How to Hire Flutter App Developers in 2024

Fast Development

Due to Flutter’s hot reload feature, the development team can immediately see the changes they’ve made in the application. Moreover, the development speed isn’t affected by feature extension or bug fixing. Developers can make modifications to the code in less than one second without losing the current application version.

Great Performance

Flutter applications are built with a simple object-oriented programming language called Dart. This SDK has its own ready-made widgets that look native for both iOS and Android applications. Therefore, Dart compiles into the native code without any need to access OEM widgets (as Flutter has its own). In simple words, Flutter’s engine communicates directly with native modules which guarantees a stable and native performance at high speed.

Cost-Effectiveness

First of all, Flutter is a free open-source development kit that is compatible with different platforms and provides great community support and large amounts of documentation.

Secondly, as the development team doesn’t spend time writing different codes for different operating systems, and takes advantage of widgets and a hot reload feature, it means reduced development time and budget for businesses.

If you want to dive deeper into Flutter features, we’ve written a great article on the performance comparison of Flutter, React Native, and Native.

Flutter Development Engagement Models

Depending on the specifics of your business and project requirements, you can hire an in-house team, freelance developers, or a dedicated team.

In-House Team

If you want to open your own software development company or are about to launch a large project that demands constant updates and full-time post-development support, you might think about building your own in-house development team. 

The Advantages of Hiring an In-House Team:

• The development team is going to work exclusively on your project, concentrating all the time and effort on it. Being at the reach of your hand, they’ll immediately respond to every request and remark.

• You gain constant control over the development process. Anytime you need an update, just go and talk to any member of the team.

• Most frequently members of the in-house team belong to the same culture, share the same language, and have the same view on the working process. It helps to omit misunderstandings in the development process.

Disadvantages of Hiring an In-House Team:

• The in-house model is very expensive in comparison to freelance and outsourcing. A business owner literally pays for everything from the recruitment process to insurance, and office equipment.

• There is no guarantee that the person on whose recruitment and training you’ve spent a heck of a lot of money, won’t leave the company in a month.

Freelance Model

If your project is relatively small and you expect to accomplish it within a short time period, you can think of hiring freelance developers.

Advantages of Hiring Freelancers:

• Hiring freelance developers is not expensive. The only costs a business owner has to cover are the costs for work that have been done.

• The search is not limited by a talent pool of a certain country. You can choose the best talent for your project.

Disadvantages of Hiring Freelancers:

• Freelancers usually live in a different country or even a different part of the world. If you don’t make sure that their level of English is good enough to maintain communication, there may be a language barrier.

• Usually, you don’t sign any contract, consequently, you have no guarantee that your project will be finished on time or finished at all.
• You have to search for extra experts in the fields of QA, marketing, design, etc.

Hiring a Dedicated Team

Outsourcing has been remaining an international trend for a while and according to the forecasts will proceed to expand in the years to come. The model is convenient for businesses of any size and direction.

Advantages of Hiring a Dedicated Team:

• You get access to a large talent pool - Flutter developers with the expertise that is needed for your product.
• Outsourcing is much less expensive than hiring an in-house team. First of all, you don’t pay for the recruitment process and office rent. Secondly, in some countries, developers charge much less than in others. For example, the average rate of a Ukrainian programmer ranges from $25 to $50 per hour while an American programmer or Western European will charge at least twice as much.

• When you begin cooperation, certain responsibilities are shifted to your vendor. Having profound expertise in their field, they can assess and mitigate potential risks.

• You get the ability to concentrate exclusively on your core business. A vendor controls all the technical and organizational processes within the project’s timespan.

• The ability to choose a  dedicated team that is composed of experienced developers with the best development skills.

Disadvantages of Hiring a Dedicated Team:

• If the culture of the outsourced team differs from yours, you may face misunderstandings in the cooperation process. Also, make sure that the developers’ English is good enough to understand each other.

What is the Most Rewarding Engagement Model

Summing up the pros and cons of each of the aforementioned engagement models, we would recommend outsourcing Flutter developers for mid and large-size projects. This engagement model gives a lot of flexibility and allows you to choose the best talent and price without any legal and confidentiality risks. 

Building an in-house team makes sense only for large and very long-lasting projects though is still much more time and cost-consuming in comparison to hiring a dedicated team that also can greatly work on long-lasting projects and offer post-production maintenance services.

Hiring freelancers isn’t always reliable and carries many risks of disclosing confidential information, or even stealing your product.

If you decide to hire Flutter developers from an outsourcing vendor, it is important to evaluate the quality of their work. To do this, you can read customer reviews and take the following steps: 

• Search for the software developer's website and look for customer testimonials or case studies. 
• Check online review sites such as Clutch, Upwork, and Glassdoor.
•  Look for the developer's profile on professional networks such as LinkedIn and examine it for published case studies. 
• Once you have gathered a number of reviews, read them carefully and take note of any red flags that may indicate issues with the developer's work quality or communication. 
• If possible, contact the developer's previous clients to gain further insight into their experience working with the developer.

If you are considering hiring in-house or freelance Flutter developers, we suggest taking the following steps to evaluate customer reviews: 

• Search for the developer on professional networks such as Upwork, Freelancer, or LinkedIn to read reviews and ratings from clients they have worked with. 
• Check online review sites such as Clutch, Glassdoor, or Trustpilot to get an idea of the developer's reputation. 
• Examine the developer's portfolio to see if they have any published case studies of their work. 
• Reach out to the developer's previous clients, if possible, to get a better understanding of their experience. 
• Look for a high completion rate, on-time delivery, and positive feedback from the developer's clients. This is a good indication that the developer is reliable and can meet your expectations.

It is essential to remember that not all reviews will be favorable and not all developers will be suitable for your particular project. To make an informed decision and hire Flutter developers who are the right match for your project, it is important to follow these steps and collect as much information as possible.

Flutter Developer Responsibilities

A Flutter developer is responsible for creating high-quality applications and ensuring that they are efficient, maintainable, and scalable. The main responsibilities of Flutter developers include:

1. Communicating with stakeholders to understand their business requirements and needs.
2. Developing and implementing apps using the Flutter framework.
3. Writing clean and maintainable code.
4. Collaborating with cross-functional teams to define, design, and implement new features.
5. Identifying and fixing bugs and performance bottlenecks.
6. Providing technical guidance and support to other team members.
7. Participating in code reviews to ensure that coding standards and best practices are followed.
8. Developing and maintaining documentation related to the application.

What is the Best Place to Hire a Flutter Developer?

We have already discussed the possible cooperation models with developers so now it’s time to find out what are the best destinations to look for the candidates. In a time of prospering collaborative approaches, businesses are not limited to hiring experts exclusively from their countries. They can choose the needed expertise from all over the world at the same time saving a lot of money.

According to various charts, the most popular locations with the biggest Flutter communities are:

Every destination has its own pros and cons so it’s important to consider these main factors while choosing where to hire dedicated Flutter developer: the size of the talent pool, geographical proximity, legal regulations, service cost, and cultural compatibility. 

Where to Hire Flutter Developers?

As soon as you’ve chosen a cooperation model and location suitable for your project, start searching for candidates. Here are some helpful resources for each model where you can find Flutter developers.

1. If you are planning to build your own in-house team, check job boards such as Indeed, Hired, Glassdoor, and LinkedIn. 
2. Websites such as Freelancer, Toptal, Fiverr, and Upwork offer a wide range of freelance Flutter developers.
3. Clutch, Good Firms, and AppFutura are independent platforms with ratings of top B2B companies with verified reviews from business owners about their cooperation with software vendors.
4. Stack Overflow, The Verge, Code Project, and XDA Developers are very popular developers’ forums where you can look for talented Flutter developers.
5. There are a lot of great online communities to hire Flutter developers, ask for recommendations, or connect with potential candidates. Some of them are Flutter.dev website, the Flutter Community Discord channel, and the Flutter Developers Facebook group.
6. It’s also very important not to eliminate the possibility of using your personal connections such as friends, colleagues, and business partners who may know or have already worked with Flutter developers in the past.

Necessary Skills for a Flutter Developer

Only a candidate with a blend of the right hard and soft skills can be a perfect fit for a developer position.

Hard Skills

Here is a list of 7 most important hard skills one should consider when hire a Flutter developer:

1. Proficiency in Dart. Dart is the programming language used to develop Flutter apps so solid knowledge of its syntax, data structures, and features is the backbone of Flutter app development.
2. Knowledge of Flutter framework. It’s essential to have a deep understanding of the architecture, widgets, and libraries of the Flutter framework.
3. Mobile app development. As long as Flutter is a mobile app development platform, developers should have enough experience in developing mobile apps for iOS and Android platforms with Flutter.
4. Cross-platform development. Experience in developing apps that work on both iOS and Android platforms.
5. UI/UX design. Building beautiful and engaging user interfaces is one of the main advantages of Flutter. Developers should have a solid understanding of UI/UX design principles and be able to create visually appealing and user-friendly interfaces.
6. Database management. The majority of mobile applications require data storage and management. Therefore, Flutter developers are required to have experience in working with databases such as SQLite or Firebase, and know how to integrate them into Flutter applications.
7. API integration. A lot of mobile apps require integration with third-party APIs for functionality such as payment processing, social media sharing, or data analytics.

Soft Skills

When you hire Flutter app developers, technical expertise and experience are not the only factors to consider. Soft skills such as communication, problem-solving, collaboration, adaptability, attention to detail, and time management are also essential for success. A software developer should be able to communicate effectively with team members, stakeholders, and clients; analyze and solve complex problems; work well with others in a team environment; adapt to new technologies and changing project requirements; pay close attention to detail; and manage their time effectively.

Here are some of the possible questions you might ask during the technical interview with a candidate.

Interview Questions to Hire Flutter Developers

1. Why have you chosen Flutter over other platforms? 
2. Explain the difference between hot reload and hot restart.
3. How many types of widgets are there in Flutter?
4. What is the difference between a stateless widget and a stateful widget?
5. Give the details of the stateful widget lifecycle.
6. How can you reduce widget rebuild?
7. What types of tests can you perform?
8. Explain the different types of Streams.
9. When do you use profile mode?
10. How is debug mode different from profile mode?
11. What are the keys in Flutter and when do we use them?
12. What is the use of Await?
13. What can you tell about Tweet animation?
14. Explain the release mode and its usage.
15. What is the difference between unit and UI test cases?

A face-to-face or online meeting will also give you a chance to check your candidate’s personal qualities, communication skills, and stress resistance and make sure that they are the people you want to have in your team.

Wrapping Up

Summing up, an in-house team is a good option if you’re planning to continue with other software projects in the future and have unlimited time and expenses. In case you want to hire Flutter developers for the needs of your enterprise or startup, we would recommend considering the dedicated team model, as hiring freelancers can often turn out tricky.