As discussed in our previous installment, many factors can affect the overall cost of software development. One of which we are particularly familiar with: the development team itself.
How Your Dev Team Affects Overall Cost
While the cost of software development depends largely on the actual software, your development team can also have a huge impact. The right team can lower your costs even when building a complex app. It all depends on the following team factors:
Composition.
Software development team roles can differ depending on the requirements of your project. For small to medium-sized projects, you will need a team of at least 5 specialists: a frontend developer, a backend developer, a project manager, business analyst, and a quality assurance engineer. For larger, more complex projects, more may be needed, and consequently, the higher your costs will be.
Expertise and experience
Software developers can generally be categorized into 3 groups according to their level of expertise: junior, middle and senior devs. Junior developers are those that have around a year to three years of experience, and can perform simple tasks but may need support from more experienced colleagues. While you may spend a lot less upfront for this level of developer, you may have to spend more in the long run should they require more training or assistance. Middle devs are those with around 3-5 years of experience. They know more programming languages and/or frameworks and can work independently. For most mid-sized projects, having two or more middle devs is sufficient.
If you require utmost precision and the most effective variants for developing your project however, it would be best to have at least one senior dev. Senior developers are those with over 5 years of experience, have extensive knowledge of various programming languages, and can advise and explain the advantages and disadvantages of different options. Of course, this level of expertise comes at a much higher cost.
Hiring option
You have several options when it comes to hiring for your dev team, with outsourcing, freelancers, or in-house developers being the most popular. You can learn more about these 3 options here, but we would recommend outsourcing. Outsourcing with CoDev gives you the best value for money. You’ll get long-term, dedicated, international dev talent with the specific skills you need quickly and at one affordable price. You can manage your remote CoDev team directly, and you won’t have to worry about time differences, overseas taxes, and other outsourcing concerns as CoDev offers a comprehensive dev staff outsourcing solution.
Location
Another reason why outsourcing with CoDev is the most economical option: your team’s geographic location. Developers located in the US can cost twice as much or more than those located in countries like the Philippines, which has been the base of CoDev’s teams for over 12 years. And with CoDev, that price already covers your team’s office space, insurance, and other benefits.
With most people now working from home at least part of the time, it wouldn’t make much of a difference to have your dev team be located remotely. And when you partner with CoDev, you gain all the benefits of having a remote team including reduced costs, without the hassle of having to find remote developers yourself.
Keeping your costs to a minimum while maintaining high standards for your people and product is key to sustaining a successful software development project. Here at CoDev, we understand this and make sure to deliver the high quality remote talent our customers need, within their budget.
To learn more about our pricing and how you can achieve your project goals with CoDev, get in touch with us today.
