Overcoming the Fears of Working With a Dedicated Team

Evaluating an outstaffing company for your upcoming team extension is never easy. There are many factors to weigh, whether or not you have previously worked with dedicated developers. But fear is the enemy of success, remember? So we decided to highlight some common prejudices about hiring dedicated teams to debunk them once and for all.

#1 I don’t understand how it works

Before anything else, you need to understand your goals. Is it building a team from scratch or hiring new developers for your existing project unit? Both apply to our dedicated team model here at Beetroot, and in both cases, we will sit down with you to understand your specific needs and challenges.

Building a dedicated development team from scratch

When building a team from scratch, your first hire with the outstaffing partner is the most critical. Potentially, it can be a highly skilled senior programmer with solid decomposition experience and knowledge of how this team setup works. A few critical things to keep in mind while interviewing candidates are the following:

• A precondition for even a small-size startup is to have a technical person on your end (CTO, technical co-founder or product owner, technical project manager) or core tech team to set up the roadmap and strategy;
• A lead developer can proactively give feedback and advice on product development but not be responsible for strategic or architectural decisions;
• Your tech lead is here to handle specific hands-on tasks and technical implementation and can assist you with team scaling; 
• Securing this role from the very beginning is your most valuable team investment, as it will strengthen your technical capacity.

We have a proven track record in building teams from the ground up with successful first hiring, and we’ll find such a motivated lead developer on the talent market for your organization.

Hands-on project management

Perhaps you might need additional support over time. Beetroot can provide a proxy (remote) project manager on demand to help your lead developer with project decomposition as the team grows or when business requirements are not fully translated into technical specifications. This project manager will be:

• Part of your dedicated team;
• Committed to your project part-time (e.g., 0.5 FTE) or full-time if it aligns with the team balance and scaling. 

But again, make sure there is a technical co-founder/CTO/product owner on your end to set up the strategy and roadmap. Such a setup is only required when you ought to decompose and adjust the teamwork. We will not push for a full-time project manager when there is no need for their full-time engagement, like in a team of 2-3 developers.

Team extension setup

Things will be much easier when you hire nearshore or offshore developers for your existing unit and already have a project manager and development capacity. With Beetroot, you can build a well-balanced team that feels like your own. Your assigned delivery manager and HR partner will help you hand-pick and employ new team members per your scaling roadmap using our proven sourcing channels.

A basic example could be a Scrum setup of 6-7 specialists of different seniority levels. It can be a tech lead, two front-end developers, two back-end developers, a QA, and a designer (optionally). Depending on whether you will handle deployment on your side or need assistance, a dedicated team may also include a DevOps engineer.

#2 What if I end up choosing the wrong vendor?

To avoid this, take some time to compare the value props of dedicated team providers found through references and market research: check their deck, website, client reviews, and available social media channels.

Pricing

Looking at the developer salaries is a common practice, but relying on a benchmark of vendor rates usually makes more sense. Naturally, you can compare them to market rates to estimate the approximate cost of hiring dedicated developers and vendor margins. Remember, though, that the higher fees of outstaffing companies also cover additional services and perks. 

The primary value of a dedicated development partner like Beetroot is that we can leverage recruiting in specific markets through our employer brand, internal talent retention machinery, and overall reputation. Beyond supplying your team with the profiles needed to keep up with the roadmap, this throughput capacity unlocks long-term sustainable growth for your business.

Hiring conditions

Please keep in mind that the dedicated team model is not a one-off project. A dedicated developer is like your in-house developer who works remotely. So there should be no restricting contract commitments, for example, hiring a developer for only 12 or 36 months. 

In addition, each IT outstaffing company should be able to explain the price difference between long-term and short-term hires based on their list price. A lower price or discount for a longer-term commitment will be a massive plus if you need a specific profile on an ongoing basis because long-term cooperation has a higher strategic value for both parties.

Company size

If you want to unlock your growth many years ahead without changing the outstaffing team provider, make sure to look for a company that: 

• Works with clients just like you; 
• Is about ten times your size. If you have 50 team members, the outstaffing agency should have 500+. That promises you excellent scalability for at least the next five years.

The red flag with small vendors (up to 100 people) is that they often build their entire business around 1-2 large clients. If these clients drop off (worst-case scenario), the company is at risk of collapsing.

And big vendors, on the other hand, tend to have a cookie-cutter approach and often view smaller clients as more transactional. So if you fall into the low-tier customer category as their strategy changes, they may treat you as a bench filler. Or withdraw your developers to go for a more lucrative enterprise opportunity.

Beetroot: caring for impact, scaling for growth

A dedicated team provider’s ability to balance customization, service quality and scalability is critical for startups. Beetroot’s administration stack is tiered to maintain a high level of service that we can tailor to your exact criteria. Aside from talent sourcing and planning, we take care of the salary and performance reviews, equipment, and nurturing of a healthy people-centered climate in which teams can thrive. So you can focus on moving your business forward and creating impact without any overhead hassle.

Client portfolio diversification

Look for an outstaffing company with a credible number of clients that are up and running and whose core business is built around team augmentation models. Partnering with such a provider will be more sustainable because:

• It has more expertise in outstaffing specifically;
• It works less with projects than with extended teams — this minimizes the risk that the company fails to operate sustainably if the projects close. 

You can ask a potential outstaffing partner how many customers they work with on average, what scalability options they can promise, and how much time/budget it will take you to acquire X people in specific stacks.

Delivery locations

Apart from portfolio diversification and the ratio of your and the vendor’s size, their delivery locations shouldn’t be limited to one country. It’s optimal when they are within the same region.

The similarity of cultures plays a key role here. The closer the culture and mentality, the easier it will be to manage your team at the company level and meet everyone’s expectations. Finally, selecting a dedicated team services provider capable of delivering in multiple locations diversifies the risks associated with a specific country’s scenario.

With all the Beetroot locations in Europe, you can access the largest pool of high-quality profiles available for recruitment.

#3 Teams will work out of sync because of the time zone difference

The time difference between European countries is minimal: Kyiv and Sofia are in the same time zone (GMT+3), which is 1 hour ahead of Stockholm, and 2 hours ahead of London. Poland is in the CET time zone (GMT+2) and has the same time as Sweden, while North America is 7-8 hours behind Europe (some countries switch to daylight saving time). 

For example, Ukraine is 11 hours ahead of PST and 8 hours ahead of EST. Yet, despite this time gap, the U.S. is the country’s largest export partner for IT services, meaning that American companies can quite effectively work with Ukrainian developers.

Eastern European developers are often ready to go the extra mile in their team engagement. Here at Beetroot, we help you assemble the most flexible team with which it will be comfortable to work, no matter your time zone.

#4 My extended team won’t be truly “dedicated”

If you’re concerned about the team spirit or feeling of a close-knit team, our engineers and other IT experts collaborate directly with your in-house team as one unit. An account and delivery manager on our side will stay in close contact with you, ensuring you are happy with your team.

Here at Beetroot, we advocate for creating sustainable teams because we know that it helps your business and end clients in the long run. People with a sustainable mindset treat their work, themselves, each other, and the world around us responsibly.

We also encourage extra interactions between the dedicated developers we house and the client. In the light of the last few years, some teams have never met in person, but this doesn’t stop them from working smoothly and being productive.

#5 I will not find common ground with my dedicated team

Finding common ground with people is always a challenge. However, we provide pre-vetted candidates you can interview before selecting someone specific for the job. These interviews will help you see whether the person is a good fit for your team. Later, your team will have an assigned HR specialist to give them a heads-up or red flag on specific situations to keep this collaboration comfortable, transparent, and in line with your needs.

If you’re worried about direct communication, please keep in mind that Eastern and Southern European developers usually have decent English proficiency. And we ensure that our candidates will be a perfect fit technically, culturally, and soft skills-wise. Besides, most have already worked in international team setups or are qualified to do so.

Hiring a dedicated team is a breeze when you work with the right partner. How about discussing your project?