When it comes to Product Development, hiring services from a freelance developer or an offshore development agency gives the choice of having specialized skill sets. According to the Future Workforce Report 2018, 88% of companies have made progress in adopting a flexible talent strategy. However, the choice between a freelance developer and an offshore development agency should be a matter of insight and diligence. So, we delve deeper into the advantages of each to help you make the right decision.

Advantages of Hiring a Freelance Developer

Price factor:

Hiring a freelance developer inevitably reduces the cost by 20% to 30%. You do not have to pay for office space or supplies. There are no overhead costs such as providing health insurance, paid leave and other benefits. There is also the flexibility of payment options in terms of fixed cost, hourly, or retainer.

Greater flexibility:

As freelancers are available to work at odd hours, the flexibility to get your work done is higher. Most freelancers take up more than one project and thus take care to stick to the turnaround time in a better way. They set their schedules and are often willing to work day and night to complete the job faster.

Negligible legal issues:

Freelancers work as a separate entity bound by an independent contract. Hence the chances of attracting potential legal claims are less against you. But hiring a freelance developer does have its limitations.

Quality issues:

Freelance developers work on different projects at the same time. This may lead to jeopardizing your product quality. Know more on maintaining product quality here.

Confidentiality risks:

Though most freelancers are asked to sign the non-disclosure agreement, you have to consider the risk of confidentiality issues that weigh higher in certain sectors.

Fear of disappearance:

Freelancers seem to work on multiple projects simultaneously and might suddenly be unavailable for a considerable period. It is challenging to control a freelancer completely.

An offshore development agency includes a team of passionate developers offering complete professional services.

Ideal for start-ups and more significant projects:

A professional development agency has a vast team of experts at hand, capable of handling projects of any size, with diverse experience. Additionally, they provide a complete cycle of services to include consulting, idea analysis and evaluation, and at times even advice on monetization strategy. An agency that follows a DevOps culture would be your best bet.

Abreast of the current technological trends:

Being a professional development agency, they are always aware of the latest technological trends and evolving programming languages. They are the right choice to offer up-to-date solutions as and when required.

Less risk and high stability:

Professional agencies are legal business entities thereby offering lesser risk and higher stability. They usually take charge and prepare all the documents related to the contract, so that you can start on the project without any hassle.

Long-term relationships:

Agencies usually prefer to maintain long-term relationships with their clients. They not only look forward to new projects but also take the ownership of maintaining the current products, regularly updating and fixing bugs, and even in some instances are willing to introduce additional functionalities.

As we compare the advantages of a freelance developer to a professional offshore agency, choosing the latter would be a sensible option. An offshore agency that follows a DevOps culture is an added benefit as it brings with it improved collaboration between various teams, faster deployment cycle, and a satisfactory release of the product. The teams are encouraged to build better and more valuable products; the vision is not limited by a contract. Read all about DevOps and Offshoring in our blog here.