With the growing popularity that of the gig economy More CTOs, CEOs as well as hiring executives are pondering what the future of the gig economy will look like. Is it more efficient to replace your employees from within by freelancers? Should you instead try to supplement your team with outside talent?
One thing is for certain. This gig economy growing stronger each year. From 1997 to the present it has seen an average of 2.6 percent per annum increase. The regular payroll was only 0.8 percent annually over the same time frame.
This is more than three times the rate of growth of the regular job! Consider that 47 percent of millennials prefer to work on their own. If this trend continues freelancers will make up most of US economy in 2027.
This trend appears to be inevitable. The most effective way to prepare is place your company in a position to benefit from it.
How Does This Affect Engineering Hiring
The main advantage that engineers have over other professionals in freelance work is that it is able to be performed via remote access. Furthermore, remote oversight of work in coding is possible. So, hiring engineers contributes in the greatest benefits from this gig economy.
We’ll go over the advantages of employing freelancers. We’ll also go over the advantages of employing in-house workers. In the next section, we’ll go deeper analysis of what’s most likely to transpire. We’ll then provide advice for positioning your company to maximize the benefits from these developments.
Let’s get started!
Benefits of replacing employees in-house By Freelancers
The replacement of employees in-house with freelancers offers the following advantages:
Gain access to an international talent pool
More specialization
Faster turnarounds (faster output and recruitment)
Lower costs
The main benefit of hiring freelancers is the ability to find talent all over the world. There is no need to be restricted to the geographical region that is closest to you.
Since a lot of freelancers specialize in one particular area it is also possible to look for what you are looking for. For instance, if you’re trying to integrate the latest technology in your stack, for instance, Vue.js You can locate the top expert in this field. Also, a very special, one-off task that requires Alexa expertise and sophisticated Machine Learning will benefit from freelance experts.
Additionally, freelancers manage their own business. This means that they’ll work more quickly than an employee who receives the same pay each month. Research has shown that freelancers are generally more enthusiastic than regular employees.
Click here to hire freelance software engineers
If you’re looking for an engineer for a short period of time and you’re looking for an independent programmers, then an independent developer is the most suitable option when it comes to hiring. In reality, with freelancers, you don’t need to go through a lengthy hiring procedure.
Also, you don’t need to be concerned about any other benefits that you must provide to your regular employees. Also, severance pay isn’t an issue and it is likely to be a lot less taxes to pay. So, reducing the administrative burden of hiring will make the process easier and faster.
In the end the freelance engineer tends to be more affordable over the long term. You could save up to 50% off the costs of using freelance engineers.
Benefits of Employing In-House Employees
The most important benefits are:
Direct supervision
The loyalty of the company
Maintenance work that is ongoing
Employees in-house are easier to manage directly. If your work involves an advanced software architecture, then hiring an internal engineer can be a great option. In these cases you may want to outsource just the non-core elements.
But, you are also able to monitor freelancers from a distance. There are a variety of sources control options that an employer has access to. They include GitHub, GitLab, and Bitbucket.
Furthermore supervision can be performed by using different tools for managing projects. We’ve already discussed the most effective tools for managing projects you can use!
Another distinction, as the engineer Thomas Jost shared, is that freelancers perform better, while employees tend to be more concerned about the interests of their employers. Since freelancers run their own business and are able to control their own performance, they’re a key to securing work. They’re more inclined to go the extra mile to provide quality work because a guaranteed income isn’t waiting for them at the close of the month.
However employees will feel more connected to the actual performance of your company. This may result in greater commitment to your business.
Finally, “perpetual” projects that require ongoing work benefit from internal employees. Because they are aware of the software’s architecture and how it developed and changed, it is easier to manage.
The Middle Way The Middle Way: Benefits of Remote Teams
Instead of the obvious choice of either replacing or enhancing in-house teams, there’s another option. This involves hiring or creating remote teams. This allows you to reap all the benefits of both choices.
In addition you will also enjoy extra advantages. These benefits include:
24-hour work-cycle
Improved productivity
Costs reduced
A major benefit is the massive productivity boost you can get when you can work all hours of the day. With an organized remote team that is able to work in various hours, working round all hours of the day is feasible.
Research supports the theory employees who work remotely are less productive, and stress-free. This allows you to complete projects more quickly.
Additionally there is also a reduction in expenses. Finding talented freelancers that can be a part of your current team is a great choice in light of current developments.
What’s likely to happen?
One thing is for certain. When the global economy shifts towards freelance work and outsourcing, your competitors will be seeking to profit from this. The savings in cost as well as other advantages of employing freelancers will be crucial aspects.
We’ll be seeing increasing numbers of employers making adjustments and seeking for ways to increase their efficiency. For development, this could lead to fewer engineers in-house and more freelancers as well as remote teams.
Be aware that gig economies are at its infancy. Many people believe that we are in the very beginning of what is essentially an entirely modern Industrial Revolution.
Keep in mind that at each major moment in the history of economics the most successful players on the market are those who accept changes. If you’d like to stay at the topof your game, you must carefully think about what options you have for your coming years.
What can you do to remain competitive?
To increase the efficiency of your team, think about including more freelancers in your group, or setting up an online team. Freelance engineers can be great for development-related work that is specialized and other general tasks that are not maintenance-related.
Furthermore If you happen to be a startup trying to put an MVP available for sale then freelancers are an excellent option. There’s no need to spend venture capital to employ internal programmers if you do not require these people.
As a business with a larger size by collaborating with remote teams and freelancers will drastically cut down your expenses. In other words, you’ll cut down on overhead, time spent interviewingand avoiding the long-term expense of payroll.
If you’re looking to get going, make sure you learn about the process of building and managing teams across the world. In addition, it’s helpful to understand how to collaborate with remote engineers of companies that have done it before. Also, knowing the most common misconceptions regarding hiring remote engineers can help you save a significant amount of time and cost.
Another aspect. Finding a good freelancer is crucial. If you choose the wrong engineer to work for you it is possible that you will encounter issues with your work. The person you hire might not communicate well and they could be difficult to manage or may have difficulties with language. In the worst case scenario the freelancer could disappear in between the work!
Working with reputable freelancers will assist you in minimizing or avoiding these risks, regardless of whether they are a referrer or you utilize platforms for freelance engineers.
If you’re looking for the latter you will be able to access a variety of talent and abilities and also the capability to suggest a range of prices that’s suitable for your needs regardless of the company you choose to work with. Additionally, certain platforms make sure the freelancers they employ are the best experts in their area and will never fail to meet your expectations.
Four Considerations to Make When Making a Choice Freelance and In-House Engineers
Let’s consider a hypothetical scenario to determine the difference whether freelance engineers are in-house or freelance:
You’re a CEO at an established business getting the benefits of your work. Your team is currently working on a new feature that will increase the growth of your business.
You’ve got an excellent second idea for a feature However, you’re not certain whether your engineering department in-house has the resources to develop it. If you hold off but you don’t know, your chance cost could be too expensive in the event that you aren’t able to keep up with the speed of business.
So , what can you do?
We’re here to help you understand the advantages and disadvantages of outsourcing your next project. From quality to expertise and time to cash Here are the advantages and disadvantages of outsourcing over in-house engineers.
1. Expertise
The first issue is: Does your team has the capability to create the new feature? You’re thinking you’ve already constructed the first one and, of course they’ll be able to develop the second one.
Hear us out, though.
Imagine that you’re an email marketing tool SaaS that’s now expanding your service to include the capability of lead generation. In order to do that, you’ll require an engineer who is proficient in databases or Python who you might not have on your staff.
If the abilities needed to create the flagship product aren’t transferrable through to the next aspect, i.e., the languages you employed will increase technical debt, or aren’t as efficient and the engineer(s) who contributed to the development of the first product has long since gone and you want to continue pushing your internal team to create the second feature?
In-House Engineers
In the event that you’re in any hurry to get your next feature developed, it might not be a bad idea to look into doing it internally. But, take into consideration your team’s expertise and the importance you place on the efforts and their time.
If the second project’s fundamental technology is a significant difference from the existing team’s capabilities, it could take some time for team members to become proficient on the new technology.
Learning the latest technology may cause a loss of time for your team of developers. Additionally the time they’re investing in learning about the latest technology results in less time spent on maintaining or adding new features to your existing product.
It’s certainly possible to hire an in-house team develop the feature #2 however, the issue is whether it’s worthwhile both in time and money when they don’t already have the necessary knowledge.
Outsourced Engineers
If you’re looking to develop Feature #2, outsourcing could be an ideal option in the event that you have access experts in engineering. If you have the option of hiring team members who are familiar with the necessary technologies needed to make Feature #2 happen, that does not just cut the development time and resources, but it also comes with additional advantages.
For instance, if you employ an engineer from an online platform that offers freelancers the language you require the engineer doesn’t need to spend time learning it since they already have the skills.
Because the engineer is proficient in the language you need after you have provided them with the wireframe or the specifications the engineer will be able to start working, and the development team can develop your product.
Additionally, a seasoned freelance engineer who has completed rigorous vetting often also has additional expertise which will be beneficial to you.
The freelance engineer will build with the scalability issue in mind, which will help to avoid debt from technical sources, and will be able to advise you on the potential risks based on their expertise and experience. If you’re not a tech-savvy director or your CTO is working for a short period of time the engineer can help you with the technical aspects of feature #2.
Although this might seem like a small difference in the present but should Feature #2 is as successful as your main products, you’ll thankful that you hired an experienced engineer to guide you through possible issues on your way to expansion.
2. Quality
It is obvious that you would like Feature #2 to be a top-quality product that provides customers with an excellent experience, is simple to manage, and very adaptable. But, how do you ensure that the product is of high quality both for in-house as well as outsourcing development? What is the simpler way to make sure that your business’s greatest long-term as well as short-term needs are being addressed?
In-House Software Engineers
Most of the time the coding standards are more easily monitored by working in conjunction with an internal team. With your own team you’ll be able to set the standards and make sure that they’re being adhered to by regularly checking in with your CTO, your engineering manager, or the team directly.
In this way, you’ll ensure that the good practices are implemented in the development process , and not be faced with technical debt or an even bigger issue later in the future.
For founders that are not technical and prefer less involvement having a CTO as well as an in-house team will help build your feature #2 allows you to give the task to someone else and enjoy the peace of mind to be able to focus more on the other areas of business.
Freelance Software Engineers
Quality code is created by skilled engineers. To gain access to both outsourcing to a platform for freelancers could be the best option.
Outsourcing can provide you with a greater selection of people beyond the local market Additionally, you can include a freelance engineer on your existing team to accelerate the building process while maintaining the quality and code standards.
In fact, even though there’s a lot of discussion about outsourcing or in-house development however, there’s no reason that you shouldn’t be able to have your cake and enjoy it too. You can have your current team construct the components they’re familiar with, and augment their efforts by hiring experienced freelance engineers to guarantee quality.
Although adding a freelance engineer to your team could reduce development time and money without losing quality, it will necessitate that a member of your team be present during the onboarding process of an engineer who is new to the team.
While your engineer on the freelance is an experienced professional, they might not be familiar with the specific SOPs you have. Therefore, until you can verify that they’ve adapted accordingly and you’re able to spend a bit more time ensuring that everything is up and up.
3. Time
The value of time is in the money specifically in the technology world. The faster Feature #2 launches, the more quickly you can earn revenue from it. Furthermore, the sooner you are able to release your feature, the likelihood that someone else will be able to dominate the market with the same product or feature diminishes. Therefore, it’s important to put your product in the marketplace.
But your launch will depend on how quickly your team is able to build it. If it’s an in-house team or an external team The clock is ticking on your concept. Which team is able to bring the product to market quicker and put it to the test in the marketplace?
Our In-House Team of Engineers
Communication is more efficient with an in-house staff because it’s easier to locate the person when they’re within the same building with you.
This reduces time spent on communication. Sometimes, projects are delayed when individuals are AWOL or fail to respond. When you work together, this is less likely to occur.
But, while there’s less communication delays when you’re all in the same room If you’re busy with your main product and decided to use an in-house team to work on Feature #2, your dev team must still split their time between various projects.
Your in-house team might not be as excited about the feature #2 in the same way they’re about the primary product that could cause delays and feet dragging.
These variables could prolong the time required to deliverables because of a insufficient interest or because your engineers must prioritize and can’t commit their time exclusively to feature #2.
While it’s much easier to press for improvements and updates by phone, in the end, you’ll need to wait for your development team to be able to develop your innovative idea.
Freelance Software Engineers
If you employ an engineer on a contract basis, especially when you pay them via retainer, you will have an engineer who is devoted solely to your project for X number of hours.
Being aware that an expert is only engaged in Feature #2 can allow you to allocate your existing resources more closely with your development team.
This setup will mean that you do not have to depend on your team in-house to complete X amount of work completed for a different project, which may lower the importance of their current projects since you have a dedicated individual or team working on this task in the background.
Remember that delays could occur regarding communication particularly in the case of freelance engineers who are located a long distance away. But delay is minimized by having clearly defined expectations, guidelines and deadlines for delivery. Although it’s not fun waiting around for someone to respond but the hassle can be minimized.
Although you might not be able to contact your engineer on the spot in the event of an asynchronous exchange then you can prepare yourself through scrums or meetings, delivering specific instructions, or creating an elaborate shared backlog.
One benefit of working in asynchronous fashion is that, by the time you arrive at work, one of the main components could been completed when you were asleep.
4. Money
The cost of money is, naturally an important aspect to be aware of We have left the most important for the very last. If you are on a short runway, are in a bootstrap or have a small budget, the choice between outsourcing development in-house or outsourced is more difficult.
You’re looking for the top job, completed in a short amount of time and for a price that is affordable. Does your team offer this, since you already pay them, or do you have to go deeper into your pocket?
In-House Software Engineer
One reason for having your in-house team create Features #2 is the fact that you already pay your team of developers to do the work for you, therefore in the theory of things, having them create the second feature won’t “cost” additional money because their work is already covered by your financial plan.
If your existing team members are small, you might need to recruit more staff to help you with feature #2. The development team could be unable to maintain and building your product and could require reinforcements. This can cost money.
Based on the idea you have for your next product you may require designers or product managers as well as other workers for bringing Feature #2 to life, that can also cost money. Additionally, it won’t be economical to design an entirely new role for a feature that could or may not succeed.
So, even though on the surface, it might seem as if having your team work on an initiative is free however, this is only true in the case of a large enough team. In other words, the additional work might be more expensive as outsourcing is required if you are forced to cover benefits for new employees.
Engineer in Freelancing Software
If you decide to outsource Feature #2, however, you will be able to get a seasoned engineer for a lower cost, based on where you get your talent. Actually, based on where the engineer of your preference is located you could get a great value for your money.
Indeed, with a free engineer, you can employ an engineer for the duration you require as long as you require assistance. If you are a freelance engineer you do not have to pay for the typical benefits that are necessary for employees with a long-term contract who are underemployed when the project is finished.