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Finding skilled talent is an ongoing task for any manager, and half the battle is knowing what to look for, especially when it comes to looking for a developer.
For some, the question is whether to hire an in-house developer or seek the assistance of a freelance developer. Both options offer their own benefits and potential drawbacks, which we are exploring in more detail below.
An in-house developer offers a number of benefits for any business.
Somebody in-house will better understand the company and its goals, and that will shine through in their work. Similarly, an in-house developer will be familiar with your tech stack, which will help ensure speed of project delivery.
An in-house developer will also be available for immediate support. A freelancer may be busy with other contracts and projects, which means you may have to be more flexible with your deadlines than you would be if you had a developer in-house.
You can also build a closer team when your developer is in-house. These connections can benefit the business as a whole as everyone works together and learns from one another, building a strong team culture.
For some businesses, a freelance web developer is a more appropriate avenue for resourcing.
The main drawcard of a freelance developer is the cost savings. As you only typically pay a set hourly rate for work completed, you do not have to pay a full-time wage with sick pay, holiday pay, and other remuneration benefits.
Paying an hourly or project-based rate also means you can scale up or down as your business needs evolve, making a freelancer a highly flexible option suitable for projects large and small.
Additionally, when you use freelance services, your pool of talent can be much larger. If you don’t need someone to be on site, you can draw from a talent pool that spans the country, or the world.
For new companies with tighter budgets, a freelancer can be a good option to keep costs low as you scale up. For larger companies that need a developer who deeply understands the business and can get to work on tasks immediately, an in-house developer could be a better choice.
Either way, the demand for developers is high, and recruiters are seeing an uptick in demand for freelancers.
“We’ve seen a marked increase in development recruitment in the back end of 2021, in particular in contracting,” explains Charlotte Weston, Manager at Michael Page VIC, in our Technology Sentiment Survey 2022. “The volume has been as much as 40 new jobs per week coming through since August and they’ve predominantly been for back-end development roles using .NET and Java framework.”
Download the Technology Sentiment Report to learn more, or reach out to our IT recruitment specialists to find the right talent for your business.
