Deciding if you need outside software development resources

You have a list of projects to complete within a given time-frame, but the deadlines are coming up fast and you know your talented team will never make it. Do you blow the entire department budget and shell out $100,000+ on another engineer? Do you tell your current team to suck it up and start working nights and weekends to get everything done on time?

Maybe it’s time to take a faster, more flexible, less costly approach. If you aren’t certain, here are some factors to help you determine if hiring remote engineers is the right solution to your challenges.

Staffing challenges

Hiring in-house talent is tough. In some cases, the process of finding, connecting with, interviewing, and hiring a single qualified developer can take months. You don’t have that kind of time on your hands. Your projects need to be completed yesterday and finding a skilled engineer in your area can be difficult and time consuming.

Similarly, your need for increased staff may flex with the needs of specific customers or even the seasons. You can’t afford to pay a year’s salary for a full-time team member if you only have 3-6 months worth of work for them.

In either of these cases, outsourcing is an inexpensive, flexible option. Find a partner you trust, be up front about your current and potential needs, and strike a deal that suits you both.

Time challenges

The projects that pass through your department vary greatly and so do their timelines. When planning for new projects, be sure you’re making the best use of your team’s time. You may have a highly skilled team, but not every project requires so much talent and training.

For example repetitive or tedious work, like multiple API integrations, is great to outsource. You save money on the project cost and your in-house engineers are available to tackle more complex and challenging projects.

Skills challenges

Sometimes the skills of your engineers don’t match the skills needed for a particular project. If this is a one-off project, hiring a new in-house engineer or paying to train your current team in that single skill doesn’t make financial sense. Rather, find a qualified, remote engineer with the specific skills you need. Likewise, if the project is not core to your business, hiring a less expensive remote engineer is a quick solution for basic projects like internal administrative tools or processes that aren’t fully automated.

These are some of the most common cases when it makes the most sense to hire remote help.

Click here for more information on using outsourcing to increase your software development capabilities.