You’re facing an all too common problem that many business entrepreneurs struggle with everyday. There are pluses and minuses for choosing each option. However, the best long-term option will almost always be to try to hire a team of engineers that can build, maintain and grow your online business. Let’s review the two options in detail below.
Evaluating web development companies
There are no shortages of web development companies available in the market. While options allow you to comparison shop, it is still very difficult to determine which company will be the best choice for your business. In addition, the pricing structures will vary greatly among providers. Some web development companies may offer an hourly price, while others will guarantee a project based price. Although project based pricing provides for an estimate of the total cost, it is really just that. It’s an estimate. Project based pricing largely depends on the scope of work and in many instances that can easily change and is subject to interpretation. You will want to make sure that you have a very detailed and clear scope of work with a wire-frame. Many web development companies will provide an overview of the scope with a few pages to illustrate a specific template to follow. That’s not sufficient. The other issue that you will run into is the fact that the company has other clients and thus you may not be at the center of their attention at all times.
Despite the drawbacks, there are certain benefits with hiring a web development company. First and foremost, you will likely be paying less money to a company than by hiring someone internally and paying them a salary with benefits. Second, there’s typically less flight-risk. You have a signed contract with a company that is being held accountable for the scope of work. They are bounded by the terms of the agreement and their reputation to complete the work. This isn’t the case with hiring a few freelancers.
Hiring a full-time web developer
It’s important to note that it is much more difficult to find an individual web developer than it is to hire a company. Sure, there are plenty of qualified individuals in the market; however, they don’t market themselves the same way companies do. You’re going to have to do a lot of leg-work in the form of networking with friends and friends of friends as well as getting yourself up to speed with the latest web development chagrin. This is going to be time consuming and you will not necessarily be able to easily distinguish between a great web developer and an average one. Their resumes and portfolios of work provide a starting point, but it is by no means an acceptable way to evaluate their ability to code. You need to test their ability to code in your framework as well as their capability to solve problems and meet deadlines. We recommend that you set an evaluation period to see if they meet the qualifications. In addition, you will want to make sure you are hiring a web developer that has an understanding of interactive design. Many developers aren’t designers. As previously mentioned, the other major concern is flight-risk. If you only have one developer, you don’t have the same security that you do when you hire a web development company.
Although there are some drawbacks to hiring internally, it is still likely to be the best long-term solution if you plan on building a long-standing company. If you find the right web developer, you can grow the company together and hire others to build a team. With a web development company, you will reach a point where you cannot develop quickly enough and it then becomes more costly. Also, if you want to gain the attraction of investors and other companies, they will want to know that there is a full-time engineering team working on the product.
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