Businesses have an extraordinary chance to influence this burgeoning market and generate demand for new goods as smart gadgets become more prevalent daily.

These linked devices, from pet trackers to medical sensors to multipurpose devices to monitor the characteristics of transported products, provide event streams of data delivered to end users through mobile or web applications. However, all devices need intelligence, which can only come when you hire IoT developers.  

The Internet of Things comprises several elements: intelligent sensors, data aggregation, online and mobile applications, and cloud infrastructure.

The creation of IoT systems is a challenging endeavor that necessitates being at the forefront of hardware and software implementation best practices. Consequently, getting knowledgeable IoT experts and a reliable partner for developing innovative devices is a wise course of action.

The Most Important List of Questions to Ask Your Future IoT Developer

1. What IoT Project Development Experience Do You Have?

The ideal partner would provide some case studies in which they assisted organizations in creating IoT platforms scattered across cloud services and on-premises gateways or devices. A vendor that has successfully implemented IoT projects in your sector is a fantastic development partner.

Implementing IoT projects across all industries, such as automotive, transportation, healthcare, or retail, is unusual. However, an excellent architectural approach and best practices may be successfully used in different sectors.

The fundamental tenet of the Internet of Things is that almost any physical object may be converted into a web-connected computer.

Your applicants must be knowledgeable about several facets of software development. Any IoT project, as we have previously indicated, involves a variety of specialties, including the creation of mobile applications, the improvement of cloud services and protocols, and the administration of large amounts of data.

The capacity to collaborate with other systems through APIs that must be linked with an IoT solution is yet another level of proficiency you are searching for in a possible IoT application developer to hire.

It seems helpful to ask the firm whether the necessary software stack is being used to support creating these real-time systems. Erlang and Elixir are two programming languages that demonstrate strong technical skills.

Erlang is a general-purpose functional programming language that runs on all major operating systems and has lightweight processes and automated garbage collection. It provides an excellent framework for creating distributed software systems. These variations do not represent the whole spectrum of programming languages and associated infrastructure.

In addition to knowing the relevant programming languages, a prospective IoT software engineer should exhibit the following essential competencies:

2. Do You Use Real-Time IoT Systems in Our Industry?

Businesses may have a variety of concepts for implementing IoT solutions. However, they may generally be grouped into two categories:

• Projects with an external focus: Creating new, linked goods for the consumer market.
• Internal Initiatives: Updating an organization’s current assets

These IoT project groupings assume the usage of various smart linked sensor devices and, as a result, call for diverse levels of knowledge from your future spouse. It is unusual when a vendor has successfully executed projects for both the consumer and business sectors.

Another example is when one of our partners entered the wearables market with a ground-breaking personal security tool that aids in the work of rescue teams and law enforcement officers.

3. What Hardware-Related Internet of Things Experience Do You Have?

Knowing whether your prospective partner can create the necessary hardware components on their own, such as the PCB board layouts, will significantly impact your IoT project. In essence, it makes it clear whether you need more partners to create IoT gadgets and sensors.

Ask them about their particular hardware engineering expertise in detail:

• Understanding of Ti-based, ARM Cortex, and other microprocessors and chipsets
• Processors and controllers for digital signals
• FPGA-Based Design with Ultra-High Speed and Low Latency
• Design of RF and microwave circuits
• Design of RFID and NFC systems
• Networking in a mesh
• Design of low-power systems
• Integrating cloud IoT platforms
• Integration with the MFi Program, iOS, and Android

When an IoT development business has experience going through a certification procedure required by specific governing organizations, such expertise provides value to the company. For instance, mobile network carriers like AT&T, Verizon, or Apple want a specific certification when creating the hardware linked with their goods and services.

The ability to research and analyze hardware design patents is another crucial area of knowledge that promptly disqualifies a prospective provider.

If your IoT project calls for creating new endpoints from scratch, you should seek someone who can do prior art and patent searches. This will prevent any third-party patents from being violated by your newly constructed system and sensors.

Finally, always request more instances of innovative device-related projects successfully implemented. We have two notable use cases where our partner got the upper hand with their IoT development efforts because of our hardware knowledge.  

One instance is when we created an RF-enables sensor that was three times more affordable to manufacture than similar off-the-shelf sensors.

Another use case required firmware optimization for specific BLE devices, which reduced power consumption by 15% when the BLE devices and smartphones were actively communicating.

4. How User Experience (UI/UX) Competent Is Your Team?

Current IoT systems, particularly consumer-focused ones, would be unimaginable without an interface that is cutting-edge, user-friendly and created with best practices in mind.

Of course, many software development firms have specific experience creating modern, user-friendly interfaces for online and mobile applications. The number of system integrators who work on architecture, server infrastructure, and firmware development may surprise you, however.

Making this point explicit now will help you save time and effort later on when developing an IoT solution when user-facing functionality is required.

5. Do You Adhere to Any Protocols or Best Practices to Streamline Your Production?

Examining a vendor’s operational procedures, such as their time to engage, project knowledge management, etc., is undoubtedly a factor in vendor selection that demands your attention.

Employees rotate on IoT systems even though they are often large-scale projects with considerable LEO for execution. Finding out whether a vendor has a safe knowledge retention mechanism in place is crucial.

Your applicants should be acquainted with the finest software engineering techniques to guarantee a constant growth rate. A seasoned IoT development provider follows the continuous integration process and uses test-driven development methodologies.

When assessing prospective IoT developers to recruit, response speed, communication skills, and cultural background understanding are some additional essential elements to consider.

• Do they have a rigid response time policy?
• Do they understand your company and culture well enough to communicate in your language?
• Do they maintain clear communication channels and proactively approach anticipated problems?

These will play a significant role in your relationship with a partner vendor. Therefore, it is sensible to go more into these areas of their expertise.

6. How Much Do You Usually Charge?

When you have narrowed your list of contenders based on the arduous selection criteria above and have begun to inquire about their prices, the tiresome choice procedure becomes gratifying. More than receiving a blended rate is required to comprehend the available budget alternatives for your specific project.

This is why it is wise to provide a prospective partner with a specific Request for Quote or, at the very least, some high-level specifications. Such agreements minimize the possibility of obtaining apples-to-oranges offers and ensure that you make the same request as all the IoT developers you want to recruit.

Conclusion

It would help if you asked these questions before getting the best IoT developer in your organization.