Hiring a software development company or an employee

In today’s world, many companies are upgrading their internal software or intending to create some kind of software application. Many executives ask the question: should we hire someone in-house or hire a professional company to create our solution for us? At first, it may seem like hiring someone in-house costs less than the project price quoted by a software development company. In the long run, however, the responsibilities, risks, and time involved in hiring that employee can end up costing three to four times what it would have cost to hire a software development company in the first place.

Let’s start by discussing the responsibilities involved in hiring a software developer. First, you need to consider the salary you want to pay the developer. Software developers have an average salary of $40,000.00 to $140,000.00 a year, depending on the market you are in and the experience the developer has. While in some industries it makes sense to hire the least expensive option, this route should be avoided here due to the fact that this person will be solely responsible for development within the company. Based on experience, a good developer with the skill set needed in this scenario will cost no less than $80,000.00 per year, or $40.00 per hour. If you are hiring the developer for a three month contract, at $40.00 per hour, your total cost will be around $20,000.00. Most developers are looking for a minimum six month contract, so you would realistically have to commit $40,000.00 for the position. If you’re hiring the developer as a full-time employee, you should consider benefits like insurance and retirement, which could increase this amount significantly.

Aside from salary, the hiring process itself presents its own challenges. First, the manager must have the experience to judge whether the developer is qualified for the job and worth the money he is asking for. This means that the manager must take the time to successfully and thoroughly evaluate potential candidates on all aspects of architecture and programming, as the candidate will be solely responsible for the development project in question. In this industry, personality is a small part of the process as many developers cannot be judged on their personality; Developers are often introverted and this makes it hard for them to express their capabilities verbally. Instead, you want to focus on your skill set, but if the manager or company interviewing said developer doesn’t have the IT expertise to do so, the chances are high that the hire won’t meet company expectations. Once the hiring process is complete, the company will need to set up a management process for the developer.

My experience has taught me that all developers require structure, discipline, and most importantly, a manager who has the knowledge and experience to guide the project the developer is working on. With that in mind, a manager should take the time to create a project lifecycle that should include a detailed functional specification of the project and a general understanding of the programming environment used to create the software. The consequences of not taking the time to create a functional specification and having the knowledge to guide the developer through the development life cycle will likely be that the software is not built to the company’s requirements and specifications, and not completed on time. . I cannot stress enough the importance of a manager having the functional and technical knowledge to manage the developer. This does not mean that the manager has to be a programmer; in fact, the manager does not need to know anything about programming. However, they do need an understanding of the software development life cycle, requirements documentation, and timelines with respect to the programming environment and the software application itself. With that knowledge, the manager should be able to oversee all aspects of the project, including testing. The amount of time a company has to commit to hiring a developer can be huge, and the risks of not devoting the proper resources and management to a project and the hired developer are great.

Risks around management, or lack thereof, is one thing, but there are risks in hiring a developer outside of management. The most obvious risk is the possibility that the employee or contractor will resign or leave the company for any reason. Imagine you have a 3 month project that needs to be completed in 3 months with no wiggle room in the schedule and the developer responsible for the project quits or gets sick after only 1 month of development. At that point, the company has to go through the process of hiring a new developer again and reinvest the time to review the application infrastructure and software environment with the new hire. It has been my experience that a new developer cannot pick up where an old developer left off. Why? It’s not just the developer’s skills that become an asset to a company, but their knowledge of the application; when the developer leaves, their replacement must first learn the app and acclimate to the previous developer’s code before being able to work with them, which could take weeks depending on the complexity of the app, the quality of the code, and the associated . documentation. Another risk of hiring a developer comes with the company’s expectation of their performance. No matter how thorough your hiring process is, you often won’t know if a developer is good until a job or task is done. If a hiring error is discovered after the developer has completed a project for you, this could result in not only having to redevelop the software, but also reviewing the hiring process, both of which have the potential to cost you a lot. to a company in more than dollars.

A good software development company will be able to take on the aforementioned responsibilities and risks associated with developing software on behalf of the company. A software development company has already absorbed the risks of hiring and will have a management team that has the knowledge and experience to oversee the developers and the creation of the software application. A software development company will also be able to distribute knowledge not only of the project at hand, but also of the business process itself, to a team of developers and managers instead of just one person; because of this, the consequences of losing a hire are removed from the process.

Software development companies can be an excellent choice for building a company’s technology solution, as long as they have a solid understanding of the company’s needs. Without a solid understanding and knowledge of the company’s core business processes and practices, it is very likely that the entire application will not represent the best interests of the company. Many times, the biggest commitment of time that the client must assume is passing on the knowledge of their business practices and needs to the software development company. Yes, hiring an internal employee can greatly reduce the amount of time needed for knowledge transfer, as the employee will gain an understanding of the company by interacting with them in person every day. However, the right software development company for the job will already have experience working in the company’s industry, so they will already have much of the required knowledge. Not only will this decrease the time needed to acclimate the development company to the business, but it will also allow the software company to be an active participant in the development of the software and make recommendations based on their previous experience within the industry.

In general, hiring an employee may seem like an attractive option at first, but the risks and time involved in hiring and managing that employee may outweigh the benefits if your business isn’t prepared to do so. Hiring a knowledgeable and experienced software development company that has experience in the company’s industry may cost more than initially hiring a developer; however, over time, companies investing in IT as a long-term solution will find that choosing a relationship with a software development company rather than hiring an employee will be the most beneficial route to take.