How to hire a dedicated team of developers?

Hiring a dedicated team is a popular and quite profitable approach that allows businesses to expand their technical capabilities while minimizing administrative routine and expenses. In 2020, 70% of companies outsourced to cut costs. 

If you want to know about other benefits of dedicated teams, how and where to find them, you’re at the right place! In this article, we’ll take a closer look at all these points.

What is a Dedicated Software Development Team?

A dedicated software development team is a model of long-term cooperation with an outsourced development team. Unlike traditional outsourcing models, where a third-party company handles the entire project, a dedicated team works as an extension of the client’s staff. 

Clients benefit from the experience and dedication of a specialized team, gaining greater control over project management, faster development cycles, and the ability to scale the size of the team to meet project needs. But unlike in-house employees, you don’t have to deal with administrative, tax, and HR issues with a dedicated team.

This model is becoming increasingly popular among companies looking for a cost-effective and flexible solution to their software development needs, while maintaining a high level of customization and control.

Who Is In a Dedicated Team?

The constitution of your dedicated team is contingent upon the unique demands of your business. Consequently, your development team could encompass:

• Front-end and back-end specialists, full-stack engineers, and mobile developers.
• DevOps engineers.
• Quality assurance experts.
• Project managers.
• UX/UI designers.
• Business analysts.
• Product managers.

When Do You Need to Hire a Dedicated Development Team? 

Although dedicated teams are a popular option for a wide range of businesses, there are certain categories of companies that would benefit from such cooperation the most.

Startups

Startups often face limited resources and an urgent need to grow quickly. At the same time, dedicated teams bring specialized skills without requiring a long-term commitment or the financial burden of permanent hiring. So by turning to a specialized team, startups can efficiently build a solid product foundation, ensuring a high-quality solution that aligns with their vision. 

Long-term Projects

Dedicated development teams offer unwavering and committed involvement throughout the project, contributing to a deep understanding of its intricacies. The specialized team model ensures alignment and collaboration, which contributes to the success of the project in the long run. 

Low-Budget Projects

With a simple hourly-based pricing structure, dedicated teams eliminate the additional costs associated with traditional in-house hiring. This cost-effective approach allows low-budget projects to access a pool of skilled professionals without sacrificing quality. By optimizing financial resources, such projects can achieve maximum impact and successful outcomes.

Pros and Cons of Hiring a Dedicated Team of Software Engineers

You’ve probably heard about some benefits of outsourcing development teams. However, each company has its own reasons for hiring dedicated teams. Let’s take a look at the most popular benefits based on our 18 years of experience.

• Cost savings: Greatly decreased TCO of a dedicated software development team. You pay only for the work hours spent and once the project is completed, the expenses stop.
• Ready-made professional team: Structured workflows and ample hands-on experience. The team knows what to do and how to do it, providing transparent monitoring at the same time. In addition, in established teams, members are accustomed to working with each other, which reduces the risk of workplace conflicts that can be quite harmful to the project.
• Greater talent pool available at once: MSPs usually have scalable teams with specialists of all kinds that can begin working on your project from the day one. As well, if a team member takes a sick leave or quits the job, they’ll be replaced rapidly.
• Easy to manage: By hiring IT Svit, you don’t have to pay extra for the services of a project manager, who will keep you informed about what’s happening during the development and management processes. Transparent communication and regular reporting allow business owners to be freed from additional routine without sacrificing project quality. 
• Fast scalability: Clients have the flexibility to determine the initial size of their software development team, with the ability to effortlessly adjust the team’s composition as project requirements evolve. Whether there’s a need for expansion or contraction, clients retain full control over the number of individuals comprising their software development team, ensuring seamless scalability to match project demands.

As for the drawbacks of choosing to hire dedicated software developers, there indeed are a couple:

• MSPs can support a broad range of products for a variety of customers, meaning the team’s time might be cramped with other tasks. Thus said, allow for slightly broader estimates, as finishing the product in the shortest time possible might be quite difficult.
• Working with a dedicated team of software developers requires a lot of remote control of the process. Be prepared to ask lots of questions aside from the Project Manager’s reports. This is your product, after all, and you should keep a close eye on its development.

Thus said, hiring a dedicated team of software developers can be a huge benefit for a company of different scale. They will get the job done and help launch and support the product.

Nevertheless, the business can hardly survive without building an in-house software development team. This is crucial to ensure business continuity and ongoing product evolution, so we must consider the benefits and drawbacks of this approach.

Where to Hire a Dedicated Team?

Whether you’re a startup or an established company looking to expand its technological capabilities, the team selection process is a crucial factor in the success of the project. 

Look For Direct Recommendations

When you’re looking to assemble a development team, for your company, it’s worth considering the potential of word of mouth recommendations. Seek advice from friends, family, or colleagues who have previously worked with developers. However, keep in mind that just because one project was successful doesn’t guarantee the outcome for yours, as technology stacks and project requirements can vary.

Consider Freelancers

Freelancer platforms like Upwork and Freelancer serve as hubs for freelance development teams. Use filters on these platforms to narrow down your search based on your criteria. Evaluate teams by reading their descriptions and reviews from other clients. However, exercise caution regarding middlemen. Be aware of the risks associated with job offers being reposted at lower prices.

Use Social Media

Don’t overlook the power of social media outreach! Take advantage of platforms like Facebook and LinkedIn to connect with development teams directly. Post descriptions of your project in groups. Seek recommendations from others, within those communities.

When it comes to networking, LinkedIn stands out as a platform that offers portfolios and skill endorsements. This allows for an evaluation of the individual’s expertise.

Explore The Internet

Many long-standing software development teams offer their services through their landing pages over the Internet. Explore websites that appear on top search engine results pages for software development services. Check industry-specific boards for reviews from previous customers, providing insights into the performance of different development teams.

How to Evaluate a Dedicated Software Development Team?

We recommend combining all the aforementioned approaches. You will obviously not hire the first team you find, as the software development lifecycle of your product will cost several dozen thousand dollars, and you need to hire the most reliable team of developers to invest the money right. Shortlist 3-4 software development teams, evaluate their skill stacks, portfolio, website quality and positioning, feedback from their previous customers.

Note the following points:

• Company experience. We do not recommend delegating complex or costly projects to young teams with less than 2–3 years of experience. Such teams either lack the needed experience or might fall apart amidst your project, leaving it in debris.
• Staff size. The teams with 10 members or fewer are usually highly-specialized. This means there is nobody to replace the crucial team member should he or she become ill or leave altogether. We recommend working with the MSPs who are at least 30–40 men strong to ensure the project continuity and timely completion.
• Company portfolio. Contact the previous customers of this company. Find out if they were satisfied with the project management and product development, team interaction and feedback response. The real reviews are the best proof of quality, and if the team has already successfully developed the products for startups — they will be able to provide high-quality services and workflows for you.
• Product quality. Ask the company to provide the examples of working products and solutions they developed, or try to use the services of the previous customers. If their products are intuitive, performant and work fast — this software development team really can deliver a high-quality product.
• Company website. Ask the third-party specialist to evaluate the chosen team’s website. Aside from a good design, it must be functional, intuitive and well-optimized. If the team cannot do it for their own website — they will hardly be able to provide these qualities for your product.

Why IT Svit is a Go-To Choice While Hiring a Dedicated Team?

Bringing in a specialized team can make a big difference to your business. Immediate access to top-level talent, polished workflows and project management models, significant cost and management overhead reductions, and reliable project results all speak for themselves.

IT Svit is one of the leaders in the IT outsourcing market in Ukraine and is among the top 10 Managed Service Providers worldwide according to the authoritative business rating agency Clutch. More than 18 years of experience, more than 600 successful projects of various sizes, and more than 200 qualified specialists are at your disposal for a very reasonable price!