Introduction
When you don’t have the ability or desire to hire an internal development team, consulting teams can be a great way to build and maintain your application. However, it can be overwhelming to choose someone to trust with your product. In this article, we’ll review the important qualifications of your future Python consultant.
Process
Before you hire Python developers, it’s important to understand how you’ll collaborate on the project. For software projects, you’ll typically want to choose a partner that uses an agile process, so that you can control the backlog, regularly see progress, and adapt as you gather user feedback.
Experience
You’ll also want a team that asks the right questions. Especially if you’re new to software development, you’ll want to research Python consulting companies that can be a supportive partner in making product decisions. A senior team will ask plenty of why? questions to understand your users’ needs before recommending a specific solution.
Cost
A team of senior developers will have a higher hourly rate, but may prove to be much more cost-effective in the long-term. An experienced team of Django developers can guide you in developing an architecture that’s sufficient for your current needs and sustainable as your product grows. Too often, we see clients that invested in an overly complicated infrastructure early in the project that ultimately needs to be rewritten.
Learn more about the cost of Python development.
Portfolio
Whether you’re starting from scratch or rebuilding an existing product, you’ll want to search for a team that’s not only experienced, but has worked on a similar project. Ask potential partners about their past work, and if they have specific examples of how that experience can be applied to your project. You should be ready to provide your own domain expertise, but you should be able to rely on the team’s expertise in web application development using Python Django.
Teams
A single remote Python developer may be all you need, but it can be a risky commitment. When you engage with a team like Fusionbox, you can get the consistent support of a single Django developer along with the confidence that in an emergency, the rest of the team is there to help. The availability of a full Django consulting team provides the flexibility to engage additional services - like design, product management, and quality assurance - as you need them, whether you want support for a one-off project, or you want to gradually increase the size of your dedicated consulting team.
Conclusion
Hiring a consultant to share ownership of your product is an important decision. It’s definitely not a process you want to have to repeat in a year. Finding an experienced team and thoroughly reviewing their process and portfolio will help ensure a successful long-term partnership.