If you have decided that outsourcing a software engineer for your bespoke project is the right option for you have a look at these 10 steps to help select the right one:

1)    Evaluate your Project

Make sure you know your goals for the project, how will outsourcing impact the project? Are you outsourcing because of a lack of skills or budget?

2)    Expectations

What is the scope of your project? Write down what is needed for your project to be successful, making sure you have realistic expectations

3)    Timeframe

Having a detailed plan with defined deadlines. Once you have a timeline for your project you can begin to break it down into sections. Use the expertise of the software engineer in order to make sure these deadlines are achievable and remember to be flexible.

4)    Budget

Knowing how much money you have to play with will allow better management within the project. Find out what the priorities are and reflect that in the budget.

5) In-house resources

Make sure you are aware of any in-house demand or impact of having external software engineers working on the project. Will this take up and of your in-house colleague’s time?

6)    Technical stack

Define what programming languages and technologies are needed for your project. List them and identify where they will be needed in your project.

7)    Select the type of outsourcing

Choose between staff augmentation or project-based outsourcing. Decide how much responsibility stays within your company and how the project will be best managed.

8)    Location

Factors such as different time zones can impact the success of your project. Whether it be onshoring, nearshoring or offshoring make sure you take location into consideration when selecting your software engineering consultancy.

9)    Contact and evaluate

Find out what type of software development partner they are by evaluating their customer service, values and communication. Go through the previous steps and evaluate.

10) Hire

Once you have found the right software engineering consultancy for you all that’s left to do is sign those contracts and begin your project.