An entrepreneur, startup founder, CTO, or delivery manager would prefer to have more time for crucial business goals without spending time on a daily routine. Sourcing tons of CVs and interviewing queues of candidates can be exhausting and time-consuming. Still, hiring and retaining talents is a significant part of a successful project. How to balance?
One of the most effective approaches is outsourcing this process to a contractor. The client gets a dedicated web development team and can utilize this workforce as an in-house staff without needing to resolve HR issues and manage taxes and social benefits. Typically, a contractor takes over sourcing, hiring, onboarding, retaining, and managing such a remote team.
When is it reasonable to consider hiring a dedicated web development team?
- Successful startups tend to be fast-growing. They often face a lack of resources to scale up their product. The founders have to tackle this problem quickly if they want to satisfy market demands and get ahead of the competition. So if your internal team is overloaded and doesn’t cope with the current scope of work, the staff augmentation in cooperation with a supplier can be reasonable.
- 57% of tech executives report that finding qualified employees is the biggest problem for their companies. Sometimes, the in-house professionals don’t have the specific expertise to implement the features, or the client needs a particular service, for example, the crop of quality assurance testers. The decision to hire dedicated web developers, which are already experienced in a needed domain, helps avoid downtimes.
- When the client underestimates the costs of product development, it can influence the release terms and relationship with investors. To save the budget without postponing the release date, the company may consider hiring outsourced developers that can cut the expenses by up to 40% without loss of quality.
A small dedicated team of web developers is assembled to address specific challenges, usually consisting of 1-2 developers as supplementary resources. The client takes over the project management.
A large team of dedicated web developers is established to enhance the development department’s capabilities for long-term cooperation. Typically, it consists of 4-6 or more web developers. The team is handled by the client.
A project-based dedicated web development team is ideal for startup founders or product managers, where the contractor acts as a technology partner. They create the product from scratch, and handle future maintenance and scaling. The supplier is responsible for project management.
What is the most common structure of a dedicated web development team?
A business analyst is responsible for communicating with the stakeholders on the client’s side. They discover the business needs and convert this information into the technical specifications that a project team uses for software development. Also, a Business Analyst can examine the business processes and suggest improvements in the client’s strategy. Such a professional is accountable for aligning the final output with the approved requirements.
A UX/UI designer is one more crucial role for a dedicated web development team because they work on the user interface and user experience of the product. UX/UI designers conduct research to determine user behavior and preferences and then project the prototypes, wireframes, and mock-ups for web developers. The well-developed design encourages people to move on the sales funnel and increases user satisfaction.
A tech lead is a kind of mentor and guide for the web development team. They are responsible for all the technical aspects of the web project and ensure their successful implementation.
Hiring a project manager for a web development team is significant to guarantee the successful release of the product. A project manager controls the resources and budget, detects the risks, and mitigates them. This role ensures that the web development team meets the deadline and client requirements.
Any project can’t be finished without quality assurance testers because they ensure that the web product is free of bugs, performs correctly, and completely conforms to the set of quality standards. Such professionals use different techniques to execute functional, system, integration, and acceptance testing to detect errors and report them to the development team. Thanks to the QA testers, the web application runs smoothly on different devices and browsers.
DevOps engineers are countable for ensuring that the application is deployed without any issues and works without downtime. They are controlling the performance all the time to detect and fix any problems. DevOps engineers use various tools such as containerization platforms, version control systems, etc.
A backend developer specializes in the development of the server side of web applications. They work to create server-side logic, manage data storage, and create APIs for front-end developers to use. They are skilled in languages such as Java, Python, Ruby, and PHP, and may use database management systems like MySQL or MongoDB. Expert backend developers assist clients in navigating the web development process and develop the business logic to handle data received from the client side. They have proficiency in using the Model-View-Controller (MVC) design pattern and are able to safeguard client applications.
Dedicated front-end developers take the prototypes projected by a UI/UX designer and bring them to life through the creation of interactive elements for users, such as buttons, on the website. With a well-implemented design, a client receives a responsive layout that is visually appealing, user-friendly and functions smoothly across various devices and platforms. It has a strong and competitive user interface.
What steps does the process of hiring a dedicated web developer typically involve?
- The client sends a request with details about the web project, including desired functionality, to the potential contractor.
- The contractor schedules an introductory call and, if necessary, obtains an NDA (non-disclosure agreement) before discussing the project further.
- The contractor provides the client with a list of CVs of the most suitable candidates.
- The client reviews the resumes of experienced candidates who best fit the project.
- The client conducts a technical conversation with the shortlisted professionals, usually with their CTO or in-house team.
- The contractor repeats the search and interview process until the client finds the right team member.
- Once the client is satisfied with the candidate, the supplier approves the cooperation model, finalizes all necessary documents, and the dedicated web developer joins the project.
Conclusion
To ensure the success of a dedicated project, it is important to make informed decisions at every stage. The experienced contractor can adjust the resources according to the scaling request, but it is crucial to identify the development needs, describe expectations, choose the most appropriate model, and allocate a budget before starting the partnership.