How hiring Contractual Developers have helped a Start-up grow exponentially

Hiring contractual developers to get your world-class applications and websites developed and also garner support for the related services is one of the simplest ways to build your brand.

Hiring full-time employees takes a lot of time, And their usefulness depletes once the development process is over. Thus, it is preferred all over the world to hire contractual developers and get the work done at a low cost, on time, and without increasing any burden on the current infrastructure.

Staff Augmentation, for example, caters to all your staffing needs with the guarantee of expert resources that can be trusted as they are provided via a vendor. They can be hired for short-term work (depending on the project requirement) and can work remotely or onsite as you want.

As per Fortunly, a financial guidance news magazine based in the Czech Republic,

• 54% of companies in the USA are utilizing support services (be it technical or normal support via calls, emails, and chats) from third-party vendors.
• The USA has 73.3 million freelancers which means employers and resources prefer contractual staff over employees.
• The USA-based companies outsource almost 3,00,000 jobs.
• 75% of businesses all over the globe prefer outsourcing.

As per stats, by the end of 2027, shared services and global outsourcing will accumulate to USD 904.948 billion, while IT outsourcing revenue will be USD 512.50 billion by 2024.

What are Contractual Developers?

Contractual developers, as the name suggests, are hired to fulfill contractual work. Companies, big or small, prefer to hire developers on a short-term basis to complete developmental projects.

It helps in negating the hassle that would be caused.

• If the developers are hired on a full-time basis after project completion, they will be a burden on the company’s budget.
• If the developers are hired on a part-time basis, the attention required for the project’s completion would be diverted elsewhere.
• After project completion, they will also become a financial burden.

When you involve a vendor between you and your hired resources, it is called staff augmentation. This is the best way because then your and the hired contractual developers’ focus depends on project completion. 

In other ways of contracting developers, be it freelancers (individual contractors), managed services, off-shore sites, dedicated teams, or time and materials, you do not get full satisfaction. With staff augmentation, your resources feel almost like your employees, but with the added bonus of being short-term.

Benefits of Hiring Developers in India

In India, by December 31, 2023, 1,17,254 startups had opened up. Out of them, the top 135 innovative technology companies generated revenues of Rs. 2.94 lakh crores in FY23. Whereas, the total IT-related startups in 2023 were 489, i.e., only 27% were able to come out on top.

This was made possible because the founders, Chief Technology Officers (CTOs), Chief Information Officers (CIOs), and more realized that it was best to hire from outside or outsource the development work.

A few benefits to strengthening their case are:

• Quicker hiring

The conventional hiring process takes at least two months to find a great resource. It might take a week or two to get accustomed to your work culture.

But with contract staff, you can hire experts from reputable providers in less than a month, sometimes even in a few days.

•  Rapid Onboarding

Since these developers are hired on a contractual basis and will only be a part of your organisation for a short time, the time spent onboarding them, making them familiar with the work culture, administrative tools, and more is saved.

•  Unique and original takes

They come up with unique and original takes on the challenges faced, possible implementations, and the technology and tools to be used in the project they are hired for. Plus, they also bring vast exposure and experience, having worked in various domains and businesses. 

• Experts and niche-related 

When the hiring is done on a contractual basis, finding expert developers with experience in the targeted niche is quite possible and beneficial. 

• Customizability 

They come along with full freedom to customise, be it scalability, flexibility, or more. As per your requirements, you can modify their numbers, choose them according to their skills, and even ask them to work remotely. 

• Cost effectiveness

Accounting work related to these resources, such as insurance, other perks (house rent allowance and more), and payroll taxes, is managed by them or their providers (vendors). Thus, reducing work at your end.

• Proper time utilisation 

Many times, the work that needs to be done and the time available to do it do not match. In such cases, getting work done with contractual resources can help beat the clock.

• Risk Reduction

With contractual resources, you get the option to sample them and their work. If they do not suit your needs, you can always opt for someone else. Plus, with non-disclosure agreements (NDAs), you can ensure the privacy of the information shared and the work done.

Whereas in the case of a full-time employee, you have no option but to simply hire another employee.

• Quality Assistance 

Every company has its own process of quality checking and control. The contractual hires have experience with various companies’ quality control procedures and can thus easily accommodate your methods. They might even share suggestions that can improve your standard operating procedures (SOPs).

• The best solution for temporary problems

Problems can arise at any time, be big or small, and may require a short-term solution. In such cases, contractual hires are the best, as they do not come with a legal and moral obligation to keep them employed with you.

Thus, it is a blessing if you get the opportunity to hire contractual developers. 

How did contractual developers benefit various startups and enterprises? 

Now, let us see how they helped make start-ups into brands that are known far and wide.

Company Name	Objectives	Services received	Benefits received
Google (search engine and more)	Needed to launch ‘Adwords’ in 2011	Used outsourced IT services	‘Adwords’ became the biggest source of their revenue.
WhatsApp (communication app)	Needed developers to develop their apps (Android and iOS) and websites.	Hired Eastern European developers	One of the top-rated apps in just 4 years, leading to a proposed acquisition by Facebook.
Alibaba (multi-national e-commerce)	Needed developers for their website and apps	Hired bilingual developers from the USA	Quite popular, generating USD 20 billion in revenues per year
Slack (a professional communication platform)	Needed designers and developers for their apps and websites.	Hired contractual developers and designers from Metalab	8 million users per day (now)
GitHub (an open-source coding platform)	Needed to hire Scott Chacon as an employee but could not afford him.	Hired him as a contractual resource to develop GitHub’s backend	65 million developers use it now.

Hire developers on contract in India: Best Practices

India provides a wide range of resources available to do contractual work, as it has been in the support industry for a long time. Indian software development industry has been growing, becoming stronger and a force to be reckoned with.

You can hire freelancers or contact a vendor who provides such resources, depending on your requirements.

Here are a few pointers that must be kept in mind when availing of the contractual services:

• The vendor/freelancer’s expertise (in the technology you need) and experience (in providing the requested services) are important factors to be researched and verified beforehand.
• Since you are opting for contract staff for the flexibility they come with, make sure that you know the minimum and maximum time duration needed by your contractual service provider to make changes as per your needs in terms of team size, resources, technological expertise needed, and more.
• Tools that are used in your company for business communication and project work (ideation, creation, implementation, monitoring, testing, and more) should be common with the contractual staff. This will prevent any compatibility issues.
• Choose a vendor or freelancer who can work on various technologies related to the work designated to them. So that the resource (hired) will be able to cover all aspects and develop the best possible product and/or service.

These basic attributes will help you make an informed decision. 

Freelancers vs. Vendors 

Let us understand which is better, freelancers or vendors.

Freelancers	Vendors
They work directly on your project.	They assign resources to your project, acting as a middleman.
They devote a few hours/day, or as specified by their client, to work on the project.	The resources provided work full-time on the project allocated to them.
Each freelancer has a different rate and charge, either by milestone or after project completion.	Vendors have preset rates at which they can provide multiple resources and generally bill by milestones.
They can always back out and be unreliable.	Since they have a market reputation to uphold, they try to work things through and complete the work with sincerity.

 

In short, it is recommended to opt for vendors that suit your contractual development needs. This will help you become the brand of your dreams and help the world by providing solutions to their problems via your products and/or services.

We at Wildnet Technologies provide various customization options in terms of on-demand, remote, and contractual developer resources (https://www.wildnettechnologies.com/#). Be it,

• Remote resources (all over India, the USA, the UK, and Singapore),
• Onsite resources (Delhi-NCR and Bangalore),
• Team-based resources, and
• Project-based resources within 48 hours.

Our journey in IT development and related services has been 17 years long and going strong. We have catered to 250+ clients, completed 200+ projects, and amassed positive reviews from all directions and verticals.

A few of our past recognitions,

• GoodFirms (Washington, D.C., USA) commemorated Wildnet’s techies
• Listed among the top 20 in 2020 (India) in mobile app development
• TopDeveloprs.co rated Wildnet as a ‘Top Hybrid App Developer of 2019’

Get in touch with us at info@wildnettechnologies.com and become a brand to be reckoned with!

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