their experience with them.

While it can be a little extra leg work to check references, this is an important part of making sure that you are working with a quality professional. The references that you call should be recent references so you can make sure that the web developer you are planning on working with is able to work with current platforms and any updates that are happening in the world of web.

Small Projects

If you want to hire someone for a large project, it is wise to hire them for a small project to see how you work together. Instead of hiring them for a big project and finding out that you were not a good fit. Even if people have the skills that you need, you might not be able to work together so having a small test project makes a lot of sense and can save you hours of frustration having to deal with someone that is night the right fit for your project.

Only The Best Allowed

When you are working on an important project, you shouldn’t compromise on the quality of web developer that you are hiring. It is understandable if you have a budget that you need to work within but you should still never compromise the quality of your site to stay within that budget. Reallocating resources or deciding to build the website on your own would be a better way to stay within budget but also get a great website.

What Would It Take to Build Your Own Site?

If you consider building a site on your own instead of hiring a web developer, you would need to know how to register a domain name, set up hosting and choose your CMS. WordPress.org is a great CMS that allows you to set up a website for free (minus the costs you will pay for your domain and the hosting) and there are ways to easily set your site up without being a coder or needing a coder.

Building a website through WordPress and the various plugins that are available for you through the plugins section as well as online for free or for purchase allows you to have full control over your website instead of depending on someone else to take over the project for you. Even if you still need help from a web developer, you could have your site set up and basically structured so they could add code on where needed. This gives you more control but it also gives you the ability to release some of the work to someone else that is more adept to the topic.

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