During my IT journey, I had a chance to speak with hundreds of individuals looking for a perfect development team. It is worth to mention that they show different approaches towards hiring external teams based on their experience, buyer processes or even countries where they live. The most common claim though, was that they are looking for remote development simply because of the fact that it’s cheaper. Let’s have a closer look at this case.
The most common situations are as the following:
- It’s hard to find good developers locally (they are already busy or too expensive to hire).
- Your company got another round of funding and you need to scale the development team as fast as possible (pressure from the business side, investors and end-users).
- The cost of hiring and firing is just insane in some countries. Mishiring can cause not only financial issues but can seriously disorganize your team and workflow.
- You want to be a part of Digital Transformation and that’s why you need competent people.
- You can hire a group of regular software developers, but you need more specific skills – blockchain for example.
- Your current team doesn’t deliver the promises and you decide not to hire anymore but rather use external tech partner.
- ou want to pay for results only (it happens with fixed prices contracts)
and many others.
How to choose the right partner (in the case of similar pricing).
Ok, so you decided to go outside of your country (let’s say Norway) and now you are looking on the map. I am guessing you have some basic criteria such as:
- similar timezone,
- cultural affinity,
- experience in your industry,
- acceptable hourly rate/ quality factor,
- good command of English.
You have probably ended up with 3 countries: Poland, Romania, and Ukraine. So did you miss anything? In my opinion a lot. Let me give you a few more clues on what you should check and do before you make the final decision:
- Check the financial statement of the company to see if it’s stable (you will see the cash flow or balance sheet and make your judgment) – many IT companies have professional websites but behind the scenes, they consist of a few friends who pretend to be bigger than they really are. In such a case they can be out of the market within 3-6 months.
- Energy level – I know that many developers are introverts but energy level tells a lot about the company – people who love what they do are more open, they can share valuable ideas or insight with you.
- Code review – don’t trust words – always verify the quality with your standards.
- Stationary visit – many clients who want to hire an external team want to “buy” IT services remotely and this can be a big mistake. You should invest your time and money in a one week trip, choose max 3-4 top companies from your prescreening and then spend at least 1 day with every team. Challenge them, let them present how they work and how they think. See how the office looks like. Are they hard-working and disciplined? Do they ask interesting questions? Are they curious about your business and goals?
- Trails – it’s a good practice to try some services for 1-2 months to make sure you have the right people on board. It’s far safer than signing a 12-month contract and then suffer due to the wrong choice.
- Chemistry – of course, competences and price are the main factors but at the end of the day, you also want to work with people you like and trust and vice versa. People who are partners care about each other way more than just contractors who need to finish the job and forget about the case.
- Localization – do you have a good flight connection? How quick they can visit you at your place? It helps a lot if there are urgent issues that need to be solved or discussed face to face.
- Communication – to discuss things and requirements smoothly, give and receive feedback a good command of English is needed. There is nothing more hitting the roof than misunderstanding and making things wrong due to the insufficient level of English.
- Check if they argue – your future tech partner that will be responsible for the product should be able to give you a piece of advice not only regarding steps that should be done or should not, but also when and why. If they are good negotiators with reasonable arguments you will find them priceless.
- Ask about their motivation – the internal drive is an important factor, why some people work two times better and harder than the others having the same amount of time.
- If you do not have experience in managing IT projects or you simply don’t have enough amount of time to do that, make sure that the team you are going to hire can guide you and show the best possible ways to deliver the product.
Why do people decide to search for external software developers?
As you might have guessed, different companies have different levels of experience of developers. Additionally, their margin acts an important role. In Poland, for 35 USD you may find a small IT boutique with regular software developers (or people who have just started their IT adventure as it’s very easy to build a small software house nowadays – a few IT friends and one or two clients make the business). On the other side, you have huge agencies with talented and high-skilled people where you pay even 3 times more but there is a chance for better service, more security, and professionalism. Remember that It’s always about the simple questions:
- What are you looking for?
- What is the service level that you want to get?
- How willing are you to drain your pockets?
So – should I go cheap or not?
It all depends. You should assume your project’s limit that you are not going to exceed. Then research the market to find people within your budget. You can create a BRIEF or even a questionnaire so companies can fill it in and give you a glimpse of what they do and who they are. After that, schedule a call with 5- 6 companies you like and narrow your choice down to the max. 3-4 software houses.
Don’t look at the price only as it’s a blind spot. Find dedicated people who are capable of building a great digital product because:
a) they love doing that
b) they HAVE the experience needed.
With such a combination, your chances of success are growing a lot.
If you have any questions related to the process of collaboration with external tech partners feel free to send me a message to damian.winkowski@leocode.com or just add me on Linkedin and let’s have a chat. I’m here to help!
Sources:
- https://spdload.com/blog/how-to-outsource-web-development/
- https://www.merixstudio.com/blog/cost-outsourcing-it-services-how-much-should-i-pay-high-quality-code/
[sc_fs_multi_faq headline-0=”h2″ question-0=”What are the top countries in Eastern Europe to outsource web development?” answer-0=”The most popular countries to outsource web development are Ukraine, Poland and Romania. ” image-0=”” headline-1=”h2″ question-1=”What are the main reasons the US and Western Europe companies choose Eastern Europe? ” answer-1=”
– Low prices for top-notch specialists
– Large pool of talents
– English proficiency and culture affinity” image-1=”” count=”2″ html=”true” css_class=””][sc_fs_faq sc_id=”fs_faqanssl22jf” html=”true” headline=”h2″ img=”” question=”Why do people decide to search for external software developers?” img_alt=”” css_class=”” ]Outsourcing IT services is a common approach used by companies in various industries. There are many advantages of IT outsourcing. Outsourcing is a cost-saving opportunity to scale and develop digital products quicker.A client from any corner of the world can access a large pool of talents and hire the best specialists in the industry. [/sc_fs_faq]
