Finding full-time developers is time consuming and expensive. For startups and small business, hiring a team of programmers incorrectly can be so exorbitantly expensive that it sinks them. Mismanagement can even cause software products launched by large, established corporations to fail. Thankfully, there are safer ways to conduct business: hiring freelance developers can be less risky and more cost effective.
Here are the top 4 reasons you should hire a freelance developer:
1. Time
Hiring takes longer than ever. On average, the interview process takes about 23 days. Hiring technical talent is an even lengthier process. Posting a job advertisement, combing through applications, performing the necessary screening and vetting can take over six months to complete. Truly skilled developers are increasingly difficult to find. In addition, screening candidates requires the interviewer to understand the development process. Training interviewers, preparing screening scripts, all of this takes up precious time and resources.
Freelance networks like Toptal, X-Team, and Gigster can match you with a developer in as little as 48 hours. These networks are comprised of developers who have already been through the screening process. Utilizing freelancers through networks that custom match you could save you an enormous amount of time.
2. Expense
Highly-skilled developers are hard to come by these days. Not only is finding qualified computer programmers increasingly difficult, it is also exceedingly expensive. In fact, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the median pay for a developer is approximately $75,000.
An experienced software engineer will run you a great deal more with competitive salaries starting around $100,000. In order to hire developers effectively, you’ll need a team who delivers quality consistently. The costs can add up rather quickly.
With freelance developers, you won’t be bogged down by these costs. You can pay freelancers by project or by hour. If you’re a small company you may only need a developer or two to work on sporadic projects. In these types of cases, hiring freelance developers can save you thousands of dollars.
3. Flexibility
While a freelance developer may cost you more per hour than an in-house developer, you’ll be able to save on costs in the long run. If you have an in-house development team, you can add manpower with contractors without committing to hiring a new employee. If you need more help, you can add more freelancers. If one freelance developer didn’t work out, there’s no reason to sweat, either. Your working relationship can end with the contract.
There’s always the option to up the commitment as well. If you end up working with a freelance web developer that you want on your team, for example, you can extend a full-time offer to work on all of your web projects. Switching from full-time employee to contractor is a much trickier process, however. Hiring freelance developers allows both you and the freelancer to enjoy flexibility.
4. Expertise
If you’ve never hired a developer yourself, you may want to rely on the expertise of others. Instead of poring over interview manuals or training your existing staff in the ways of technical recruiting, you can use the freelance talent networks mentioned earlier.
Finding the sites to hire developers is work in itself and requires some knowledge of human resources, the tech industry, and the development community. You can use on-demand freelance talent networks to hire the right freelancers for your project.
Conclusion
Excellent programmers are rare. It’s easier to find the right fit with the help of freelancers. You’ll spend less time hiring freelancers, spend less money on them on average, have flexibility with adding and subtracting members from your development team, and have access to hiring expertise from freelance talent networks.
To find out if freelance developers are the right match for you, research your options, consult your existing team of developers, if you happen to have one already, and gather insight from the online development community on sites like GitHub and Stackoverflow.
After carefully assessing your own situation, consulting this list, and taking the advice of others, you’ll be able to decide if hiring freelance developers is right for you.