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Are you wondering how IT staff augmentation works? Do you want to know what staff augmentation can do for you and your business?
Scroll down to learn all that and more.
How does the staff augmentation model work?
IT staffing solution
Business without staff augmentation
If you run a business in the IT industry you may have come across some of the following problems:
- You cannot find quality developers to fill the skill gap in your company
- You need a software engineer for a project that lasts several months but afterwards, you will no longer have any work for him or her
- You have an ongoing project that requires a developer right away and cannot wait a traditional notice period of 4 to 6 weeks.
The lack of appropriate IT talent and software developers that can work on projects and be apart of your team, can cause problems such as:
- not completing projects on time
- not scaling your business fast enough
These aspects lead to huge financial losses for your company and damage your reputation along with credibility.
However, don’t you worry, because you can solve all these problems with staff augmentation.
How to extend your team
Business with staff augmentation
IT employee augmentation is a model that connects highly skilled developers with IT companies that needs a specific type of talent on a project requirement basis rather than permanent employment. Staff amplification has become the buzzword in technology industries that has helped IT businesses grow.
Why is staff augmentation worth it?
The object of staff augmentation is to improve the efficiency of the company’s IT team. This can be achieved by hiring developers:
- and taking advantage of their skills, expertise, and experience.
- that are available to you on demand and will push your project forward.
- who can help bridge any skill gaps that exist within your organisation.
Moreover, you have the flexibility to add developers and end the cooperation when your project has come to a close.
Who benefits from this solution?
This solution is an exciting model for startups, SaaS companies, Software Houses and so much more. You can scale your team of developers by adding temporary workers to your existing staff.
Must haves to make IT staffing possible
What do you need to use staff augmentation services in your company?
Ensure you have the following things in place in order to use staff augmentation services.
Software developers, engineers and more
1. Have an in-house team
Staff augmentation model is best when you have an in-house team that needs additional talent to fulfil project requirements. The IT staffing vendor can provide you with a developer to join your existing team that already include Programmers, QA Testers, Product Owners, Scrum Masters and Project Managers.
If you do not have an in-house team, you may want to consider a different solution such as outsourcing.
Identify talent gaps
2. Know what technical skills you are missing
Staff augmentation firms are happy to provide you with the IT talent that you are missing for your software development project, but firstly, you need to let them know what type of developers you are missing. Are you missing Front-End Developers? Back-End Developers? Mobile Developers?
Also, let provide them with information, in regards to what technology stack you need to complete your project. Lastly, let them know how many developers you need to fill out your development team.
Project management & onboarding
3. Have in-house procedures, processes & workflow
Before, taking on developers using team augmentation it would be nice for your company to have in-house procedures, processes and a workflow in place. These elements will the make onboarding any additional developers you hired a lot easier.
As a part of the onboarding process you may consider introducing new programmers to:
- tasks they will be working on
- methods of organisation
- communication tools
Moreover, take a few minutes to show new developers any software tools that are specific to your team such as Slack, Jira, Zoom, Teams etc.
Proper vetting process
What does using staff augmentation look like?
When you use a staff augmentation company to hire additional software developers the process may look a little something like ours. Check out this 8-step guide we use in Swyply below.
1
First
Tell the company what software developers you need
The first thing you need to do, is provide the staff augmentation vendor the type of software developers that you require for your project. Also, during this step let them know if you only need one programmer or how many additional coders you need to hire along with any other valuable project details.
2
Second
Searches for programmers
The staff augmentation company will search for software engineers based on the skill set that you need to match your project requirements.
3
Third
You will review Blind CVs
Once the team augmentation firm finds appropriate candidates, they will provide you a short list of developers that might be the right fit. For each software engineer, you should receive a Blind CV. On these Blind CVs you will find information such as education, experience, programming languages and projects they worked on. Using these Blind CV’s you will pick suitable developers you would like to interview.
4
Fourth
You will interview potential candidates
Based on the individuals you choose, the staff augmentation company will plan interviews for you to meet candidates via video chat. During this time you can also request for developers to do code tests.
5
Fifth
You will pick who you want to hire & sign a contract
At this stage, you get to pick the software engineers that you would like to hire. Once you have choose the right coders for you, you will sign a contract. In this contract, you will have information such as cooperation start date, project duration, the daily or monthly rate and the date of completion.
6
Sixth
You will onboard & work with additional developers
During this stage, software developers work with your team on your task. The IT talent is accessible to you as long as you need. Moreover, they are exclusively available to you and your team.
7
Progress report – How are things going?
Typically, the staff augmentation vendor will reach out to you periodically to check in. They will want to ensure that your cooperation is heading in the right direction. During this time, they may also enquire whether you have other project requirement needs such as additional developers.
8
Is your project finished? Do you want to extend your contract?
Towards the end of your cooperation, the company will probably reach out you and see if your project has come to a close or if you need to extend your cooperation.
3 most popular staff augmentation models
Which staff augmentation model is suitable?
Based in the same country
Onsite staff augmentation is the process of hiring software engineers from a company that is in close proximity to you, perhaps they are in the same region. However, the programmers do not work with your in-house team onsite, they will work remotely to fill your needs.
Developers can work alongside your in house staff throughout your whole business day. They can be available to you for daily or weekly calls to get regular updates, feedback etc.
Nearshoring staff augmentation
Nearshoring staff augmentation is when you select a company that is located in close proximity. This could be the next country over. So, for example, Germany and Poland. When it comes to nearshoring working hours are easier to sort because the time difference is minimal or non-existent. Developers can be made available to you for daily or weekly calls. Moreover, you still have access to a wide pool of talent, but it is more local to your region.
Offshoring staff augmentation
Offshoring staff augmentation when the augmented team is based in a different location that is far away. So an example of offshoring may be the USA and Poland or Australia and Poland. This is an excellent option, if you want work to be done on your project, around the clock. You and your team could be sleeping, while augmented developers can be working. Moreover, developers can adjust to available to you during daily or weekly calls.
Positive impact of staff augmentation
What benefits does a company gain from using IT staff augmentation services?
Shorter recruitment time
When you use IT augmentation services, you can minimize the time of a typical recruitment process. Using the team augmentation model, you can have an appropriate software developers join your team within a few days or a week’s time, as opposed to the traditional 4 to 6 weeks.
No employment costs
When you use IT personnel augmentation services, the only price that you have to cover is the everyday or month-to-month charge that was agreed upon in the contract. You do now not have to pay expenses that are related with full time employees such as laptops, vacation pay, health care etc.
Increase revenue
IT augmentation provides you with extra software developers to work, which increases the potential to complete extra tasks and serve extra customers. Both these factors can notably expand your revenue.
Why work with Swyply?
What makes Swyply different from other staff augmentation companies?
In-house coders with min. 3 years experience
We have an in-house team of highly-talented developers that you can choose to bring onto your team on a contract basis. Our in-house team consists of Front-End, Back-End and Mobile Developers.
Most of our developers have a minimum of 3 years experience in any given tech stack. However, if you need a Tech Leader or Team Leader, we can hire out this type of specialist for you. Moreover, we can provide you with Junior Developers to meet your project requirements.
We partner with 50+ Software Houses
In case we cannot find a developer from our in house team, don’t stress, we have partnering companies ready to help us out. We can borrow and hire out IT developers to you from 1 of 50+ partnering Software Houses. Just like our in-house developers, they possess various experience and programming knowledge. These partnering Software Houses allow us to offer you a wider selection of talent.
Moreover, we take care of this process on our end, and you get the specialist you need without the extra hassle and stress. So, we handle the communication and invoicing with the Software Houses. You do not have to worry about handling anything with a third party software house.
Risk-free developer trail period
Our 2 week Guarantee – not happy with our coders do not pay a cent!
Working with Swyply gives you the opportunity to pick a remote developer or an entire team of software developers with a two-week trial period.
During this trial period, if, for whatever reason, our tech talent, is not the right fit, you have two options.
- You can exchange this augmented staff member for another one.
- We can finish our cooperation, and we will NOT send you invoice for this two-week period.
We try to ensure that any additional team member will be the right fit for your existing in house software development team. We provide ongoing support by doing monthly check-ins to check our cooperation is heading in the right direction. Moreover, we enquire whether you need additional software engineers or a change in developers, this includes hiring a programmer with a different tech stack.
FAQ about the staff augmentation process
Here are some answers to your most frequently asked questions about the staff augmentation process:
Learn MoreSo depending on the staff augmentation firm they can have a developer ready to go and join your team within one week. However, in some scenarios it may take up to 30 days, but these are extreme circumstances where developers need to finish up previous projects.
This will vary company to company, but most companies will establish a daily rate for your chosen developer. At the end of each month, they would add up the number of days that a developer spends working on your project. Based on these calculations, they would send an invoice out at the end of the month. They will give you either a 7 day or 14 day payment deadline.
Learn more about the price of staff augmentation
Generally, there is not limit on how many developers a staff augmentation vendor can provide you. They can provide you with as many or as little developers as you need.
Yes, many companies give you the option to hire programmers on a part-time basis. Here at Swyply, we find it’s best to hire out developers on a full time basis. However, if you find that you need ongoing developer support month after month for let’s say 20 hours per month, we can do our best to help you.
Hire high-performing on-demand software developers
Feel free to fill in the form below or contact me directly at [email protected]. I’ll get back to you within a few hours!
Dawid Stasiak
CEO & Founder at Swyply
Extend my team!
Testimonials
I cannot speak more highly of the Swyply developers. They have been incredible in how fast they delivered extremely high-quality code, with little to no need for QA. Not only did they deliver on everything that we had spec’ed out, but they also implemented significant improvements on their own. Cannot recommend them enough!
Dan PilatCo-Founder at The Decision Lab
Swyply developers are great to work with, reliable, effective, and high quality. Their communication and responsiveness are excellent and we’ve really valued working with them. Highly recommended!
Gordon McLachlanManaging Director of Primate
Swyply developers have always been a pleasure to work with. They listen carefully to the project requirements, but also offer invaluable feedback and suggestions. I found Swyply efficient, reliable and professional.
Jowita EmbertonCEO & Founder at Brandpa
How to find the right staff augmentation company?
Learn More
Choosing the right staffing firm can be a challenge
Check out our guide and follow our 4 tips to find the right IT staffing solution for your business