There are massive sources on internet through which anyone can easily find and directly contact freelance software developers. Let’s have a look, if this can be a better choice than having an outsourcing company in between.

There are two major aspects to consider while making this decision:
1) Technical aspects, such as specifications of the job on hand and required skills
2) Managerial and administrative issues

In this post, we will be having a look at how technical aspects should be evaluated while making a choice between working with an outsourcing company or with a freelancer.

Looking at the size and complexity of job on hand, if you have a task, which:

• is simple and straight forward,
• is short-term,
• is to be conducted once,
• can be completed by one resource,
• does not require to be updated or maintained in the future,
• you can decide if performed and delivered correctly,

then hiring a freelancer could be an easier and more cost effective solution.

The simplest example of such a task could be design of a banner or another style element for your internet site. It is simple, shall be completed in short-term, would be done once, one designer would be enough, does not need to be modified and if you like it then it means it is delivered correctly.

Still, even in this simplest task that can be imagined, there is an aftermath – either you should have the skills to put the banner into your website (yes, not rocket science), or if you will have this done by the freelancer, then you have to trust and give access to your site. (more to be discussed in our next blog post).

On the other hand, if the job on hand requires:

• planning and performing of multiple tasks,
• multiple resources with different competencies,
• should be updated or maintained in the future,
• expert software knowledge to judge if performed correctly,
• to be tested for assurance of quality and elimination of bugs,

then having an outsourcing company would definitely be better choice than working with freelancers directly.

Let’s think of a web project that requires professional design, user and admin back-end development, involving monetary transactions and user rights management, mobile application integration for various platforms and so forth. It would be extremely difficult, if not impossible, to arrange, plan and manage such a project with different freelancers. Even in the unlikely cases of successful completion of the project, one would always be vulnerable to risks associated with updating and maintenance of developed software, in case of working directly with freelancers. For such complex cases, working with an outsourcing company is definitely a better choice.

In our next post, we will be discussing the managerial and administrative issues of working with outsourcing company or directly with freelancers.