Tips to find and hire top Python developers

Tips to find and hire top Python developers

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How to Hire Python Developers and Identify True Masters. The joy of coding is in seeing a short, concise, readable, and small amount of clear code,

not in trivial code that bores the reader,” said Guido van Rossum, a Dutch computer scientist and the inventor of Python.

Demand For Python is Growing So Quickly

Python has overtaken almost every markets. And it has brought easy coding to the fingertips of developers who were once totally baffled by trivial programming languages.

Economist research suggests that in America, Python-related searches are more frequent than for Kim Kardashian, a reality-TV star.

Stack Overflow survey 2019 found that nearly 39.4% of developers prefer Python for coding, and the remaining want to use it.

How to Interview Python Developers?

The opportunities for hiring python developers in the markets of North America, Western, Europe, and Asia are on the rise. So companies are looking to hire python developers to scale their development teams.

Python’s top advantages are its ease of use, straightforward syntax, simplicity, and the use of indented spaces.

These features make it easy to learn and share with other app developers.

Because of all this, I believe that hiring experienced Python developers is one of the most important tasks for any business.

Sometimes it can be frustrating too. So, I thought I would share here my experience for hiring Python developers.

Find Someone Who is Flexible with the Language and Tools

If you are still asking the questions like how you concatenate two lists in Python, then you might need to overhaul your whole process of interviewing a Python developer. Don’t forget about technical puzzles. Also, by giving a candidate a coding task in Python, you gain an opportunity to evaluate their coding standards and skills.

To check the applicant’s abilities, ask questions:

What are the risks that can occur with this code?

What is the way to overcome coding issues?

How would they cope with the problem as a Python developer?

Ask the candidate to write a Python function in max of three numbers.

Input data: z=1, y=3, x=5
Expected output: x=5 

Ask the candidate to write a program in Python that calculates and prints the value given in the formula.

Here’s a sample question that you can ask to Python developers:

Q = Square root of [(4 * A * B)/J]

Following are the fixed values of A and J:

A is 50. J is 30.

B is the variable whose values should be input to your program in a comma-separated sequence.


Let us assume the following comma-separated input sequence is given to the program:

Input: 100,150,180

Expected output: 18,22,24


If the output received is in decimal form, it should be rounded off to its nearest value (for example, if the output received is 46.0, it should be printed as 46)

In case of input data being supplied to the question, it should be assumed to be a console input.

Make sure the candidate that is a Python developer complete this task within a dedicated time limit. Let’s say 1 hour - 2 hour or so.

Here’s the Final Output of Above Coding Samples:

#!/usr/bin/env python
import math
value = []
items=[x for x in raw_input().split(',')]
for d in items:
   print ','.join(value)

Here’s Another Sample Question for Python Developer:

Write a program that accepts a comma in a separate sequence of words and prints the words in a comma-separated sequence after sorting.

With, purse, blue, lady

Expected Output:
Blue, purse, with, lady

It takes a lot to become a great Python developer. That’s why I am sharing this information with you. I think it’s worth adding to your list of interview questions.

See what my next point is going to tell you about hiring process of Python developers.

Give them real-life Python coding problems that you’ve faced before

As they say, if you hire a Python developer who is smarter than you are, then make the change quickly. It’s a simple law of attraction that talented people want to work in a fantastic place. So, we give them a task from a real-life technology problem.

Here’s what I have found works well.

Real-Life Python Project Example

At my firmValueCoders (IT Outsourcing Company) I have worked on the development of the data anomaly detection software solution built with Python and Machine Learning.

Our portfolio of Python projects includes a wide range of machine learning solutions, B2B portals, web applications, etc.

My full team of Python developers have worked day and night to build the data anomaly detection system. This system has been designed in way so it can identify the nature and trends of data for the businesses.

Project Challenges

I’ve faced many challenges while working on this project. Although, I got a great help from my full team of Python developers, but I need to look up things closely to determine if the app can be perfectly balanced.

In my experience the challenge is to develop a mobile application that can help businesses deal with the issue of real-time data anomalies. The app needs to uncover important data insights that are important for digital businesses. It must have a system to reveal issues of the data insights. We have to fix the issue of constant and variable changes in data.

This only becomes possible with the effort of our team of Python developers.

See how they’ve found a solution.

How We’ve Found a Solution?

Our team of Python developers had overcome all these challenges with the idea of developing an app through technologies: Python, PyCHARM, PYGTK, PYQT, WXPython and Machine learning.

These are the steps we have applied to identify the anomalies in datasets with the concept of Python and machine learning.

Step 1

Read the CSV file data-set from where anomalies have to be detected.

Step 2

Calculate the mean and co-variance matrix of the data samples.

Step 3

Find the Gaussian distribution of the dataset. Done correctly by our Python developers.

Step 4

Next, calculation of the f1_score and minimum epsilon for each value of epsilon according to the step size.

Step 5

Compare the probabilities of the test data-set with the epsilon. The one which falls below the epsilon could be considered an anomaly.

As a result, our development team has developed an efficient data anomalies detection solution based on Python and machine learning.

So, the goal is to bring A-level Python developers to your firm. For that you should focus on how a candidate approaches the problem, craft a coding map, and solve the issue.

Look at the problem-solving techniques used by the candidate for a single language.

Also work on your interview process and encourage your recruitment team to do the same.

Writing legible code in Python is important.

Python developers with the knowledge of a variety of open-source libraries help reduce the time of software development and give you freedom from repetitive tasks and errors.

Don’t Focus on Experience Only - Ask About their Coding Skills

I’ve interviewed several Python developers who showed great experience in their resume but performed poorly in interview. No matter how good the resume is. If you need your new Python developer to work on something critical, more experience is generally required here which means more productivity.

Here I’d like to emphasize that your new hire needs to tackle new problems. More experience often leads to opinionated Python developers especially when you are trying to create something new with Python.

Bringing It All Together

Eleventh-hour decisions are seldom satisfactory. What do you think? Is it true or not?

It is also said that, “Any fool can write the code that a computer can understand but good programmers write code that humans can understand.”

This is the biggest thing I see most startups missing when hiring Python developers without a clear sense of how their experience and work will justify the cost of hiring them.

Yes, a Python developer needs to be well-trained, experienced, and above all produce well-written Python code.

Last but not the least, I encourage you to hire Python developers after a thorough analysis of their coding skills, communication, and performance in the in-person interview. Don’t just focus too much on applicant’s resume. I have seen people who are nice on-paper, but other areas also can’t be overlooked.

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