Scaling the Tech Team

[TillerMilat]

We’ve reached a point where our in-house developers are overwhelmed, and bringing in extra hands has become urgent. We’ve considered outsourcing, but we’re worried about time zone gaps, communication issues, and developers who aren’t truly invested in our product. Is there a way to bring on skilled developers quickly, who can actually integrate into our workflow like full-time team members?

 

[Mark T Jones]

There will undoubtedly be agencies who specialise in this kind of thing - and will probably be a new one along shortly

 

[Sean Lee-Amies]

Absolutely, there is a way to bring on skilled devs quickly, who will actually integrate rather than sit on the outside waiting for instructions that they'll sort of get right but not really.

What you likely need is a fractional tech team - one of our clients happens to be one such team.

The team assigned to you works with only a small number of other clients in comparison to traditional external tech solution providers, so individuals within the fractional team can focus fully on the clients, embracing their culture, their world, their product and overall business priorities.

They provide strategic leadership, if it's needed, to help modernise internal processes and systems to industry best practices, or if you've already got that sorted you can just plug their team into yours and they'll hit the ground running.

You can scale the team size up/down as you see fit - the whole business model is pretty much designed for people in your situation.

Would you like me to make an introduction?

 

[Mark T Jones]

Told you so

 

[martin_shl]

Depends what type of developer you are after but one challenge in the UK with "who can actually integrate into our workflow like full-time team members" is that suggests inside IR35 so you rule out small businesses, who might otherwise have capacity but not be willing to work on that basis.

 

[Sean Lee-Amies]

Depends what type of developer you are after but one challenge in the UK with "who can actually integrate into our workflow like full-time team members" is that suggests inside IR35 so you rule out small businesses, who might otherwise have capacity but not be willing to work on that basis.

My interpretation (rightly or wrongly) is that they are looking for a team, not a single developer. Access to a pool of talent, rather than having to keep finding, vetting, onboarding, taking full employer responsibility etc for new employees when they just need someone to help them 'get the job done - properly'.

They don't want to outsource to some guy, or a small team (who probably not so long ago used to freelance/consult) who are likely to - at some point - take on so many clients that they overwhelm themselves and can't fulfil existing promises made.

I love the fractional model, so will shout about it all day long, haha. It literally solves so many problems like those I've just mentioned - my business is also fractional (in marketing and sales) - but if you're not precious about "growing your own darling team" and there's no reason why remote working isn't possible, fractional is often the way to go for small businesses IMO.

 

[gpietersz]

Developers with what skills, working on what? How many and on what terms?

 

[antropy]

We’ve reached a point where our in-house developers are overwhelmed, and bringing in extra hands has become urgent. We’ve considered outsourcing, but we’re worried about time zone gaps, communication issues, and developers who aren’t truly invested in our product. Is there a way to bring on skilled developers quickly, who can actually integrate into our workflow like full-time team members?

So you have a team of in-house developers already but you're asking a question like this?

Sounds to me like a you're simply setting up a reply from a company that offers outsourced development.

Paul.

 

[gpietersz]

So you have a team of in-house developers already but you're asking a question like this?

Sounds to me like a you're simply setting up a reply from a company that offers outsourced development.

Paul.

How very cynical of you!

Just because someone's first post is a ridiculously generic question you do not think they are completely sincere?

To be fair though, the person who did reply with an offer does not have a comment history that suggests only being here to do that.

 

[Sean Lee-Amies]

Post seems genuine enough. Can't new people post without all the established members jumping on and dissecting every character of the original post and possible motivation or ulterior motive? It must be pretty intimidating for new guys and I see it happen a lot on this forum. It also completely derails the original purpose of this thread - which is to get some help on the issues he mentioned.

 

[Newchodge]

We’ve reached a point where our in-house developers are overwhelmed, and bringing in extra hands has become urgent. We’ve considered outsourcing, but we’re worried about time zone gaps, communication issues, and developers who aren’t truly invested in our product. Is there a way to bring on skilled developers quickly, who can actually integrate into our workflow like full-time team members?

Would they have to work in Odessa?

 

[gpietersz]

Post seems genuine enough. Can't new people post without all the established members jumping on and dissecting every character of the original post and possible motivation or ulterior motive? It must be pretty intimidating for new guys and I see it happen a lot on this forum. It also completely derails the original purpose of this thread - which is to get some help on the issues he mentioned.

It also does not provide sufficient information to get real help and most posts like this turn out to be setups.

if the post was something like "I am looking for 2 permanent full time equivalent PHP developers" or "I need 3 C++ developers who know QT for approx six months" that would be something people could help with.

 

[antropy]

which is to get some help on the issues he mentioned.

Which is ... hiring outsourced developers but not outsourced developers?

Paul.

 

[Lkucher]

Outstaffing agencies with dedicated teams in their pocket would help. But you have to prepare a full description of your product - stage, tech stack, problems (of your in-house team as well), terms, budget, scope of work. And do not forget such guys will need onboarding and trial period as well to know your product and working environment.

 

[fisicx]

As @TillerMilat hasn't been back since they asked the question I think we can assume they don’t really care about our opinions.