Today more and more companies prefer hiring dedicated development teams instead of creating their own in-house teams of programmers. Why? The key reasons are financial feasibility and the huge flexibility that this model offers. But what is even more interesting is that among those businesses that hire dedicated development teams, there are a lot of companies that do have their in-house programmers but need to temporarily expand their project teams with new skills. In this article, we’d like to tell you more about the peculiarities of this cooperation model and also highlight the most important moments that you need to bear in mind if you decide to hire a dedicated development team.
Dedicated software development team: what is it?
This business model presupposes establishing cooperation between a client and an outsourcing company. Within this cooperation, an outsourcing agency creates a development team based on the client’s requirements, and this team works as a separate unit on the client’s projects. All hiring and administrative tasks are the responsibility of a vendor but at the same time, developers are fully focused on the projects if they were in-house programmers.
Hiring a dedicated development team is recommended in the following cases:
- When you do not want to hire in-house developers and deal with all onboarding and further related tasks;
- When you have a long-term project;
- When you are interested in having some scalability (it is absolutely simple to add new members to your team or, vice versa, reduce the number when it is required);
- When you have nothing against working with developers in a remote format.
Working with outsourcing companies you get access to a global pool of talents and you can hire specialists with outstanding expertise even in technologies that are quite rare. But when you hire a dedicated development team, you should be ready to face such situations when your developers are based in a country located in a completely different time zone. In such a situation, you both will have to be rather flexible in finding time for meetings and online discussions.
How to find a dedicated development team
Those companies that want to hire dedicated development teams need to find a reliable vendor first. Today there are a lot of outsourcing companies in the global software development market. The competition is rather high which leads to continuous enhancement of terms and conditions provided by these companies. But at the same time, you should be careful as today there are a lot of dishonest market players.
That’s why when you are looking for a vendor:
- Try to find as much information about the company as possible (you can use not only Google but also some professional networks like LinkedIn);
- Read reviews on external platforms;
- Have a look at the company’s portfolio;
- Have a conversation with the company’s specialists and ask as many questions as you have.
Hiring a dedicated development team: Step-by-step
Let’s suppose that you have already found a vendor but how to hire software developers? What does this process look like?
Step 1. Make a list of requirements, and define a team size and a scope of work. Share these requirements with an outsourcing agency.
Step 2. Analyze the list of candidates and choose those who meet the requirements.
Step 3. Conduct interviews and verify the skills that candidates mentioned in their CVs.
Step 4. Summarize interview results and general impressions.
Step 5. Consider the results of all the interviews.
Step 6. Choose and approve the best candidates.
In general, all hiring processes look quite similar. But what makes hiring a dedicated development team so special is that all administrative tasks (and later – payroll responsibilities) will be performed by a vendor.
Legal protection
When you hire dedicated development teams, it’s crucial to think about the protection of your sensitive information and crucial business data as you are going to work with third-party experts.
The set of documents that are usually signed by parties includes the following ones:
- NDA (Non-Disclosure Agreement). From this document, your developers will learn what information should be viewed as confidential and what penalties they can face if they disclose it.
- MSA (Master services agreement). This is a contract that covers general terms of cooperation.
- SOW (statement of work). This document describes all conditions and terms related to your project, including costs, timeframes, etc.
How to onboard dedicated developers
And now it’s time for the last step before your developers start working on your project. It’s time to think about their onboarding.
- Provide developers with all the necessary information about your business and project.
- Introduce them to your in-house staff (especially, if they need to communicate with them during the development process).
- Share the required documents such as technical documentation.
- Arrange a meeting (and set a timetable for your further meetings).
- Set a clear plan of work.
As a rule, dedicated developers are hired for long-term projects. That’s why it is vital to make your cooperation with them as comfortable as possible. Always try to be as precise as you can when you explain your requirements and do not forget to timely tell your team what can be improved during the development process.
We wish you good luck and hope that you will find the best dedicated team ever!
