Start-up : Don’t hire the cheapest freelancers when outsourcing your software development projects
‘ Very’ limited resources can lead a start-up to look well beyond local skills.Indeed. This very tempting if we take into account its economic benefits. In fact, We can save lot ( up to 70% of the initial budget) in choosing to work with freelancers ( individual or agency). But it has downsides that I strongly urge you consider to eschew disappointments and resources waste. One of them is more about you than the freelancer that you want to work with : Place value on skills.
It is important. Having less money can lead us to choose the cheapest freelancers regardless of his skills. This a huge mistake that can lead to poor product in the end. Ironically, we wind up losing money in doing so whereas our choice was to be frugal. In fact, we can debate that a good product is not the only factor in enticing customers but we sure do know that a bad one won’t drive growth.
Freelancers can also shape your view of your own idea. Software development is somewhat difficult technical tasks that requires a lot of skills. It is not a secret that issues arise frequently. But what detemines a good programmer from the bad one is that how well he deals with it ? Does it take him weeks to figure out basic problems ? You can even reach a point where he is totally lost and tells you adamantly that: “This is not feasible”. So at the end you may left with a daunting feeling that you ‘re idea cannot be materialized and worthless. That makes it essential to choose the right freelancer. How to do it ?
Choose the cheapest but among the best
The first thing that you should do is to look to their reviews. Make sure to get it from independent sources that you can easily find on Google and not from their porftolio website ? Trust me it is worth it. A little research can avoid you a lot of pain.
Feed him or her a small part
Most of the time it is difficult to assess someone we have never talked to. Best way to get a clear sense of where your freelance’s skills are is to ask him to complete a small component of your project accompanied with deadline. It can be paid and I urge you to do that in fairness but many developers out there will do it for free if they do really think that they got what you want. So the point is : don’t be committal in choosing your freelancer in the beginning.
