“Decisions are the hardest to make especially when it is a choice between where you should be and where you want to be”
Thinking of hiring a web development firm as your partner? Great! It’s worth considering as many startups or experienced organizations are facing obstacles and challenges where a CTO, CIO or VIP of Engineering can overcome these changes without any long-term consequences while some need to have to be considered thoroughly together with lasting effects. And you see web development companies are mushrooming everywhere and claiming big not only for the non-technical heads but also those with advanced skills for there is a requirement for more manpower and different set of skills.
Now finding a good web development company is a difficult task. You find yourself surrounded by demand outstrips supply, resumes, and websites filled with technical jargons and it gets really tough to gain the attention of those who are the best in the field. Besides, sighing a contract with a wrong web development firm can cost you both time and money. So make sure to hire someone with excellent, flexible and dependable services that successfully become your technical partner as a CTO, CIO or VP of Engineering.
Things to Consider Before You Knock the Door of Any Web Development Company
Step #1 Know your Requirements but from a Tech Point of View
Differentiating a website from a web application is a tough job. In fact, many of you could hardly even recognize a dynamic website or web portal from a static one. In order to know the difference, it is very important for you to find out some informative blogs like this that can provide great help in improving your tech knowledge.
• What degree of customization is essential for your project?
• Which stages are required in the web development project?
• Know your competitors and what they did?
• What is your budget?
Apart from this you can even search a few firms and take an in-depth interview with their developers for a fixed project.
Step #2 Cross Check References
In general, people seek around for a development company by simply checking their portfolios or interviewing one or two of their professionals. Unfortunately, a website cannot answer these questions like:
• Which developers and designers have participated in the project and the same team is available for your project?
• Whether project delivered on-time or not?
• Whether project accomplished within budget or not?
• What is the attitude of the team & company with clients regarding project management, conversations, and reporting?
• How the team or company behaves once the project finished or payment had done, and bugs or maintenance issues arising, i.e. post development behavior?
• How long the web development companies have retained their talents for long and kept reputations in the market intact?
To obtain accurate answers, it is but obvious for you to get in touch with the professional or end clients, of course, depending upon their willingness and interest.
Step #3 Take Interviews of Your Developers
The moment you think of hiring a professional, make sure you are well aware regarding their educational qualification and lists of projects that are already done. In addition to this, try knowing about their creativity and gauge their practical expertise to deal with complexities of your project. For this, you can think of having a video conference or individual visual chats. Having direct conversations with the team may assure you regarding their conversational abilities and provide you opportunities to know their skills with some practical tests if you are able to carry.
Step #4 Privacy and Security Policies
I am sure you will agree with me when I say that each and every business has some confidential type of data and concerns for personal info securities. The threats to reveal business secrets looming when those open to unknown third parties like offshore/onshore web development companies passing through the business analytic process in the course to gather business and personal data.
Hence it is always advisable to sign an NDA (Non-Discloser Agreement) signing like the legal and moral process is prevailing in software development industry and almost all web development agencies. This ensures your data confidentiality and privacy as the best policy.
Step #5 Expertise & Experiences
Much like a company, a web developer never acquires any kind of expertise in all niches because it’s about learning a plethora of technologies. Thus, it is imperative that you inquire regarding skill sets available in your selected web development companies and match it with your project requirements.
I hope the post provides some help!
