Finding skilled, experienced software developers

A recent article on thisismoney.co.uk had the headline, "Recruitment is a challenge for over 40% of business owners as skills gap hits home". It continues, "More than two-fifths of small and medium business owners have experienced challenges in recruiting the right staff, according to a survey of 1,000 small and medium-sized enterprises by Aldermore bank." with London and the South East of England having the biggest challenges.

Difficulty finding talent

Finding those exceptionally skilled software engineers has always been an ongoing challenge. Just take a look at almost any agency or tech company in and around the capital and you would notice what seems to be an endless round of vacancies for developers, testers, analysts etc. This shortage has been escalated by Brexit and COVID, with the surge in job vacancies and a significant decrease in applications per job compared to pre-pandemic. According to Reuters, there were 1 million job vacancies in August of 2021, which was at an all-time high.

With a very limited local talent pool, some companies have been recruiting and sponsoring talented engineers from abroad. In addition; Google, Facebook and makers of Snapchat, Snap Inc. have recently announced the expansion of their UK (London) operations with the creation of 3,500 new jobs. We would have to assume a fair few of those would be tech jobs, further increasing competition in an already crowded space. 

This could all be a major boon for contractors, freelancers and off-shoring, all of which have their positives and negatives. 

Outsourcing certainly does present the greater rewards through bigger returns on investment, more stability and the greater potential to scale up based on needs in the longer term. It also has the biggest challenge, especially if you are a start-up or SME who may not be in a position to work with the larger (and potentially safer) managed services providers of this world.

What to look out for when outsourcing a software development provider
Quality

How much control do you have over the skills and experience of the developers? Are you involved in the recruitment process? Will you retain the same resource and skill level throughout the contract? What allowances are made for training and continuous professional development?

Security

With GDPR in place, fines up to €20 million or 4% of a company's global annual turnover, if you are not compliant, data security needs to be a priority. You must be particularly vigilant of processes in place to support quality and always look to companies who have accreditation such as ISO 27001 to credit claims about data security.

Communication

How easy is it to communicate directly with your developer? Software development is usually an iterative process with changes and refinements made throughout the project delivery process. The ability to communicate directly with your development team is vitally important. What processes are in place for feedback and meetings? Are you able to (remotely) join stand-ups?

Timezone

Dependent on your requirements, you will definitely need to have as much of your working day crossed over with your chosen supplier. There are obvious advantages to working with companies in a different timezone. For example, batch tests can be done on a daily bases and reports will be ready and waiting when your local team arrives. On the other hand, support technicians can come online when your local team clock off. 

Legal recourse

If things go catastrophically wrong, what are your options? We recommend where possible, choosing a supplier with an established local presence.

Talk to us

Ardent are an ISO 27001 accredited data and software solutions company, headquartered and established in the UK since 2008. We have the flexibility to deliver a full service or complement and support your internal resources with a full-time extended team. We serve a range of clients from well-funded start-ups to large enterprises.

If you are looking to resolve your data engineering or software development challenges, please get in touch.