
How to Hire a Dedicated Development Team: Avoiding the Most Common Mistakes

There are many ways to get a software solution for your organization: order services on a turnkey basis, buy a boxed solution, assemble it on a constructor, or hire a dedicated team. This new model, a dedicated development team, has appeared relatively recently.
Hiring a dedicated team is ideal for business people who want to control the process personally but are not interested in employing staff. Next, we will discuss the model’s features in detail and show several mistakes often made when hiring.
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The term implies collaboration with a third-party dedicated development team outside the client’s office, mandatory on a long-term basis.
The team forms following the area of tasks the client seeks to solve.
Types of the dedicated development team by work area:
You can involve one or more performers from a particular field to work in a dedicated development team. You want different skills to create a full-fledged project from scratch and hire a dedicated team with all specialists.
The dedicated development team structure includes the following roles:
The secret to the success of a dedicated development team is that each specialist has powerful hard and soft skills. At the same time, the first ones can vary and depend on the area of tasks.
Advanced soft skills are essential for building trusting relationships with the customer.
Dedicated development team soft skills:
Hire a dedicated development team for long-term projects to get the most from them. Onboarding an entire team to perform a one-time task is impractical and unprofitable.
Another thing is if you have a long-term, expensive project, the work you want to manage personally. Here the question may arise: why not use your resources and not get permanent staff for the project? It’s time to compare in-house and a dedicated team.
You can answer the above question by calculating how long it will take to hire a dedicated development team: search, paperwork, adaptation, etc. Add financial costs: maintaining a large staff, renting additional premises, buying equipment, paying software licenses, etc.
But what if your company already has the right specialists? It is a rare case: the company often needs more skills to perform the entire range of tasks. But even if the staff is complete, employees are likely already busy with other tasks that are no less important for the business.
Let’s highlight the strengths and weaknesses of both models.
A diverse range of skills and expertise, cost-effectiveness, flexibility to scale up or down as needed, and reduced burden on the company’s internal resources are all benefits of the dedicated development team. Weaknesses of this approach include potential communication challenges, difficulty maintaining consistent quality and productivity, and limited understanding of the company’s needs and goals.
Strengths | Weaknesses |
Relevant talents: Skills are explicitly selected for the project and are 100% consistent with the client’s requirements. |
Long-term focus. The team prefers large orders to small projects with small budgets and deadlines. |
Responsibility: Administrative, personnel, social, and tax issues on the contractor’s side. |
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High flexibility: Work on the client’s terms and quick adaptation to new tasks. |
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Access to powerful resources: The latest technology and licensed software are of the highest standard. |
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Legal reliability: A complete set of documents and legal security of both parties. |
The strengths of an in-house software development team lie in their deep business knowledge, alignment with other departments, and ability to customize solutions to fit the company’s peculiarities. Yet, their weaknesses include limited access to diverse skill sets, risk of burnout, and higher costs.
Strengths | Weaknesses |
Established connections: Personal acquaintance with the technical team and direct communication. |
Building a team from scratch: A lengthy hiring process – from finding skills to training and adaptation. |
Simple management: Distribution of tasks, control, and discussion of problems live. |
The need for a stable workload: A fixed salary, regardless of task availability. |
Team as part of the company: Employees have a deep understanding of the company’s goals. |
Regular expenses: Monthly salary, taxes, holidays, medical insurance, equipment, and rent. |
Legal grounds: Employment in the state on the terms of an employment contract. |
Lack of alternatives: It’s hard to quickly replace an employee who has gone on vacation or quit. |
As you can see, the dedicated development team wins regarding flexibility, financial benefits, and matching skills to actual needs. But don’t write off in-house. It is the best option for small projects for which a profound understanding of the company’s goals and tasks is essential.
Do you want to hire a dedicated development team? We will tell you how to avoid the common mistakes that may occur.
Sounds trivial? But this is one of the most common mistakes. Many companies seek performers while needing more precise requirements and scope of tasks. The company hires 2-3 specialists when more are needed. Or conversely, it assembles a larger team than the project requires.
How to avoid: Formulate a goal and outline the range of tasks to delegate. Decide on a budget so you understand your options.
Sometimes a company chooses the performer who offers the lowest price. The consequences are disappointing. Later on, the mistakes of unsuccessful cooperation need correction by more expensive professionals.
How to avoid: A low price is a warning sign. The contractor wants to draw attention to their services, but their options are limited. They likely need a decent portfolio and feedback from satisfied customers. Choose examples of work, reviews, and recommendations on resources that you can trust.
It leads to hiring inexperienced professionals who have embellished their CVs.
How to prevent: Plan the interview and testing so that you learn everything about the candidate. Bring in an independent IT expert or in-house employee who is good in the industry.
Sometimes the interviewer is so keen on testing hard skills that they forget about soft skills. And it’s too bad because they help you work in a team, bear responsibility, and solve problems.
How to avoid: During the interview, set aside time to ask questions about teamwork skills, workflow organization, and approach to problem-solving.
The desire to achieve a goal as quickly as possible can be too costly. Some companies misjudge the volume and complexity of tasks and plan a short- or medium-term project. But then the timeline expands, and the goal gets further away. The project requires more time.
How to avoid: Consult with a product development expert about the scope of tasks and deadlines before hiring.
Hire a dedicated team model that works for both startups and established organizations. The dedicated development team willingly takes on projects planned to expand. Also, you cannot do without it if the product needs research and does not have precise requirements.
Here’s our list of the situations that call for a dedicated development team’s involvement:
Hiring a dedicated team is an excellent opportunity for startups and small customers to create a working MVP and develop a finished creation. The medium-sized business chooses this collaboration model to change the product and expand its functionality. Large enterprises hire dedicated developers to update the tech stack, switch to a new one, and create a product from scratch with subsequent scaling and digital transformation.
Hiring a dedicated team is an excellent opportunity for startups and small customers to create a working MVP and develop a finished creation. The medium-sized business chooses this collaboration model to change the product and expand its functionality. Large enterprises attract dedicated development teams to update the tech stack, switch to a new one, and create a product from scratch with subsequent scaling and digital transformation.
However, this approach is not universal. We recommend abandoning this model if you need help with a short or medium-term project. In the first case, a fixed price model is more suitable; in the second, T&M. If your time and budget are limited, but the scope of work and requirements are clear, you can also choose freelancers.
Another significant benefit for the business owner is that you can choose the type of cooperation.
It depends on your product’s phase – whether it’s been built as an MVP or completely and requires support and growth, or you’ve just got an idea of what you’d like to develop. In the first case Maintenance type of cooperation fits; in the second case, Full-service is a better option.
Also, if you already have a team of developers but miss specific knowledge (technical or domain expertise), an On-Demand type of cooperation works for scaling your team with particularly selected specialists.
Anna VoznaClient Success Manager, Glorium Technologies
In the digital age, you have a thousand opportunities to find the people your business needs. But are they all reliable and lead to success? We have identified two popular methods.
Where to look for a dedicated development team:
Freelancers are, in fact, independent professionals who work on the principle of “I am my own boss.” You can find them on freelance sites like Upwork, message boards, and IT conferences.
Offshore companies also work remotely but focus on legally legitimate relationships. Search for them on Clutch, GoodFirms, and TopDevelopers platforms–they represent experienced companies and dedicated development teams.
Further, we will discuss hiring teams from offshore companies since this method has many nuances.
When considering hiring a dedicated development team, the cost is one of the most important factors. While outsourcing software development can be more cost-effective than hiring an in-house team, there are still a variety of costs associated with hiring a dedicated development team.
The cost of a dedicated development team can vary depending on several factors, including the team’s location, the level of experience and expertise required, and the size and complexity of the project. Outsourcing offshore teams in India, China, or Ukraine can be more cost-effective than hiring developers in North America or Western Europe.
The cost of hiring dedicated developers can also vary depending on the engagement model used. For example, hourly rates may be more expensive than a fixed-price contract but may provide more flexibility and control over the project. Similarly, hiring an outsourcing company may be more expensive than hiring individual freelancers, but it can provide additional benefits such as project management and quality assurance.
Another cost to consider when hiring a dedicated development team is the cost of communication and coordination. Additional costs may be associated with travel, communication tools, and language barriers when working with an offshore team. It is essential to factor in these costs when budgeting for the project.
However, despite these costs, hiring a dedicated development team can still benefit many businesses. By outsourcing development, businesses can avoid the costs of hiring an in-house team, such as salaries, benefits, and office space.
When hiring a dedicated development team, adopting a mindset of collaboration and partnership is essential. Rather than simply outsourcing a task, the company should view the outsourced team as an extension of its team, working towards a common goal. This mindset involves open communication, active listening, and a willingness to incorporate feedback and suggestions. With this in mind, go through the six steps below to choose your perfect development partner.
You must know who you are looking for and for what tasks. Is it MVP? Then consider the design. Improve functionality? How about a 24/7 product service? The specifics of the functions will determine how many performers you’ll need for the project and what hard skills they should have. Also, it is advisable to decide on the budget to understand your brackets at this stage.
Earlier, you decided on the skills, which means it will take a little time to choose the form of collaboration. Everything is simple here. Select a full-service cooperation model and a dedicated development team if you are interested in development from scratch. In case you need to solve several tasks in one area, the on-demand model would be a great fit. Does your finished product need support? Choose the maintenance format.
Take your time on this step. Do thorough market research, starting with the previously mentioned aggregators. These platforms are good because they completely understand the company’s activities: scale, location with the head office, branch locations, and so on. In addition to information about the business, you should study customer reviews and look at previous projects. Trustworthy companies have a portfolio describing the work and results. List potential performers and choose the one that best suits your requirements.
An interview is an excellent opportunity to communicate in person and evaluate the skills of the dedicated development team. For the interview to be successful, choose a reliable and convenient communication channel for both parties. You can interview several dedicated development teams from different companies, gradually reducing the list of candidates. Typically, a remote interview takes place in two stages in different channels:
The paperwork confirms the choice of a particular company. Ensure the contract contains all the necessary data: a complete list of services and tasks, terms, cost, payment procedure, and delivery procedure. We recommend inviting a lawyer familiar with the specifics of IT to sign the contract. Compile the NDA–this document will guarantee the protection of your product idea.
You should take control from day one. Set up KPIs to track progress in each task area easily. We recommend choosing proven tools like Trello, Kantree, and Jira to monitor tasks.
And the final step would be to decide on a management methodology:
Hiring a dedicated software development team can be a daunting task. But you will be pleasantly surprised if you do everything right and avoid the pitfalls. Professionals will do everything to achieve your goal quickly and to the highest standard.
A dedicated software development team is a group of specialists (one or more profiles) who are introduced to the IT project of the client company outside of the vendor’s office and work under the client’s control.
Start by setting a goal and choosing the collaboration format (full service, on-demand, or maintenance). Research the market and make a list of candidates and then interview everyone. Choose the team that best fits your needs. Prepare the work environment: KPI system, task tracking tools, management methodology.
After the hiring contract is signed, a dedicated team is completely under your management. The specialists are fully integrated into your project and perform their duties to the fullest extent.
CI/CD tools and reporting systems are used to remotely monitor the work process and make adjustments. Thanks to them, you can monitor the project’s progress in real-time without physical presence when you hire a dedicated team.
The cost of hiring a dedicated development team varies depending on a number of factors:
The total cost of hiring a dedicated team can range from $5,000 per project to $100,000. The pricing policy differs from one service provider to another. Glorium Tech is no exception in this regard. If you want to know more about the cost of the service for your project, contact the company’s manager.
Depends on the scale and complexity of the project. With a relatively small list of tasks, you can hire specialists on freelance portals, coordinate them, and form a team. This is a relatively cheap option for hiring developers, but pretty problematic.
If you need complex development with testing and support, it is better to apply for help from specialized companies and hire a dedicated team. For example, Glorium Tech. The experts are fully independent in organizing the work process, have a full set of required skills, and are very adaptive.
For a long-term project, you need a full set of specialists for a long period of time (from 6 months). Only specialized teams with a staff of 100+ experts have such a resource. So if you want to hire development industry professionals, please get in touch with our manager.
To answer this question, let’s look at 5 key markets for IT services, namely:
The U.S. and Western Europe have almost complete parity in price/quality ratio. As a rule, hiring a Middle level specialist will cost +/- $50/hour. Their level of skills and experience is higher than that of their competitors.
Experts in Asia and India offer services at minimal rates. The median cost of hiring Middle is about $15-$20/hour. The level of skills and quality of services are far from ideal, but for a simple project, they are enough.
Eastern Europe, namely Ukraine, Poland, Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia offer an ideal price/quality balance. For example, experts at Middle level in Ukraine cost $25-$35 per hour. At the same time, the quality of their work is not much inferior to their colleagues from the West.
It’s cheaper and more efficient than keeping your own large staff for a number of reasons:
As for controlling remote work, thanks to modern tools and systems, this is not a problem in 2023.
By involving third-party developers in the project, you can use your own resources to address other priorities. Thus achieving significant savings in the time it takes to create and deploy a digital product, publish it, and maintain it.
Hiring outside specialists is beneficial for a number of reasons:
You can choose a team exclusively from those who fit your skill levels and technologies. In this way, you optimize your costs in return for the excellent quality of the assigned tasks.
With Glorium Tech experts, the situation is even better: the company’s representatives are self-organized, responsible, and experienced. This will save you time and nerves when delegating a development project.
Freelance platforms such as Upwork, Freelancer, and Fiverr provide a large pool of freelance developers, yet it takes a lot of resources to pick them and manage the project. Another option is to approach dedicated development companies that provide clients with dedicated development teams. Social media platforms such as LinkedIn and GitHub can also be used to find developers.
The rates for hiring dedicated developers vary depending on their location, experience, and skill level. Research industry standards and compare quotes from different outsourcing companies. In the Western world, developers from Ukraine, Romania, and Baltic countries are considered the best value for money.
Jira is a project management tool that allows teams to track tasks, manage workflows, and collaborate on projects. Jira can be handy for agile software development methodologies. Other tools such as Trello, Asana, and Basecamp can also be used for project management and communication.
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