Outsourcing software projects to third parties has become quite a common practice over the last few years. This growing culture of delegating projects of all sizes to professional developers has its ups and downs. As a client who engages the services of a third-party dedicated development team or company, it is important to know how to go about the process of outsourcing your software project.
There are several options that clients like you have when outsourcing a project. The two most popular choices are: 1) freelancer and 2) dedicated team.
For example, you can look into freelancing platforms such as Fiverr or PeoplePerHour to find an affordable freelance resource who can deliver your project within a set budget and timeline. While discussing in detail the pros and cons of hiring a freelancer are beyond the scope of our discussion today, let us give you a brief overview. When hiring a freelancer, the low prices are a major selling point that most clients are immediately attracted by. While that is a primary advantage, there are also some major downsides to working with a freelancer. A lot of people who have previously worked with freelancers are found to complain about the lack of discipline and dedication that freelancers operate with. They are their own boss, which means they often have trouble with accountability. They are not used to dire consequences and may not take your project seriously, which is why they may also have a hard time sticking to their promised deadlines. Therefore, you must be extremely careful when working with freelance developers.
The other outsourcing option which you can consider is partnering with a professional software company to hire dedicated developers. This is what the main focus of our discussion today is.
To find out more about this subject, read here: https://www.goodcore.co.uk/services/dedicated-development-team/
Let us talk about the different advantages and disadvantages of working with dedicated developers, along with a step-by-step guide on how to hire a dedicated team.
Pros and cons of hiring a dedicated development team
The biggest advantage of hiring a team of developers from an experienced software company is the impeccable professional attitude they work with. The resources assigned to your project work solely with you and have no other ‘side projects’ to distract them. Software companies have proper policies in place regarding working with their esteemed clients. They follow certain practices which are meant to keep clients happy and content throughout the development process. They empower clients to decide the level of engagement they want with their team. Their software team members offer years of proven expertise in all kinds of technologies and development tools. On top of that, software companies also offer you to scale your development team up or down as your needs change. For example, if your project expands midway, you can easily add more members to the team with minimal hassle and expenditure.
The only significant downside of hiring a team of dedicated developers is the high cost. Compared to freelancers, this option is a bit heavy on the pocket due to the high quality of work you receive in exchange. However, the option of working with a software company’s dedicated resources is still much cheaper compared to hiring a team to work for you in-house.
How to hire a team of developers
The process of hiring the right team of developers starts with your search for the right software company. Once you have chosen a suitable software partner, you can look into the resources that they offer and build your own software development team from their talent pool.
Step 1: Look into platforms such as Clutch and Manifest. These platforms offer a vast catalog of the top software development firms from all over the world. Compared to a random Google search, these specialist platforms offer a curated list of software vendors whose work has been verified by the platforms themselves. These listings also contain further information about each software firm, such as their areas of expertise, experience levels, history, client list, and reviews.
Step 2: When searching through review platforms and business directories, you can look into a certain software company’s past work along with an estimate of how much money each of their clients spent on their respective projects. The clients also leave detailed verified reviews on these websites, along with a star rating out of 5. On Clutch, for example, GoodCore Software is rated a perfect 5 out of 5 by its previous clients. You can also read the glowing client reviews that Clutch representatives have verified and published on the platform. By looking at a software vendor’s profile and portfolio, you can gauge whether or not it would be a good fit for your requirements.
Step 3: After you have shortlisted some companies that meet your criteria, you can then set up meetings to sit with each company’s development resources. A lot of companies also share their team members’ profiles with new clients so that clients can choose which resources they would like on their dedicated team. You can also interview candidates individually to see if they would be a good fit.
Step 4: Discuss budgets, timelines, and deliverables. Here, you can ensure that the team members you have chosen fall within your financial limitations. You can pick and choose the resources you would like to have on your team while staying within your constraints. You and your software development partner can decide how you want to go about collaborating with your team of dedicated developers. Often, the vendor sets up team and work management tools such as Jira so that you, the client, can monitor your team’s progress in a better manner.
Step 5: Now that your software development team is finalized, you can follow up with the necessary privacy measures such as the signing of an NDA, which a professional software company should offer to do for you themselves, unprompted. You can then officially begin your development project, the first step to which is the discovery phase.