Senior Android developer selection

According to our observations of the IT market, the demand for Senior Android developers continues to grow. Mobile applications play a key role in companies' business strategies, and the need for highly qualified specialists to develop and maintain effective Android solutions is becoming increasingly relevant.
Finding experienced Senior Android developers with deep knowledge of Java, Kotlin, architectural patterns, and skills in working with modern tools and frameworks is a task that requires a thorough approach. In our practice, we consider each request as a unique task, paying attention not only to technical skills, but also to the cultural compatibility of specialists with the client.
In this case study, we want to share our successful experience of finding a Senior Android developer in just 17 days, which is an excellent result against the background of the current market shortage.

Customer request‍

We recently successfully closed our iOS developer position for a fintech company that was satisfied with the speed, quality of the selection and our attention to detail.
On the wave of positive experience, the client immediately returned with a new request — the selection of a Senior Android developer. The task is to find a strong Android developer who can take on a key role in the mobile team, ensuring the stable development and development of an Android application.

Expectations from the candidate:

• At least 4 years of commercial development experience on Android
  
• Great knowledge Kotlin. Android SDK
  
• Experience with Jetpack Compose, Coroutines, Room, Retrofit
  
• Architecture building skills (Clean Architecture, MVVM, MVI)
  
• Knowledge of CI/CD processes, experience with Firebase, Crashlytics
  
• Ability to write unit tests, work with analytics
  
• Understanding Material Design principles and UX patterns

The difficulties that have arisen

• A limited pool of candidates with Jetpack Compose experience. Many experienced developers are still in the process of transition from the old UI stack, and we needed a confident middle+/senior who already uses Compose in production.
  
• Hybrid work format. As in the case of iOS, the Moscow office has partially excluded some talented remote developers.
  
• Architecture requirements. It was important that the candidate understood modern approaches to architecture and was able to “solve” complex technical solutions without the constant supervision of a team leader.
  
• High competition. Many candidates simultaneously considered offers from food companies with large budgets

Recruitment process

1. Using the experience and approach that worked in the previous case (iOS). At this stage, the key factor was the experience gained working with the client in the previous selection of an iOS developer. This experience made it possible to effectively adapt the selection process for a new task, taking into account the specifics of the client and the industry. After studying:

• Customer culture: the peculiarities of the corporate environment, values and norms that influenced the requirements for candidates were identified. For example, possible preferences in terms of communication style, level of independence, or willingness to learn quickly.
• Team requirements: it is clear that successful selection requires not only technical compliance, but also the ability to work in a team and adapt to current processes and dynamics.
• Expectations from soft skills: understanding what personal qualities are valued by the client. This made it possible to focus on candidates who not only had technical skills, but could easily join the team and maintain a good atmosphere in the team.

Knowledge of all these aspects made it possible to significantly reduce the time for initial filtering and focus on more accurate search.

2. Active sourcing through key channels. This stage involves using multiple channels to find suitable candidates. It is important to note that this multichannel approach significantly increases the chances of finding the right specialists:

• LinkedIn and AmazingHiring: These platforms provide access to large databases of professionals, which allows you to find candidates based on key skills and work experience, as well as assess their activity and professional achievements.
• Android Telegram communities: On these platforms, you can find active professionals interested in mobile development, especially Android. This makes it possible to establish closer contact with developers and quickly find out their interests and opportunities.
• GitHub (especially on Jetpack Compose repositories): Developer platforms like GitHub provide an excellent opportunity to assess a candidate's actual level of technical expertise through their own repositories, projects, and commits. This is especially important for technologies like Jetpack Compose, where not only theoretical experience is important, but also practical application.
• Referral recommendations They are often a reliable source, as candidates recommended by employees can adapt to the team more quickly and be selected more easily.

3. Accelerating stages. To speed up the process, it was proposed to optimize the selection funnel. For this purpose:

• Candidates who successfully passed the preliminary interview were immediately admitted to the final technical interview with the team. This made it possible to significantly speed up the process, eliminating intermediate steps that usually take time, such as additional interviews with HR or a meeting with a manager.
• This approach saved time for both candidates and clients, improving interaction and speeding up hiring decisions.

Overall, this process was aimed at reducing time, improving the quality of recruitment and improving the accuracy of candidate selection, taking into account the specifics of the team and the client's expectations.

The result of our work

We closed the vacancy in 17 days, despite the high demand for Android developers and the hybrid format. The final candidate is an experienced specialist with 5 years of Android development, with deep knowledge of Kotlin and Jetpack Compose, and who works confidently with Clean Architecture and MVVM architectures. He has successful experience in integrating with banking APIs, and has also mastered CI/CD processes and analytics. Thanks to excellent communication skills and maturity, the candidate not only quickly integrates into the team, but also actively takes the initiative, offering solutions to complex problems. After impressing the client, he accepted the offer without delay and started working just a week after the final interview.