Today every small, medium and large business venture needs assistance from professionals whether you hire a reliable software development company or an in-house dedicated software team or freelancers for your project.
Software development is the concept that no longer needs acknowledgment or recognition after all more than 5.11 billion people are using mobile devices and apps for different purposes. Not to mention well-developed software can give you a significant edge over your competitors. Now I am sure you will come across several posts offering relevant information in the context of how to structure a dedicated software developers teams or how to deal with an individual or a freelancer but the first and foremost thing to take into consideration is whether you should choose a dedicated software development team or an in-house team or freelancer for your upcoming software development project. One decision can make you or break you like never before.
Introducing the Dedicated Development Team
No matter how much the technology advances, manpower is something that is and that will be needed for ages. And in a short time, the world is most likely to witness a global talent shortage. In other words, hiring the right talent and that too in a cost-effective manner has become an impossible thing to do. As a result, different businesses have started choosing different types of professionals, some choose a dedicated team of software developers while others prefer hiring freelancers or in-house professionals. Now there has been an enormous amount of gushing going on in regards to the dedicated development team. Before you start looking around for a reliable one, it’s time to know everything regarding it, right from what a dedicated development team is to how it is beneficial for any business in the long run.
Define a dedicated development team? Well, it’s a group of programmers who are chosen for particular projects to work full-time with the in-house teams. The task could be anything, right from building new software to maintaining it. The team comprises a wide group of programmers starting from software developers to engineers, project managers, DevOps, QA specialists, UI/UX designers, business analysts, and what not!
Plus, the benefits of a dedicated development team are many! Here I would like to shed some light on certain benefits of hiring a dedicated development team of software developers.
- Cost-effective option – One of the obvious benefits offered by a dedicated development team is that no matter what or how complicated your requirements are. Hiring a dedicated team of software developers will always turn out to be an economically viable option in comparison to building your team of in-house developers. Now what happens is when you try building your team of in-house developers, right from the administrative needs to finding the right expert, interviewing them, etc all need to be taken into consideration. Plus, the process of recruitment can be extremely stressful.
- Agile approach – Another benefit of hiring a dedicated team of software developers is the agile approach. Trust on your wingman and let them do their job. At present, software development companies turn out to be extremely professional and serious regarding what they do so you don’t have to worry regarding their approach. You can simply focus on your core competencies. Also, by using the agile approach which is more scalable and flexible, businesses can easily have full control over the budget as well as the project.
- Promotes Collaboration – Last but not least comes collaboration. Hiring a dedicated development team is more like hiring an external team who are willing to work with your existing team and come up with something extraordinary that could make you stand out from the competition. And you know what’s the best part here, the client can have direct interaction with the team regarding the progress of the development project. The more the merrier, problems and potential issues can be taken care of in no time.
What makes an ideal dedicated development team?
- High professionalism
- Excellent communicators
- Dedicated and committed to the goal
- Clear in regards to roles and responsibilities
- A cross-functional and balanced team
- Flexible in nature
- Build a strong and healthy working culture
Introducing In-house Development Teams
What is an in-house development team? As the name implies, an in-house team is said when you get to create your team of developers, designers, testers and slowly expand it on the basis of the skill set required and experience. Now how is it different from hiring a dedicated team of developers? For starters, here you have to go through all the procedures of inviting candidates, interviewing them, and ensuring that they have a safe and smooth onboarding. Yes, these are no different than your regular employees and work for you all day long. In other words, you no longer have to worry about hiring professionals separately, all you have to do is recruit them and make them your full-time employees.
Often known as insourcing, in-house teams are supposed to carry special software development expertise and ensure to create the best possible solutions without seeking assistance from third parties. Initially, this might seem a costly venture but if you look at it in regards to investment, it’s not! Further, I would like to mention certain benefits of considering in-house development teams instead of dedicated development teams and freelancers.
- Cultural fit – Having in-house developers means they are supposed to be more familiar with the needs and requirements of your business and of course, the end clients. These guys pay more attention to details and ensure the best possible results in no time.
- Having full control – Another advantage of choosing an in-house team of developers is where businesses do get full control over what’s happening and how their development project is taking place. In addition, here you get a chance to train your team members and change their direction according to their point of interest.
- Well-established communication – Since you all are working together, communication is possible in the best manner. After all, here you can have face-to-face conversations and increase rapport with the team members like never before.
However, this is not it! There are a lot and lots of advantages of choosing an in-house team of developers such as a better understanding of the company’s value, changes, and flexibility, no language or cultural boundaries, best possible collaboration, and what not!
Introducing Freelancers
Freelance software developers are professionals who are considered individual contractors. Yes, this means they are not given regular salaries. So what are the obvious differences? Well, in comparison to an in-house team of dedicated development software developers, freelancers do not have to work for specific hours. They get the freedom in regards to everything, right from choosing the work to accomplishing it in their decided time frame.
Freelance developers tend to work for one or more companies for a predetermined time period whether it can be for the short run or long run. Now you must be wondering what roles and responsibilities these freelance software developers have:
- Designing application system
- Recommending and applying upgrades
- Using coding languages
- Communicating precisely
- Maintaining their portfolios
Benefits of hiring a freelance software developer
- Independence – As a freelancer, they are independent enough to choose their jobs and they can deny if the pay rate is undesirable. Fortunately, lots and lots of startups seem to be brewing up but unfortunately, they lack funds to hire software developers or dedicated development teams, as a result, freelancer developers to accomplish these small tasks.
- Latest Trends – Most freelancers are well-acquainted with the latest software development trends and understandings of using the most popular and promising programming languages.
- Experience – Choosing a freelancer means you are hiring a professional who has gained severe experience in working with professionals from different industries. You can make the most of their specialized skills and knowledge and come up with the best solution.
Freelance Development Teams vs Dedicated Development Teams Vs In-house Development Teams
| Factors | Freelancer | Dedicated Development Teams | In-house Teams |
|---|---|---|---|
| Price | Low-Cost | Medium to low-cost | Costly |
| Control over the Project | Full-control | Less to no control | Full-Control |
| Work-Quality | No guarantee | Partial Guarantee | Full-Guarantee |
| Reliability | Less | Medium | High |
| Communication | Poor | Medium-scale communication using Skype, emails, messengers, etc | Effective face-to-face |
On and all, all three of them are of a kind. Each one whether you hire a dedicated team of software developers or freelancers or an in-house team of developers has its own set of advantages and disadvantages to offer. One of the most-driven types of software development lifecycle models is the offshore or hiring a dedicated development team overseas model. There are several reasons to justify this:
- The hiring process is quick
- Outsourcing projects means they are bound to work on specific tasks.
- Third-party vendors are involved, which means you can focus on your core competencies
- You do get full control over your project if you choose a reliable offshore software development company
- Great efficiency, high productivity, timely delivery are common yet crucial benefits of choosing a dedicated development team.
In a nutshell, The option or the type you choose will always depend on your situation, your business needs, and requirements, and of course, the price. So choose wisely! In case you still have any doubts or queries, feel free to mention that in the comment section below
