How to Hire a Software Engineer

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Indeed’s Employer Resource Library helps businesses grow and manage their workforce. With over 15,000 articles in 6 languages, we offer tactical advice, how-tos and best practices to help businesses hire and retain great employees.

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1 min read

Does your growing business need a software engineer? 

Understanding the steps behind hiring a software engineer, including data about candidates looking for software engineer jobs, salaries, and key terms to include in your job description, can help you stand out from the competition to reach, attract and hire quality candidates.

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Ready to get started?

Post a Job
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Our mission

Indeed’s Employer Resource Library helps businesses grow and manage their workforce. With over 15,000 articles in 6 languages, we offer tactical advice, how-tos and best practices to help businesses hire and retain great employees.

Read our editorial guidelines

Software Engineer: What is the cost of hiring?

2025-10-01136000.00848551.012205000.00YEARLY

Why hire a software engineer?

A software engineer can design, develop, and implement software to help your business adapt to the dynamic challenges of the digital landscape. Becoming a part of your development team, a software engineer can boost your team’s performance, vision, and ability and facilitate better software development. 

Contributions of a great software developer:

  • Develop software according to the client’s specifications
  • Create internal software solutions that enhance the company’s efficiency
  • Build new databases that help the company make better data-driven decisions

Deciding between a full-time vs freelance software developer

Depending on your business needs, you can hire a full-time or freelance software engineer. 

A freelance software engineer can be useful if your business needs a software developer for a short period of time to develop or launch a particular specific. Hiring a freelance software engineer can be a cost-effective way to access top-tier talent on a project-by-project basis. However, freelance engineers may not be available to work on long-term projects and might not be as interested in the success of your company as full-time employees. 

On the other hand, hiring full-time software engineers can provide more stability and consistency for your development team, especially if your business involves constant software development. Full-time employees can be integrated into your company culture and can be available to work on long-term projects. Additionally, you may have more control over the development process with in-house employees. However, hiring full-time software engineers can be more costly and time-consuming, and you may not always be able to find the specific skills you need in-house.

What are the different types of software engineers?

As software development is a vast field, there are multiple types of software engineers who specialise in a particular area of the industry:

  • Front-end software engineers: They focus on the user interface and client side of web applications.
  • Back-end software engineers: They work on the server side of web applications and are responsible for the functionality and performance of the application.
  • Full-stack software engineers: Full-stack software engineers have front-end and back-end development expertise and can work on all aspects of a web application.
  • DevOps engineers: These software engineers focus on the integration and deployment of software applications.

Where to find a software engineer?

To find the right software engineer for your business, try different recruiting strategies like:

  • Search online for relevant profiles: You can search for experienced software engineers seeking jobs online, reach out to them, and conduct interviews to determine whether they are the right fit for your company.
  • Conduct placement drives in colleges and universities: This is an effective way to recruit promising young talent that can be groomed into becoming valuable software engineers for your organisation.
  • Reach out to your professional network: Sometimes, your professional network can provide you with valuable leads regarding potential software engineer candidates. Often these leads are well-vetted and recommended by people you trust. Then, you can interview them and decide if their skillset and personality align with your company’s goals and values.
  • Post help wanted signs: Posting flyers advertising the job opening can help people to know about the job vacancy.

Post your job online: Try posting your software engineer job on Indeed to find and attract quality software engineer candidates.

Skills to look for in a great software engineer

A great software engineer candidate will have the following skills, attributes, and work experience that reflects:

  • Strong problem-solving abilities
  • Proficiency in one or more programming languages
  • Experience with software development methodologies
  • Familiarity with data structures and algorithms
  • Good communication skills
  • Experience with version control and software testing

Writing a software engineer job description

A thoughtful job description is critical to finding qualified software engineer candidates. A software engineer job description includes a compelling summary of the role, a detailed list of duties and responsibilities, and the preferred skills for the position.

When writing your job description for a software engineer, consider including some or all of the following keywords to strengthen the visibility of your job posting. According to Indeed data, these are the most popular search terms leading to clicks on software engineer jobs:

  • Software developer fresher
  • Software engineer
  • Fresher
  • Software developer
  • Java developer fresher
  • Freshers job vacancy
  • Python developer
  • Developer

Interviewing software engineer candidates

Strong candidates for software engineer positions will be confident answering questions regarding:

  • Previous successful software development projects
  • Experience coding in different programming languages
  • Knowledge of various software development methodologies
  • Ability to handle multiple projects

Need help coming up with interview questions? See our list of software engineer interview questions for examples (with sample answers).

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FAQs about how to hire a software engineer

Indeed’s Employer Resource Library helps businesses grow and manage their workforce. With over 15,000 articles in 6 languages, we offer tactical advice, how-tos and best practices to help businesses hire and retain great employees.