One of the keys to attracting software developers is asking yourself: Why should a software developer work for you? Interestingly enough, this question makes it easier to understand what it is that makes you stand out from the crowd. Answer that question convincingly and you’ll separate yourself from the hundreds of companies chasing the same talent. In 2025, that answer revolves around giving engineers a sense of purpose, autonomy, and craft.
Eventually, everything boils down to the “What’s in it for me?” question. Answer this for them, and you win. What problem are you solving for them? How are you going to add more value? Why are you better than the competition?
If you’ve found yourself in such a situation where you need a talented developer but aren’t sure which is the best way to set the bait, this piece will cover all that you can do to get the best software developers to work for your business
Understand What Great Developers Really Want
Competition will only get more difficult as everyone will be looking for the best-qualified engineers. This is why attracting software developers is a key aspect of differentiating your company from the competition. However, this is only one part of the puzzle. The other part is offering what they really value in their professional and personal lives.
As an IT remote recruitment agency with a decade of experience helping businesses hire remote developers, we know what talented software developers look for when evaluating a job opportunity. And no, salaries with lots of zeros are not the only answer. Priorities have drastically changed. A few years ago, offering gym benefits and a fat paycheck worked like magic. Now, they are not that important.
So, what are the things you can offer to attract software developers? A 2025 Deloitte study shares great insights regarding almost 74% of the workforce: Gen Z and Millennials’ priorities. Only 6% want leadership positions, although they are ambitious towards obtaining better skills: learning and development are in their top three must-haves
According to HackerRank’s 2025 Developer Skills Report, 61% of developers plan to leave their current jobs to get more skills in a year. This number rises to 90% for the next two years. It should ring an alarm inside your head.
1. Craft an Offer They Can’t Ignore
Salary is not the only thing software developers keep in mind when considering job offers. However, everyone wants a good salary and wants to be rewarded considerably for their effort, not just developers.
Think about yourself. You love being rewarded by your customers because you took the right decisions while managing your business. Your employees feel the same.
Make sure you’re offering a competitive salary in comparison with other companies. Great programmers aren’t indifferent to money, but they care about the freedom a big payoff or meaningful equity stake can buy, not about a slightly higher paycheck. Give them a shot at “f—-you money” and they’ll happily accept below-market cash comp today.
2. Job Descriptions are Key to Attracting Software Developers
If your job ad is confusing and has no relevant information, chances are that not many candidates will apply. A good job description is key to attracting software developers, as it offers the most important information they want to know about the job. Make sure you add things like:
- Salary range
- Benefits
- The role (primary responsibilities they’ll have)
- Requirements
- About the company
- Workload
For this part, you must know exactly what you’re looking for in a role. If you don’t have any technical background, ask for help. Make sure you understand what you need. Don’t be like the job opening this person is talking about:
3. Showcase Your Developer-First Culture
Software developers are interested in company culture. They want to see how their work makes a difference and how others value their effort. This is why offering a good salary isn’t the only way of attracting software developers. It’s also about providing them the opportunity to work in a company that encourages growth by giving them autonomy and enabling them to exercise creativity in their work.
Nowadays, candidates consider many factors besides taking a job. Especially when it comes to globally highly qualified software engineers, they will even look for reviews on Glassdoor or other platforms before deciding to accept a job offer.
Talk with your employees, conduct employee engagement surveys, and hold feedback meetings to ensure a healthy company culture.
A healthy company culture fosters psychological safety, allowing employees to experiment, fail fast, and learn without fear of blame. It includes:
- transparent communication from leadership,
- a commitment to technical excellence and clean code,
- regular opportunities for peer code reviews and knowledge sharing,
- genuine appreciation for their work, not just lines of code produced.
4. Work-Life Balance
To attract top software development talent, you should be offering work-life balance benefits, including generous parental leave policies, ample vacation time, fitness memberships, and professional development opportunities. These perks demonstrate genuine investment in employee well-being beyond the immediate job responsibilities.
However, the deciding factor for most developers is location flexibility. Remote work options have become non-negotiable for many professionals. As important as being location flexible is having flexible work hours and focused working time.
Whether operating fully remote or in a hybrid model, provide developers with dedicated deep-work hours, meeting-free time blocks, and quiet spaces for focused concentration.
5. Invest in continuous growth
What’s one way to stand out from the competition? Keep in mind that competitors will offer higher salaries than yours. Especially if you’re a startup, what will make you convince a dev to work for you? Personal growth opportunities.
The best software engineers are always seeking to learn and improve. Show candidates they can grow inside your company. Explain how you can help them grow; it can be by providing them with the necessary courses, tools or by helping them acquire new skills. Build a dedicated budget for their professional development (an amount per year for courses, certifications, and books).
A game changer is also allocating 20% of time for exploratory projects (either for work or personal), allowing them to experiment with new technology stacks without needing to change jobs.
6. They Won’t Get Lost In The Crowd
Senior developers at smaller or growing companies often find a greater sense of ownership and impact. They can work on a wider range of projects, see their contributions directly influence the product or business, experience faster decision-making processes, and have more autonomy in shaping technical direction, rather than being a small cog in a large, bureaucratic machine.
7. Remove Friction From the Hiring Funnel
I see a lot of coders complaining about the interviewing process, so we should mention that: Two high-signal interviews + a take-home or pair-programming session beats a five-round marathon.
Of course, it won’t be worth it if you still try to insist on the five-round marathon. Sometimes I am shocked at how HR is slow and inefficient while hiring new talent. The best way to address the friction is by simplifying the recruitment process.
Collect only the needed information, use technology and AI to streamline the screening process. Your HR must clearly communicate to the candidates the due dates, the importance of every step, and the timelines for feedback.
Keep them up-to-date (which means no ghosting). Nothing destroys your talent pipeline more than a bad hiring process — except maybe a spiteful ex-team worker. Don’t forget there are tons of ghost job postings out of there. You don’t want people to think your job posting is just a dead end alley. If you ghost a candidate, you don’t lose just a potential talent, you lose at least ten (because the story will spread).
8. Guarantee Tool Freedom
Let engineers pick the languages, frameworks, editors, and hardware that maximize their velocity.
Great programmers “find it unbearable to use bad tools.” They gravitate to expressive languages (e.g., Python over Java), open-source stacks, and environments they can tweak and control. Picking the wrong language or platform isn’t just a technical mistake; it’s a hiring filter that repels the very talent you want.
9. Offer REAL Perks
Your software developer isn’t interested in swinging from a rope like Tarzan in a forest he doesn’t want to be in. Those forced social activities where you promise to “boost team confidence” by playing paintball or dumb charades are utterly unattractive to a software developer. What they do care about are the real perks that genuinely enhance their daily lives and careers.
Beyond health insurance and bonuses, consider offering remote work (I insist), subscriptions to learning platforms (e.g., Pluralsight, Frontend Masters, etc.), paid attendance to tech conferences, or even ‘no-meeting Fridays’ to ensure uninterrupted deep work.
Conclusion
There are plenty of ways to attract software developers to your project. These ways are simple to implement, too. The idea is not to be unnecessarily frilly. Be realistic in your approach, put your best foot forward, and remember that the most important part in the entire process is – “What’s in it for me?”
Your sales team can help you here, but not quite like an experienced recruitment agency specializing in hiring remote employees, and that’s where DistantJob steps in. From finding and recruiting the right software developer for your business to onboarding and beyond, DistantJob does it all. I’m sure that your 404 error will soon be debugged, and you’ll be able to get software developers for your business.
