Hiring a Dedicated Development Team: Getting Started

Sometimes a freelancer just isn’t going to cut it, or you need multiple freelancers for a larger project.

In cases like these, consider hiring a dedicated development team for your project.

Here’s the who, what, when, where, how, and why of hiring a dedicated development team.

What Is a Dedicated Development Team?

A dedicated development team is an entire group of multiple developers that a company will outsource for a long-term project.

Outsourcing work to a dedicated development team is the path that a large portion of businesses take because it’s very similar to working with an in-house team except the developers are under contract. Outsourcing the work also means that you don’t have to do the onboarding paperwork necessary with regular employees.

When Should I Hire a Dedicated Development Team?

Overall, it’s a good idea to hire a dedicated development team when you’re working on a long-term project that could grow or be expanded upon in the future.

You can hire a dedicated development team at any point in the growth of your company.

Here are some specific stages of growth where a dedicated development team would be most advantageous.

Start-Ups

With a start-up, there are many moving parts and often a learning curve if you don’t have a huge team already put together that knows the ins and outs of every aspect of development.

Outsourcing a dedicated development team can help start-ups grow fast and quickly build out their team while saving money in the process.

Open-Ended Projects

Products that are in the discovery phase of launching need to conduct more research and testing before they figure out the right choices to make.

A dedicated development team has the experience and knowledge to be able to effectively guide your team through the discovery phase to help you nail down what space you need to fill in the market.

Long-Term Projects

If you’re in this for the long haul, you need all the help you can get along the way.

Hiring a dedicated development team is a great way to expand your team and help your company reach its full potential.

When Should I Not Hire a Dedicated Development Team?

Though we do love hiring a dedicated development team, we also recognize that it’s not always the best option for certain projects.

Here are a few instances where it may make more sense to hire a freelancer:

Short Projects

If you have a short project with clearly defined parameters and needs, you probably don’t need to hire an entire dedicated development team.

Limited Budget

Though outsourcing to a dedicated development team is a money-saver for larger projects, it’s not a great option if you have a tight budget because the cost can quickly add up due to the size of the team.

If you still need to build a team on a limited budget, consider nearshoring talent, from places like Mexico.

Who Makes Up a Development Team?

There are multiple positions that can be included on a development team, and dedicated ones can have any combination of these listed here.

Project Manager

The project manager is the maestro of the project. They coordinate the whole team and make sure that the project gets done on time and are typically in charge of communicating with the client.

Business Analyst

A business analyst will conduct business research for the project and create requirements for future solutions. Their job is to ensure a high-quality product that complies with the goals and tech specifications of the company.

UI/UX Designers

An important part of a development team is a UI/UX designer.

This developer is in charge of researching and evaluating data on the target market, then creating a functional and attractive interface and overall experience for the user.

Software Developers

Software developers are specialists in front-end and back-end development of the application or site. This includes things like server-side development, layout, performance optimization, and programming.

This category is a bit more diverse and includes several different sub-categories of software developers.

A full-stack developer is a title that refers to a software developer that is skilled in every step of the software development process, including knowledge of back-end frameworks and libraries as well as front-end coding.

QA Analysts

QA, short for quality assurance, analysts are in charge of checking for usability and quality of an application, identifying and debugging issues, and ensuring that the user experience is the best it can be.

DevOps

DevOps are a type of software engineer that works with the rest of the team and QA analysts to build, deploy, test, and maintain code and infrastructure necessary for the software.

Benefits of Hiring a Dedicated Development Team

Let’s dig a little deeper into the benefits of hiring a dedicated development team.

Easy to Manage

One of the benefits of hiring a dedicated development team instead of hiring more people to work in-house on a project is that, since you are outsourcing, you don’t need to manage every part of the team. A project manager can be your one point of contact that then leads their team to create deliverables for your company’s software project.

Cost Effective

When you hire a dedicated development team, you pay a set price (either per project or hourly.) Each team member gets a certain salary or hourly rate, which the project manager delegates. You have no additional charges you need to pay.

Collaboration

This model allows for great, consistent collaboration between the developers and analysts on the dedicated team under the project manager. The project manager acts as the go-between, offering feedback to the developers on the team and updating the business on progress, which allows for a transparent creation process.

Faster Development

Many hands make easy work. When you delegate a large part of the project to a dedicated team, your team can focus on working on other moving parts at the same time, allowing projects to be completed faster.

Fast Scaling

With a dedicated development team, clients can increase the number of members they want on the team as the project grows, allowing for faster scaling.

Flexibility

Since the client has full say over how many team members they want to work on their dedicated development team, they’re able to increase or decrease the number of team members depending on their needs.

Types of Engagement Models

There are a few subsets within the dedicated development team space and a few alternative engagement models that software businesses can work with.

Dedicated Team Model

A dedicated team model operates as an entirely separate team from your own, where you hand over a project to a project manager who manages the team and comes back with a finished product or prototype.

This model is preferred for long, large projects that the client wants more control over.

Dedicated vs. Fixed Price Model

The fixed-price model relies on a fixed rate that the customer pays the team.

This type of payment model is great for customers since there’s low risk and no supervision, but it’s not preferred by developers since all of the risks are on them.

The fixed price model is best suited for smaller, shorter projects.

Dedicated vs. Time and Material Model

The time and materials model is one in which the customer pays the team on a per-hour basis for the time spent on their work.

This is the most popular model since it allows for partial payment in increments and greater flexibility.

The time and materials model is a good option for medium-to-large sized projects.

Extended Team Model

An extended team model entails a company hiring a handful of freelancers or experts to fill gaps in your current in-house team, often on a contract basis.

A dedicated team is used for long-term projects, whereas an extended team is using freelancers to act as in-house members for a period of time.

Outsourcing Team Model

An outsourced team is like a shortened version of hiring a dedicated development team.

Outsourced teams are used to complete one specific task, whereas a dedicated development team works side-by-side with your in-house team for the duration of the project.

Dedicated Development Team Costs

Depending on the size and duration of your project and how many team members you want to be a part of your dedicated development team, costs can vary widely.

The biggest cost-saver in hiring a dedicated development team often comes from hiring an off-shore team. In the U.S., web front-end developers charge $60 to $85 per hour, back-end developers cost $85 to $160 per hour, desktop developers charge $40 to $110 per hour, and mobile developers can cost $50 to $160 per hour.

In countries in Asia, South America, and Europe, these costs go down as low as $18 per hour for these positions, leading to cost cuts on all fronts.

How to Build a Dedicated Development Team

Alright, let’s get started! Here’s how you can build your own dedicated development team.

Define Requirements

Let the development team service provider know what you need your team to look like experience-wise, how long the project will take (or at least an estimate), how much you’re willing to spend, and just the general scope of what you’re looking for in a dedicated development team.

Interview

Once you have your goals and needs in mind, interview the prospective members of your new team. This will give you a feel for whether or not the developer is a good fit for your project.

Hiring

Once all of the terms have been decided upon, get to work hiring your QA analyst, Project Manager, UX/UI designer, and anyone else you have decided to add to your team.

Managing

The majority of the day-to-day management of the development team is handled by the project manager who reports back to the business owner, but check-ins are also part of the deal.

NDA and Contract

Drawing up a relevant contract that states the terms and conditions of your relationship and an NDA needs to be taken care of before you hire your team.

Tips for Hiring

Those interviews and that search process will mean very little if you don’t know what to look for.

Here’s how to make the most of your hiring process:

Understand Development Process

You need to know what to look for. This doesn’t mean you have to be skilled enough to do the whole job yourself, but know the major steps required to develop your project so that you know which positions are a necessity for your team.

Learn From Experts

If you don’t quite know how to figure out whether a prospective team member has what it takes, use a qualified agency that vets their developers and gets to know you to match you with a qualified team that they create.

Make Use of Agile

If you decide to hire a dedicated development team, make use of agile methodologies to keep both teams on the same page and touch base with regularly scheduled meetings.

Best Place to Find Your Next Dedicated Development Team

If you want to find a highly-skilled, well-vetted dedicated development team without conducting a search on your own, Upstack is the best way to go.

They hire the top 1% of all developers in the world and use AI along with a rigorous screening process to match clients with the best developers, providing you with a shortlist of qualified developers that fit your requirements to choose from.

When you do get your dedicated development team put together, you get to try them out for free for 14 days before committing.

• Read our UpStack Review.

Frequently Asked Questions

What are the benefits of a dedicated development team?

A dedicated development team can save businesses money, they’re flexible, and they help businesses launch their product or scale faster, all while allowing for collaboration.

What are the cons of a dedicated development team?

A dedicated development team can be pricey if you’re on a tight budget and unnecessary for short-term projects.

Why do I need a dedicated development team?

You need a dedicated development team if you have a long-term, highly-involved project and want a group of experts that you can outsource work to while saving money and growing faster.

What is the best way to hire a dedicated development team?

The best way to hire a dedicated development team is to go through a freelancing agency, like Upstack, that can help you build the team yourself.