Does the future of your company depend on ONE software engineer?
Many times software projects start off as a “Nice to Have” thing. They are automating something manual to save time, or they are taking something that previously used Excel and making it so multiple users can update it in a secure transactional way. Many times these projects are so successful that one day a business owner looks up and realizes their business would be in big trouble without it.
In my own company, Solution Street, we previously completed timesheets using Excel. This worked fine when we were 10 people. In 2012, as a fun project for some of our folks to learn a new technology, we built a simple timesheet system. Now fast forward seven years later, the system has expanded into a very complex people and time management system for our 70 consultants working on 18 active projects. Managers use the system to track budgets and ensure we are on target. Our accounting team uses the system to feed into our invoicing and payroll systems. If our timesheet system stopped working today, we would be in serious trouble. Fortunately our folks are good software developers, testers and scrum masters and several of us work on the timesheet system, so our exposure to the “bus factor” is minimal.
Other companies we have worked with have ended up in the situation where they have one in-house (or freelance) developer that is responsible for the products that are key to running their business. When this happens the exposure to the “bus factor” is very high and the company is at risk. What would happen if that developer won the lottery and moved to Tahiti tomorrow? Do the executives or other staff know how the system works? Do they know the passwords/keys to login to production? Do they have the source code?
How do projects end up in this situation? One reason may be that building a competent development team is difficult - it is hard to hire and retain software engineers. Companies with small technical teams may lack the career path options that many engineers are looking for. Hiring a professional software engineering company to manage their software product(s) is one solution. But some folks may think that that’s too costly; perhaps they worry that outside consultants won’t be as “loyal” as their own employees??
Regardless of the reason or reasons why only one in-house developer is relied on to handle a system, solving this problem can be done in several ways. The obvious option is to hire a 2nd developer and ensure both developers know how to maintain your system. As I noted above, finding and retaining this developer may be difficult and costly. Another option is to bring in an outside professional software engineering company and have them augment your existing engineer. They can provide redundancy, best practices and ensure all of your system information is documented following industry best practices.
From a cost perspective sometimes people think, if I pay $90/hour to bring in an outside developer, that is like paying $180k to an in-house developer. Since they are only paying their in-house resource $120k, they think they are getting a great deal, right? This article by toptal debunks this myth very well. To summarize this article, there are tons of things you get with a resource provided by a professional software engineering company like Solution Street. We pay all the overhead, taxes, and equipment costs as part of that rate. We also hire and nurture the best talent, so we can provide you better resources at a lower overall cost. In terms of talent, we ensure that we are not hiring a coding cowboy and that all of our team members have these 10 skills which are critical to the success of your software.
In addition to the cost and talent factors, we ensure there is no single point of failure by having a backup and a manager that both know how your system works and know where all the key artifacts of your system are located.
In terms of loyalty, Solution Street has a long track record (since 2002) of being reliable. In fact, most of our folks stay on projects/client sites longer than many of the company’s own employees!
Does the future of your company depend on one software engineer? If so, give us a ring, we can help!
