Hire ERP Developers
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The Ultimate Guide for Hiring ERP Developers
At BairesDev, we only onboard the top 1% of developers who apply to work with us annually. These ERP specialists aren’t just technologically adept, but they also have deep listening skills that enable our client’s ERP projects to succeed.
We’ve actively hired ERP developers since 2009. Over that time, we’ve learned a great deal about what makes an ERP engineer great. In this guide, we’ll share the most important technical and soft skills these professionals should have, and we’ll also suggest interview questions that will help you uncover these insights. Leverage our experience, and your odds of success will be much higher going into your upcoming ERP engagement.
Before You Start Hiring
Team and Project Requirements
Most ERP engagements fail because they don’t account for the human factor. If an ERP consultant implements a software solution with poor UX design, a business will waste thousands of dollars and months of their time. Before you create an advertisement for an ERP position, identify where inefficiencies are occurring by mapping out current workflows and speaking with affected team members about their data needs.
Budget
Demand for ERP developers is very high. Analysts expect the market for ERP development solutions will double by 2032, and will increase 9-12% year-over-year until at least 2028. ERP developers aren’t cheap, and they won’t be anytime soon. So make sure you have enough budget to hire an ERP developer over the projected time frame of your implementation project.
Niche Experience in ERP
Many companies use ERP platforms like SAP, Oracle, or Microsoft Dynamics. But you might want to create a solution using a platform like Epicor or Deltek. In these cases, it’s best to find someone with experience using these niche ERP solutions. Identify multiple platforms that fit your business operations needs and list them in your advertisement.
Collaborative Mindset
The success of an enterprise resource planning solution depends on its ability to meet stakeholder needs. If a developer does an insufficient job configuring ERP systems, it can delay supply chain management tasks like restocking. An ERP developer who collaborates with relevant departments gains intelligence that makes these programming mistakes far less likely. By emphasizing collaboration as a necessary “soft skill,” your ERP hire will get the big stuff done right the first time.
Experience in Your Industry
It’s not enough to know the specifics of programming for a specific ERP platform. The ideal ERP developer should also have some understanding of your industry. Without it, they might design a solution that does not comply with certain regulatory regimes, such as HIPAA in healthcare. To evaluate industry-specific experience, you should ask for relevant portfolio pieces, case studies, and references. Also, ask for workflow-specific expertise when seeking custom enterprise software development solutions. These include things like inventory management in supply chain management businesses or batch production in food processing.
15 Skills Every ERP Developer Should Have
Quality ERP solutions help organizations like yours integrate functions like finance, human resources, and supply chain. So, if HR needs to put together a budget for a recruitment campaign, they can easily get the info they need from finance. In this way and others, your decision-makers get immediate access to data that can help them make better choices. This improves organizational efficiency, enabling faster achievement of your business goals.
Hiring a skilled ERP developer increases the odds of a successful implementation. These professionals have a streamlined process, minimizing delays and cost overruns. And when your custom solution is in place, your talent will have an easier time using it. This will increase adoption, thereby increasing the number of data-driven decisions made by your organization.
Technical Skills to Look for in Your Ideal ERP Developer
1. Proficiency in Popular ERP Platforms
Developers can create ERP builds using several different platforms. However, most use applications like Microsoft Dynamics, SAP S/4HANA, and Oracle NetSuite. Any developer you hire should have a solid understanding of these platforms. This way, you can pick the platform that’s best for your business, without worrying whether your developer can create solutions with it.
2. Mastery of Common ERP Programming Languages
Creating ERP solutions involves multiple programming languages. These languages include Python, Java, Javascript, SQL, C#, and ABAP. A prospective developer will be far more likely to design flexible, creative solutions for your business if they have a high level of proficiency across these languages.
3. Development Experience Using Common Programming Platforms
To make sure that new ERP professionals fit into your existing development teams, we advise hiring candidates with experience using popular dev platforms. If your new ERP programmer will be creating Javascript-based ERP solutions for your business, they’ll be far more productive if they have Node.js development experience. This will speed up development time frames while making sure end users get a usable interface.
4. Database Management
Database management refers to the ability to design, create, maintain, and optimize databases. These databases are the backbone of ERP builds. However, they can weigh down your organization’s productivity if developers do a poor job building them. An inefficient data structure can increase processing time for queries, slowing down report generation and every decision that follows from it. A qualified ERP developer can create databases that process queries quickly and reliably. This enables your team to enjoy productivity gains while making better choices.
5. Quality Assurance (QA)
Quality assurance refers to processes that catch product flaws before they go live. Shipping buggy ERPs can damage your company’s productivity and reputation. If your ERP system fails to sync real-time inventory levels, your business could end up selling products that don't exist. So, any developer you hire must put their builds through rigorous QA testing. By verifying that ERP modules can function on their own and evaluating whether they’ve properly integrated these modules, you'll make it easier for your team members to do their jobs.
6. Systems Integration
System integration refers to the ability to connect applications. By doing so, data from one system can help your team members in another department make informed decisions. By receiving data from sales, finance can accurately assess cash flow, allowing them to make buying decisions with confidence. A skilled ERP developer can make connections between applications that don’t currently exist, such as automating workflows that are manual. Doing this speeds up your team’s work while improving data accuracy.
7. Data Migration
Data migration refers to the process of moving data from an existing system to a new ERP solution. It involves cleaning up data, mapping it to locations in the ERP build, and transforming legacy data into a recognizable format. Solid skills in data migration are crucial for ERP developers, as they need to make sure valuable data does not get lost and remains accurate. By doing this, they’ll maintain the continuity of your company’s operations and minimize disruptions.
8. ERP Workflow Configuration
ERP workflow configuration involves aligning workflows so they support your organization’s goals. This process includes identifying crucial workflows, integrating systems you want to enhance, and building automations to improve productivity and efficiency. By automating purchase order generation when inventory hits a predefined threshold, your new ERP will eliminate over-ordering, saving thousands in storage costs.
9. Business Intelligence Skills
Business intelligence skills refer to a developer’s ability to analyze and visualize ERP data. By doing this, they make it easy for your team to gain actionable insights from said data and to make informed decisions. Qualified developers can create programs that generate custom reports and dashboards. They can then use the visualizations to create the valuable insights stakeholders can use to make profitable decisions. If sales are up 20% in a new product you’ve stocked last quarter, you can order more, as the demand will likely be there for those units.
10. Knowledge of Cloud ERP and SaaS Models
This skill refers to the ability to set up SaaS-based ERP systems on cloud platforms. A developer with experience in this area will have a thorough understanding of mainstream cloud providers like AWS, Azure, and Google Cloud. They should know the difference between private, public, and hybrid cloud solutions, and know which model is appropriate for your needs. By hiring a developer with these skills, you’ll be able to scale ERP systems quickly.
11. Experience in Multiple Different Software Development Methodologies
Ask dozens of programmers how they approach software development, and you may get several answers. Waterfall, Agile, and V-Shaped are just a few of the enterprise software development methodologies out there. To increase your ERP development team’s flexibility, hire developers with exposure to more than one development philosophy. This way, your team can change their approach to development as the situation demands, like switching to DSDM when a feature needs to be delivered on time.
Soft Skills to Look for in Your Ideal ERP Developer
12. Teamwork
Successful developers do not create tailored ERP solutions in a vacuum. Before getting to work, they solicit the input of team members from relevant departments like sales. Without that input, ERP software will not align with your company’s goals, which can hinder adoption and organizational effectiveness. By regularly collaborating with salespeople, your ERP developer can create a solution that integrates your customer relationship management tool with your supply chain modules. This can reduce order errors, further increasing the adoption of your solution.
13. Empathy
If an ERP solution is too complex, your team members will be unable to tap its transformative power. But if your ERP developer has empathy for end users, they will take time to understand their goals, needs and frustrations. If menus in their current solution are too complex, the empathetic developer will use this input to design a simplified interface. By doing this, team buy-in and resulting productivity will increase.
14. Openness to Feedback
No developer can read the minds of their fellow team members. So, it is exceptionally rare for any programmer to nail an ERP build on the first try. For this reason, ERP developers you hire should be able to accept and incorporate team feedback. If someone in logistics finds reporting features to be too slow, the developer will check for inefficient SQL queries, sub-optimally designed indexes, and other common causes. This will speed up work timeframes and make your team members feel valued.
15. Decision Making
There are countless ways to design ERP systems. But some choices can make the difference between a solution that exponentially enhances the output of your company and one that does nothing. Successful ERP developers can customize processes for your sales teams that maximizes insight discovery, while standardizing HR processes to minimize complexity. By making decisions based on solid evidence, an ERP developer creates solutions that can make an impact on your business.
10 Questions to Identify Top ERP Developers
When interviewing ERP developers, it's important to ask questions that first assess the candidates' technical skills and knowledge. Employers will also usually conduct a coding test to further assess specific on-the-job knowledge.
The following set of questions aims to uncover not only the developers's technical knowledge but also their problem-solving abilities, teamwork, communication skills, and adaptability—all crucial traits for success in a collaborative environment.
Here are a few examples of technical interview questions:
1. What Enterprise Resource Planning platforms do you have experience working with, and which one are you most proficient in?
In my career, I’ve worked with all Big Three ERP platforms: Oracle NetSuite, SAP S/4HANA, and Microsoft Dynamics. I’ve also done projects using Infor CloudSuite. However, I consider myself most proficient with SAP’s platform. That said, the transferable technical skills I’ve developed over my career, as well as important soft skills like deep listening and ongoing collaboration, make me well-suited to this position.
2. How do you approach data migration during an ERP implementation? What tools or strategies do you use?
To migrate data successfully, I start by conducting a source data audit. After determining data volume and its accuracy, I plan out needed tools, timelines, and validation checkpoints. Once I’ve defined everything, I’ll use the migration tools the process calls for, like SAP Data Services. But if the situation is complex, I can create a Python script that will handle the transformation. Finally, I’ll create a schedule that minimizes any business disruptions resulting from the migration.
3. Have you worked on integrating ERP systems with other business applications, such as CRMs? If so, how did you handle it?
Yes, I have. I begin all integration projects by understanding stakeholder needs. By learning about their CRM workflows, I plan integrations so they enhance their efforts. In one engagement, I used MuleSoft to create a custom API between Salesforce and SAP S/4HANA. Then, I translated the data by creating data mapping rules between the two platforms. Finally, I tested scenarios like pipeline updates to make certain everything worked.
4. What ERP trends or emerging technologies are you excited about? How do you see them shaping the future of ERP development?
Right now, things like AI and IoT are transforming how ERP software functions and it’s exciting. But I feel industry analysts have overlooked Robotic Process Automation (RPA). Implemented correctly, RPA-powered ERP solutions can automate repetitive tasks like data entry. And in doing so, it can increase efficiency while cutting down on manual errors. Because of this, companies can reassign talent to higher-value tasks, improving outcomes for workers and the business.
5. How do you make sure the data in an ERP system is secure?
I start by protecting ERP systems from our system’s most unpredictable element – people. By establishing access controls, users can only access data needed to perform their jobs. I would also educate everyone on common and recent phishing schemes. Lastly, best-in-class encryption protocols, like AES-256, will protect our data from external intruders, whether at rest or in transit.
6. What steps do you take to optimize the performance of an ERP system?
First, I would track relevant performance metrics, such as response times and system load. After identifying opportunities for improvement, I would start by speeding up database queries. This task includes steps like indexing frequently accessed queries, archiving or deleting outdated data, and running performance-tuning scripts to identify additional performance bottlenecks. Other optimization steps include reviewing ERP workflows for streamlining/automation opportunities, evaluating the function of network infrastructure, and conducting regular code reviews.
7. Imagine an end-user reports that a specific ERP function isn’t intuitive or effective. How would you go about identifying and resolving their concern?
This question reveals the candidate’s problem-solving methodologies. It also assesses their ability to accept feedback and incorporate it into an iteration of the ERP software that satisfies the end user.
8. If your supervisor tasked you with implementing an ERP system for team members with minimal technical expertise, how would you make sure it’s adopted smoothly?
This question assesses a candidate’s ability to simplify complex jargon into concepts non-technical employees can understand. It also reveals the empathy a candidate has for employees who do not possess the same level of technical knowledge.
9. Can you share an example of a solution you implemented to address a unique business need in an ERP system?
This question evaluates how creative a candidate is when approaching uncommon problems. But more importantly, it assesses the depth of a candidate’s experience and knowledge regarding ERP systems.
10. Tell me about a time when you had to deal with conflicting stakeholder requirements during an ERP project. How did you handle the situation?
This question puts a candidate’s conflict resolution skills into focus. By seeing how they manage the stakeholder expectations and how they manage to build consensus, the interviewer learns if a candidate can work with a team.
Frequently Asked Questions
How can an ERP developer make sure their solution aligns with a company’s processes and goals?
They should begin every engagement with a thorough discovery phase. This phase seeks to understand the client’s business processes, challenges, and long-term goals. Once they have gotten enough information, they should use it to design streamlined and automated processes. The developer should create these features with old processes and UX best practices in mind. When a beta version is ready, developers should get feedback from team members and make iterative changes where warranted.
How should a development team handle additional feature requests during an ERP engagement?
Accommodating new feature requests mid-engagement can be a challenge. So, the development team should assess these requests properly rather than immediately accepting it. Does the proposed feature align with the company’s long-term goals? If it does, they should assess this addition's impact on the engagement’s timeline, budget, and the system’s architecture. Once analysis is complete, they should present it to stakeholders, which will outline the impacts of this midstream addition. Once they sign off on this plan, the development team will slot in the feature using Agile principles to minimize disruption.
What approach should a developer take to make sure an ERP system scales seamlessly?
They should build an ERP solution using scalability best practices. This begins by designing modular systems that can operate independently, but interact with each other when needed. When a module requires an update, the dev team can accomplish this without risking system-wide disruptions. Business owners who want a scalable system should have its architecture built on a cloud server, as most major service providers offer scalability solutions that businesses can purchase as needed.
How should an outsourced ERP development team handle performance optimization for implemented systems?
To implement iterative performance improvements, the team should start by establishing benchmark statistics. They should also use monitoring tools to identify opportunities for improvement. Database queries should be an area of particular focus, as developers can tighten up earlier versions of this code, yielding improvements in processing speeds. Other practices, such as load testing, soliciting user feedback, and regular code reviews, can also yield additional performance improvements.
What tools should a professional developer use during an ERP implementation project?
Aside from working within development platforms like SAP S/4HANA, professional developers should have an external software stack supporting their work. They should start with quality project management tools. Jira is best for developers, as its creators built it with bug tracking in mind. These developers should also have SQL programs like SSMS for working with databases, and integration solutions like MuleSoft. This is just a partial list, as there are tools that assist with everything from business intelligence to automations.
What testing should a development team conduct to make sure an ERP system works flawlessly?
They should start by conducting unit tests. These tests evaluate the functionality of each module. By flagging issues, developers can fix problems before they cause harder-to-identify bugs later on. Once individual ERP modules pass their unit tests, the development team should run integration tests. These evaluate whether individual modules can transmit data to other systems accurately and efficiently. Finally, they should test the system as a whole. By seeing how it responds to intended usage and edge cases, they can confidently hand off the system to their client.
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