Hiring is a complex equation, with a recipe for success that’s unique to every company. As such, there’s no one-size-fits-all solution. In fact, there are many points to keep in mind when considering temporary vs. permanent IT staff. This is typically a consideration for companies that—for whatever reason—cannot or prefer not to outsource or use independent contractors.

Company leaders and even hiring managers may erroneously believe that hiring a permanent employee is more productive and economical, especially considering the sometimes-lengthy and costly recruiting process required to find the right talent. But this is not always the case. There are many instances where hiring a temporary IT staff may lead to far greater cost savings and productivity.

The Impact on Employee Morale and Team-Building

Many hiring managers are keen to take on permanent IT staff with the belief that it’s better for employee morale and team-building, but this isn’t always the case. When a temporary team member arrives on-site, there is an expectation that they will only remain as part of the team for a finite period of time. As such, you won’t see a hit to morale when the project reaches its conclusion and the temporary hire departs.

But in the case permanent employees, a departure can be far more upsetting to fellow team members, resulting in a major dent in morale. It’s difficult when a colleague leaves, especially if you had great team dynamics.

Employment length could also be comparable for either a temporary hire who’s working on a larger year-long project or a permanent hire who only remains on board for a year. In fact, in the tech sector, the average tenure with a company averages between 1-2 years, so it’s not inconceivable that a permanent employee’s time with your business could be measured in a matter of months.

When it comes to team-building, temporary talent usually has an advantage over permanent hires. That’s because temporary IT staff are usually more adept at finding their place within the team dynamic, simply due to the number of times that they’ve had to integrate with the existing onsite staff. Temporary tech talent may also have experience working with a broader range of personality types and office types, making them more adaptable.

The Cost of Benefits, Vacation and Perks

Permanent employees typically expect to receive benefits, paid vacation and other perks, which can combine to account for a very sizable sum of money. These are recurring costs, so the cost of maintaining this sort of employee can be quite significant.

This is especially true for high-level, high-paying positions—which are fairly common in the tech and IT sector. High-level talent generally expects to receive a generous benefits package and plenty of perks. The highly competitive nature of the tech industry has created an environment wherein these benefits and perks are used to attract prospective hires, so many companies will pull out all stops to offer the best possible total compensation package. Temporary employees don’t have such expectations, although some smaller perks are sometimes included.

Considering Relocation, Travel and Accommodation Costs

Relocation costs can be significant, but they’re a price that many companies are willing to pay to land the right tech talent for their company. Relocation costs can include the cost of hiring a moving company, travel costs and temporary accommodations for long-distance moves that take several days.

A temporary employee generally does not permanently relocate for work, so you can side-step relocation expenses. But if you’re hiring talent outside of commuting range, there are costs associated with travel and accommodations that must be considered.

If relocation or travel is necessary, both temporary and permanent talent are associated with expenses, whether it’s moving costs or hotel and rental car expenses. These expenses can be highly variable on a case-by-case basis, so it’s hard to perform an accurate comparison between temporary and permanent staff on this basis.

The Cost of Unemployment Benefits

If you’re uncertain whether you have sufficient work to keep a team member permanently employed, then it’s generally best to opt for temporary staffing and staff augmentation solutions. That’s because you could face the burden of contributing to an individual’s unemployment benefits in the event that you’re forced to lay off a permanent staffer.

There is no such cost associated with temporary tech talent, which can be quite advantageous. Plus, many individuals are open to more permanent opportunities if a short-term arrangement proves to be a success.

What’s more, companies seeking temporary staff often have access to a larger pool of candidates. That’s because people tend to be more willing to travel, whereas individuals tend to be far more hesitant to relocate on a permanent basis. This means that if you opt for temporary staff, you won’t be limited to the best local talent; instead, you’ll be in a position to hire the best person for the job—period.

Temporary IT talent can provide companies with a much-needed competitive edge, particularly when your business turns to an IT staffing company like iTech. Our recruiters can slash the amount of time and the cost associated with finding the right talent for your precise needs. In fact, we maintain a pool of qualified candidates who are ready to be dispatched to work onsite at one of your office locations.

Allow iTech to search worldwide to help you find the right IT staff for your unique needs. We invite you to contact us today to begin the hiring process.

The post Temporary vs. Permanent IT Staff: Key Considerations first appeared on iTech.

Local IT Staffing Agencies Know Their Communities

Local IT staffing agencies not only know about a candidate’s tech credentials, but also what they’re like in person and how they work. This knowledge allows agencies to place talent in positions that might, on paper, seem outside of their main or past competencies. A candidate who is extra-energetic and performs well in startup environments, for example, could be a better fit for some companies than someone with decades-long technical proficiency in the skills those companies need, but who works best in a standard 9-to-5 environment.

Local agencies acquire this detailed knowledge of candidates in a number of ways, such as by frequenting networking events, conferences and job fairs. This is especially true in cities that are hubs for technology companies. Staffing agencies send representatives to these events to discover the inside scoop about which IT pros are best for which types of jobs. Getting the chance to meet candidates personally in an informal setting allows agencies to screen them for cultural fit, which is as important as—or even more important than—a candidate’s skill set. Relying on the knowledge of a local staffing agency to find talent is one way to get the right match for your team and workflow.

Local Agencies Offer Personalized, Responsive Service

Since they’re physically close to your company, local IT staffing agencies can often give your company highly responsive and personalized attention, including on-site visits to see your operations firsthand. This can give them an excellent sense of your company’s working environment, which helps them find candidates who will thrive in it.

A local agency focused on your company’s specific needs sounds like an unalloyed benefit. However, even the best customer service can’t compensate for IT talent that underperforms. If the right people for the job aren’t in your area, even the best available local options will be a compromise. This leads us to the main caveat with using local IT staffing agencies in your talent search.

[bctt tweet=”If the right people for the job aren’t in your area, even the best available local options will be a compromise. ” via=”no”]

Local Searches Will Limit Your Candidate Pool

Although using a local IT staffing agency can be a good option, their talent pool will be most likely limited to that city or area. You might get the best local person for the job, but that doesn’t necessarily mean you’re getting the best overall candidate. This is where using a staffing agency with both local and global connections can make sense. iTech’s talent pool, for instance, is global, which means you’re not just getting the best candidate in the immediate area—you’re getting the best candidate for the job, period.

At iTech, we specialize in IT consulting and temporary IT staffing. iTech operates out of Dallas, but we have locations worldwide, and we know a great deal about operating within a given community. Regardless of your location, we invite you to contact us to learn more about how we can help you find IT staff that will suit your company and its needs.

The post IT Staffing Agencies Near You: What You Should Know first appeared on iTech.

IT Staffing Agencies Do the Screening, Interviewing and Vetting

One of the immediate values of using an IT staffing agency to access software engineering talent comes from the screening, interviewing and vetting processes. When you tap talent from an IT staffing agency, you’ll know that the professionals working for you not only have been screened for the correct development languages and other software engineering proficiencies, but also have the right set of soft skills to fit your company and its culture.

In addition to supplying temp workers, the right IT staffing agency can also provide you with entire teams of software developers and engineers assembled specifically to produce optimal results from the start. Most hiring managers know how difficult and time-consuming it can be to hire and grow a full-time team that works well together. The same concern applies to recruiting freelancers, too. Unless you’ve worked with a freelancing candidate before, you’re taking a risk not just on their job-specific skills, but also on their ability to perform well within your environment—and with others.

If you aren’t highly technical yourself, the screening process comes with an extra level of difficulty, as you’ll need to consult with experts who can ascertain whether a candidate has the right mix of skills and workstyle you need. Having an IT staffing agency handle that for you saves time (and, in the long run, money).

Accessing Top IT Talent While Lowering Risk

Using an IT staffing agency gives you immediate access to top-level software developers and engineers without the risks of hiring the wrong talent. Even if you have enough money to fast-track the process, you can end up expediting the hiring of the wrong people. In many cases, hires aren’t necessarily missing required job skills; instead, it’s their inability to work effectively with your team that causes problems. With an IT staffing agency, you can make sure the talent you bring in will gel with your colleagues and workflow.

The best IT staffing agencies recruit globally, ensuring you get not just the best talent in your area, but the best talent, period. Tapping into the worldwide IT talent pool will be increasingly necessary as it becomes more difficult to entice the best US-based devs.

Although it would seem that using an IT staffing agency would automatically make your staffing dollars go further than if you hired a full-time staff yourself, there is a caveat: Make sure your agency divulges the percentage their talent gets. If you pay, for example, $100 per hour and the agency takes half, you’re getting half the value you expected. iTech talent receive competitive compensation, and our clients benefit from that. You’ll know upfront that you’re getting the level of talent for which you paid. [bctt tweet=”If you pay $100 per hour and a staffing agency takes half, you’re getting half the value you expected. ” via=”no”]

If you have any questions about the level of IT talent you can access for your budget or would like to know how long it takes to get a software developer or team on-board, we’d like to hear from you.

The post How to Hire Top Software Engineers on a Budget first appeared on iTech.

As of 2023 27% of U.S. employees work remotely according to research done by Zippia, and these figures represent a 22% increase over 2018’s figures. The work-from-home figure was even higher in the tech industry.

But telecommuting can come at a cost, particularly for temporary staff who must achieve maximum productivity in a relatively short timeframe. And that’s not the only potential drawback. Hiring managers and company leaders alike may hold some very real concerns over productivity and confidentiality, amongst other issues.

While working remotely has become very commonplace in the tech industry, the benefits of working onsite are still numerous and significant. As a hiring manager, what advantages can you expect to enjoy if you require developers and other tech staff to work onsite at your location?

Immersion as One of the Advantages of Working Onsite

Immersion has long been regarded as one of the most efficient learning environments. When an employee works onsite, they’re immersed in your unique company culture. This can drive productivity since they can learn those onboarding essentials much faster. You’ll be speeding the learning process as a new or temporary team member gets acclimated to the project and the workplace.

For projects involving temporary staff, this is especially good news. You want to ensure that your talent gains momentum as quickly as possible, so you can make the most of your limited time together. It’s easy to see how an individual would be much faster to ramp up while working onsite versus working remotely, where they’re more isolated and largely left to their own devices.

Improved Communication When Working at a Client’s Location

Agile development methodologies are team-centric, which inherently involves a lot of communication. Communication tends to occur more naturally when everyone is in the same place. It also becomes much easier to ensure that everyone is on the same page. Consider the small remarks that you might make to a co-worker while coding. These are remarks that you would simply omit if you were working remotely. But collectively, those comments can convey large volumes of information, while promoting collaboration.

In fact, it can be challenging to develop a sense of cohesion and unity when many team members are working remotely. For this reason, many companies ask staff to work on-site for a minimum number of days per week or for certain phases of a project. But many development team leaders would probably agree that the most communicative and productive teams tend to be those where all of the members regularly work onsite. This can be especially vital for temporary staff, who may otherwise lack that sense of team if they’re isolated from the rest of the group.

The Benefits of Working at Your Company Location: Greater Control

It’s far easier for development team leaders to maintain control over a project when all of the developers are working together onsite. This can be critical for highly complex, multi-faceted projects with lots of moving parts. It’s also far more likely that problems or errors will be identified early in the game if everyone is working at the same office location, which can help companies to avoid costly mistakes or missteps.

It’s also easy to see how employees may be more productive while working onsite at your company’s office location. For instance, there may be fewer non-work-related distractions in some cases.

There is also greater control over data and information when everyone works onsite. This can be very important for many companies, especially those dealing with financial data or personal information such as medical records. Medical records, in particular, are governed closely by HIPAA. Many businesses have sensitive in-house data too. It can be rather disconcerting knowing that staff may be accessing this information from a less-than-secure device or connection. This is a major benefit of onsite staff, as you have far greater control over security-related issues. You can implement in-house security measures and protocols that ensure a secure connection to a virus-free device, whereas it’s virtually impossible to regulate this sort of thing if an employee is accessing your network via a personal device in a remote location.

Taking Advantage of the Benefits of Working Onsite With Temporary Staffing

Challenges surrounding productivity, security, and efficiency tend to be amplified when dealing with temporary staff, which makes it even more important to bring talent to work onsite whenever possible.

When you work with an IT staffing services provider like iTech, you can rest assured knowing that you’ll have access to talent from across the globe—talent who can work onsite at your office location for the duration of your project. What’s more, since we seek talent on a global basis, clients can rest assured knowing that they have the best person for the job; not just the best local person for the job. Our experts will work with hiring managers like you to understand your unique needs and requirements. From there, we’ll develop a profile of the ideal person for the job. Then, we set out to find talent who meets your precise criteria. If you’re ready to start your search for the top temporary IT staff, turn to iTech today.

The post The Advantages of Working Onsite for IT Staff first appeared on iTech.

However, many projects demand an on-site presence. This is especially true of some of the most collaborative agile development projects, along with many IT projects involving on-site hardware and secure, on-site networks. For this reason, many companies turn to on-site staffing instead of remote resources. This means that most recruiting efforts are focused on a local level, thereby limiting your talent pool. One alternative lies in on-site staffing, which provides a benefit by sourcing temporary staff from all corners of the globe and sent to work at your company’s offices.

Finding the Best Person for the Job

On-site staffing solutions provide you with the best person for the job—not just the best local person. When compared to the larger hiring pool, your local talent may not be the ideal choice for your needs. You don’t want to find yourself forced to hire someone because they’re your only option. This can lead to poor results, a longer project timeframe and budget overruns.

Recruiting becomes exponentially more complex for large corporations and enterprises, because these companies need more than just one or two people; chances are that they need an entire team of developers. This makes it even less likely that you’ll truly find the ideal person for the job at a local level.

Getting the best person for the job can make a tremendous difference in the timeline or pace of your project, and in the overall quality of the work that’s performed. For this reason, it’s in your best interest to work with a company that provides you with the temporary on-site staff that you need to achieve the desired results.

A tech staffing services provider can conduct a broader search to find the ideal fit that can hit the ground running on day one. What’s more, there’s a fair chance that an incredible match is already available in the staffing firm’s ranks, provided you turn to a service provider that understands the intricacies of software development. This can greatly reduce the timeframe of the talent acquisition process as well as your project outcome.

The Benefits of Onsite Staffing Resources

Many companies—even some large multinational corporations—lack good access to talent. To make matters more complex, if you’re seeking talent to work on-site, you’ll need to ensure that these individuals meet various state and federal compliance requirements. This process can be quite complex and costly. As a result, many large enterprises veer away from hiring staff who might require measures such as visa sponsorship, thinking it too complex. This forces a more localized search that may not serve the companies’ best interests.

This is another area where it can be helpful to work with a tech staffing firm that recruits from a broader pool of talent. Again, the idea is to search out the best person for the job—regardless of location. Such staffing companies can even handle the visa sponsorship process if that’s what it takes to get the best talent. Our company, iTech, sponsors the talent, who are then temporarily dispatched to work on-site at the client’s company.

Finding the best person for the project is essential in today’s hyper-competitive techsphere. This is a significant advantage of working with a tech staffing firm such as iTech. iTech has the experience required to find skilled, proven talent. What’s more, companies are afforded far greater control over the project since it will be handled on-site. This allows businesses to leverage existing on-site talent and resources, translating into cost savings.

iTech serves companies and organizations throughout the United States with a goal of securing a firm understanding of the client’s development project’s specs, which are then used as the basis of your job description. From there, we’ll recruit, screen and vet candidates, providing our top picks for the project. Our goal is to reduce expenses while maximizing productivity. Contact iTech to learn more about our service offerings.

The post On-Site Staffing Solutions: Finding the Best Person for the Job first appeared on iTech.

Coordinating expertise in software development teams can be a tremendous challenge. The process has many unique facets and moving parts. There are dozens of programming languages and specialties. If you are short-handed as a result of a team member’s retirement, illness or a high work volume, things get even more challenging.

Many companies are left scrambling to coordinate expertise to avoid project delays and budget overruns. These can happen when a firm didn’t have the right talent at the right time. Yet many companies don’t realize this fact until it’s too late. Ultimately, it’s up to hiring managers and company leaders who can ensure a high degree of skill redundancy and versatility. Let’s examine a few of the common mistakes that can impede progress in your tech department.

Mistake #1: Failing to Ensure Redundancy in Workers’ Skill Sets

Skill redundancy is one of the most important factors to consider during the hiring process and when building a software development team. There are many programming languages, skill sets and specialties at play on any given tech team. Therefore, you need to ensure that you have at least one person who has the skills and training required to step in and help if a teammate finds she requires help. Ideally, you should have several individuals who possess a specific skill set.

To avoid problems, it’s useful to make a chart that indicates each and every team member’s skills. Then, hire new, versatile staff with the right skills and architect development teams in a way that ensures a high degree of skill redundancy.

Mistake #2: Ignoring Important Variables

While a chart indicating each team member’s skills and capabilities can be very useful to a hiring manager or a development team leader, it’s critical that you consider some variables that arise in practice. For example, let’s say John is the only person who can fill in for George. But John is also the only person with the skills required to perform his normal duties. He can’t perform his normal tasks and fill in for George simultaneously. So while your staffing situation may look good on paper, with a backup person who can step in to help when George is out sick, real-life variables mean that it’s impractical to use John as a fill-in.

It’s critical that hiring managers and team leaders work together to really understand how the staffing situation will play out in everyday practice, even if a staffing chart seems great in theory. This insight is critical for creating a solid software developer staffing plan and making good staffing and training decisions.

Mistake #3: Ignoring the Need to Cross-Train

You should never find yourself in a position where only one person has the keys to the kingdom. For every position, there should be at least one (and ideally two or more) others who know how to fulfill a particular role. This helps you avoid a situation where a lead developer suddenly quits, taking necessary logins, knowledge and skills with him. You could find that you’re unable to proceed because nobody else has the necessary insight or skills.

Hiring managers should give preference to candidates who have filled multiple roles within the agile development team structure. As a matter of practice, it’s also vital that team leaders set aside time to allow for cross-training.

Mistake #4: Underestimating the Importance of Ongoing Training

Companies often underestimate the benefits of providing staff with new tech training opportunities. Such opportunities not only attract staff who are eager to learn and grow, but also puts you in a much better position in terms of your IT staffing. You’ll have team members with greater versatility, adding more value to your company as a whole.

Of course, ongoing training has another major benefit outside of coordinating expertise in software development teams. The tech field is evolving and expanding rapidly, so by providing your staff with training opportunities, you’ll find it easier to remain on the leading edge of your industry. That’s true whether you have a tech company or a business in another sector.

Mistake #5: Failing to Leverage Temporary Staffing Services

Hiring managers often focus on permanent, long-term hires. In doing so, they fail to realize the critical role of temporary onsite staffing services. Temporary team members (or even entire development teams) can be very effective in filling gaps especially those that arise unexpectedly. It’s often impractical to hire a permanent developer, but a temporary hire can make a lot of sense. They have the right skills and are available precisely when and where you need them.

At iTech, we specialize in temporary onsite staffing services for software developers and IT staff. We also assist by providing consulting services, so we’ll work with your hiring managers to ensure that you have access to the right resources at the right time. We source our talent from across the globe, so you can rest easy knowing you’re getting the best person for the job not just the best local person. If you need help with tech and IT staffing services, contact the team at iTech today.

The post 5 Mistakes to Avoid When Coordinating Expertise in Software Development Teams first appeared on iTech.

Your lead developers could address these issues by creating programming tests for interviews. However, you may still wonder: Are these coding tests really an effective approach to finding the right developer for your needs?

Is it Effective to Use Programming Tests for Interviews of Potential Hires?

Programming tests can offer some useful insight, but this is only the case when tests are realistic, practical and relevant.

This is a very common problem for our clients, explained iTech CEO Kishore Khandavalli. He added, Hiring managers frequently make the mistake of administering tests that are theoretical and ‘bookish’ in nature. That’s the wrong approach and it’s frustrating for the talent too. In my experience, the level talent do not want to take a written test, they want to have a dialogue or show you what they are capable of.

The very nature of these theoretical programming tests is just that theoretical. As such, they lack a firm rooting in the actual day-to-day work the individual would perform.

Many companies are now using a more informal, spontaneous and very effective approach to developer testing: you simply ask the candidate to sit down at a computer and observe as they start coding. Remember, you must ensure the programming test is relevant to the type of work that they’ll be asked to perform in the event that the individual is hired.

What Can You Learn From Administering a Coding Test During the Hiring Process?

A hiring manager can gain insight into a number of different areas when a sit down and code approach is utilized. This includes the opportunity to:

• Assess the candidate’s speed (or lack thereof);
• View the candidate’s coding process;
• Evaluate the quality of the code; and
• Determine the strategy that underlies the coding.

Timeframe matters when administering programming tests in interviews. In cases where an in-office interview is not possible (or desirable), you can use a screen-sharing app to view the candidate’s coding work in real time. It’s also possible for the candidate to record their actions using a screen recording tool like Screencast-O-Matic. In addition to offering insight into the amount of time it took the candidate to write the code, you’ll also have an opportunity to view their process.

The question of when to administer the programming test is also relevant. There are no hard and fast rules concerning precisely when you ought to ask a candidate to demonstrate their skills. For a typical programmer, testing during the interview process tends to make sense. But in cases where you’re seeking unique or highly sophisticated coding abilities, it may be most effective to administer a test as part of the pre-interview process. This allows you to screen out any individuals who lack the skills required to get the job done, resulting in a faster, more efficient recruiting process.

Notably, you’ll need to involve a development team leader in this process. That’s because a fair amount of technical expertise is required in order to effectively evaluate a person’s technical capabilities and talents. Of course, programming skills are just part of the staffing equation. It’s also vital that you’re hiring talent for the right soft skills and cultural fit.

The hiring experts at iTech are available to assist in all of these efforts, whether you’re seeking to hire a team of developers to close a staffing gap or need a few IT professionals to join your team for an urgent project. With offices in Dallas, TX, Edison, NJ and Burlington, VT, among other locations, we specialize in providing temporary onsite developer and IT staffing for large companies throughout the U.S. We invite you to contact iTech today to learn more about how we can guide you through the IT staffing process.

The post Should You Give Programming Tests for Interviews When Hiring a Developer? first appeared on iTech.

Why Do I Need a Confidentiality Agreement?

A confidentiality agreement also called a non-disclosure agreement (NDA) is an important legally-binding document that protects your intellectual property and other sensitive data. An employee agrees to avoid disclosing the company’s information, practices and processes, data and clients/customers. This document which should be notarized will restrict an individual from sharing or disclosing information that could be damaging to your business. The agreement also outlines what type of information is protected and the remedies in the event of a breach, such as agreeing to compensate the company for any and all damages that arise as a direct result of the former employee’s alleged disclosure.

Some NDAs are in effect indefinitely, while others are valid for a particular time frame. Tech companies frequently specify a timeframe, as some information is only relevant or valuable for a matter of weeks, months or years. For instance, a developer who worked for Google in 2009 would likely possess little information that would be relevant to competitors in 2017, since the tech and search landscape has evolved in a very dramatic fashion. So Google might implement a three- or five-year prohibition on working for a direct competitor.

These agreements must be reasonable, or they may not be enforceable in court. If you were to prohibit employees from working with any and all other IT service providers forevermore, then it’s virtually certain a judge would deem this to be unreasonable and unenforceable.

Companies can include confidentiality-related clauses in their employment contracts too. For example, it’s common practice for tech companies to impose a prohibition on working for specific competitors for anywhere from one to five years after they leave the company. This prevents the talent from intentionally or unintentionally providing proprietary information or insight to the competition.

What are the Challenges Surrounding Confidentiality Agreements?

For employees who are working in another region whether it’s in another state or in another country you may encounter some challenges, because it can be difficult to craft an agreement that is valid in both jurisdictions. This is a significant problem in outsourcing, since you could find the confidentiality agreement is not worth the paper it’s written on. Even determining which jurisdiction’s laws prevail can be a major obstacle.

Another issue surrounds enforcement and litigation. Even if you hire an attorney to draft a legally-sound confidentiality agreement that covers you in all relevant jurisdictions, you may still face challenges if you actually need to enforce it. This gets tricky because your company may need to hire an attorney in another state or even another country. This long distance legal work can get very expensive, so it’s a key consideration. If you’re not willing or financially able to enforce the NDA or confidentiality agreement for an employee who is living/working in another region, then that document holds little water.

Legal soundness is yet another key point to weigh. Many companies take the fast and easy route by using one of the many non-disclosure/confidentiality agreement templates online. But these generic documents frequently omit key clauses and essential information. This is one area where you want to ensure that you’ve covered your bases by investing in an attorney’s services. An experienced business lawyer can examine your unique needs, drafting an agreement that will offer maximum protections to your company and its interests.

Projects that are outsourced overseas carry the highest risk in terms of confidentiality agreement breaches. The distance makes enforcement quite costly and complex, and that says nothing of the struggles associated with long distance project oversight. Deception is also far harder to detect at a distance. These factors make vetting and reference checks all the more vital during the recruiting and hiring process.

Vetting Software Developers and Tech Staff

Vetting is an important part of the hiring process for software developers, app developers, IT experts and other tech staff, as you’re entrusting these individuals with access to potentially valuable intellectual property and data. There’s virtually nothing stopping a developer from swiping source code for a proprietary software program, removing your company branding and other identifiers before selling the software on the open market (or worse, selling to a competitor!).

Vetting allows you to identify individuals who are more likely to be ethical and honest. You can also ask if the person shared information gleaned from prior employers. If an individual has a history of sharing one company’s data with another, then this is a huge red flag.

IT professionals may also have access to extensive databases. A large, niche-specific customer list can carry tremendous value on the open market, and this type of breach can have a devastating impact on your company’s image. A single incident involving a customer list disclosure holds the power to obliterate the public’s trust in your business.

The frightening part is that you may never discover that these breaches have occurred. For example, you may fail to realize that your lead developer has sold your proprietary enterprise software to the competition. This is a major concern across all industries, and it leaves many companies hesitant and considering different strategies to hire temporary tech and IT staff. It can get particularly challenging if they would require access to sensitive data.

Even the most legally-sound confidentiality or non-disclosure agreement may not phase an unethical person who has ulterior motives. They believe that with the right precautions, their betrayal will never be discovered. There is one point working in your favor, however: this type of person virtually always has a spotty history. For this reason, it’s important to thoroughly vet your developers and IT staff, performing background checks when necessary and contacting references. You can also implement tech measures to provide added peace of mind, such as sophisticated security and logging software, that monitors activity and regulates permissions to restrict access to sensitive data.

This is one advantage of working with a tech staffing firm like iTech, as we have the experience required to find trustworthy and skilled talent. In fact, many of our developers and IT professionals have worked for many of our clients, proving themselves as ethically sound individuals. Additionally, we work with IT professionals and developers from across the globe, sending talent to work for clients across the U.S. and beyond. This gives our clients an advantage in terms of accidental disclosures, as there is little chance that a former tech staffer will subsequently make an accidental disclosure to a direct, local competitor. In contrast, if you’re limited to local talent, there is a good chance temporary staff may go on to work for a local competitor.

Our company serves clients throughout the Texas Triangle (Houston, Austin and Dallas) and across the United States. We work to gain a firm understanding of your unique needs and your development project specs, which we then use to craft the perfect job description. iTech’s team oversees the entire recruiting process, providing you with a talented tech team that will maximize your company’s productivity. We invite you to contact us to learn more about our service offerings.

The post Reduce Hiring Risk: Confidentiality Agreements and Employee Vetting first appeared on iTech.

As you’re developing your hiring process for software developers, IT professionals and other tech staff, you’ll need to have a firm understanding of what these staff do in the course of their job and how they do it. For this reason, it’s advisable to work with your tech team leaders or department managers to develop the exact protocol for hiring.

Questions Your Software Developer Hiring Process Should Answer

Some aspects of your tech hiring process will be common to the entire division, whereas other elements will be specific to certain subdivisions or positions. To get started, you’ll want to spend some time on the following considerations:

• What kind of development methodology do you utilize? Virtually all modern tech teams have transitioned from a waterfall methodology to an agile methodology. Scrum is king. That said, many companies will adapt the standard methodologies to suit their unique requirements. For this reason, it’s critical that you understand the standard development methodologies and identify any areas where your company’s methodology departs from the traditional path. You may then consider candidates’ qualifications with an eye toward using your particular methods.

• How does your tech team coordinate and manage workflow? Methodology aside, how does your team coordinate workflow on a daily basis? Do you hold daily meetings or require team members to provide status reports? Do you use a portal like Jira to help coordinate your workflow? Do you have development team leaders and group captains that lead smaller sub-groups of 5 or 10 people? Understand how information is shared, how duties are determined and assigned and how everyone communicates/coordinates as the project progresses from phase to phase all contribute to job performance. Knowing these particulars can help you find individuals or teams of developers with the right mix of soft skills to fit in from the start.

• What’s your company culture? Your company culture can have a major impact on the day-to-day lives of your staff. For example, if you have a very relaxed company culture, where it’s acceptable to wear casual attire and bring your dog into the office, then this must be conveyed to staff. Conversely, if your company prefers a more rigid, formal, pet-free work environment, then new team members will need to be aware of this information.

In fact, company culture is essential information that should be mentioned during the hiring process, whether it’s a permanent employee or a temporary employee. Many companies assume that cultural fit is less important when seeking temporary team members, but a mismatch in this area can have a very adverse impact on productivity (both for the temporary staff and your permanent employees). So it’s vital that all you hire for cultural fit so the talent feels comfortable in your company’s unique workplace environment.

Hiring for Permanent vs. Temporary Staff

You’ll want to consider how the hiring process may differ for permanent staff versus temporary staff. Generally, the process is going to be more comprehensive for your permanent team members, regardless of whether they’re part-time or full-time employees. Temporary talent, by contrast, generally only needs to provide themselves with the information required to complete the project at hand.

Temporary software developers and tech staff do require some degree of post-hiring integration in most cases, particularly for more comprehensive, multi-month projects. Again, screening for the right soft skills during the hiring process will help make this process as smooth as possible.

That having been said, temporary tech staffing services may be a good solution if your company lacks the consistent work that you’d need to justify hiring a new employee. A tech staffing firm like iTech can work with your company to understand your short-term needs. Then, we can work to assemble a team that can work on-site, enabling you to leverage your in-house tech professionals in conjunction with temporary staffing resources. This software developer hiring solution is not only cost-effective in the short-term and in the long-term, but it’s also an opportunity to take on projects that you might otherwise be forced to pass up. Savvy company leaders will also use this opportunity to refine their hiring process for software developers and IT staff, helping new talent go from 0-to-60 much faster.

At iTech, we have special expertise in IT consulting and temporary on-site staffing services. This means we’re well-positioned to provide you with the talent and the advice you need to enjoy maximum productivity beginning with day one. With strategic offices in Dallas, Texas and South Burlington, Vermont, among other regions, including Canada and India, We know that time is money and our team works with companies across the United States and beyond to provide on-demand developers and IT professionals suited to your project specifications. We encourage you to contact iTech today to learn more about how we can add value to your team.

The post Why the Software Developer Hiring Process Is So Important first appeared on iTech.

In many cases, a long-term hire just doesn’t make sense, particularly if you don’t have sufficient work to keep them consistently busy. So that means you’re left with two possibilities: send the work out to an onshore or offshore service provider or you can pull temporary staff into your tech division.

Often, the decision isn’t even that black and white. In the IT and tech staffing world, traditional staff augmentation and the outsourcing model can co-exist, meeting the company’s needs in an effective way. So how does staff augmentation compare to managed services, and how do these staffing models impact your tech and software development projects?

The Managed Services Model for Tech Staffing

Outsourcing can accomplish the objectives of cutting costs, increasing value and improving the quality of the work that you receive.

Although there is no one-size-fits-all solution, outsourcing certainly does have its place in the tech industry. Some of the main advantages of this approach include the following:

• The outsourcing model is very hands-off for the client who hires the service provider. You essentially give them the project specs, answer any questions and their team will take the ball and run. This allows your company to move on and focus on other matters.
• A third party can be a great source of knowledge and ideas, whether it’s a single project or something that impacts your company’s daily operations. An outsider can often see things that you can’t, and this new perspective can be quite beneficial.
• There is a defined timeframe and budget associated with the project, paired with a greater sense of accountability, making it a bit less likely that you’ll see time or budget overruns. In-house projects are often handled in a far more nebulous manner, with little attention paid to the time investments and spec changes that ultimately result in scope creep. As a result, company leaders may not know precisely how much time and money has been spent working on a specific project. This can make future project management and budgetary planning more challenging. Managed services allow you to sidestep this type of challenge with a pre-defined project scope, budget and time frame.

The primary challenge with outsourcing is that you’re sending the entire project off-site to a third-party service provider. In this scenario, you have far less control over the project and ultimately, the final outcome. In some niches and industries, there may also be concerns over sensitive data and intellectual property. It’s not uncommon to encounter super-confidential tech projects that involve highly-proprietary technology or private corporate and personal data.

To compound matters, intellectual property laws and even contract disputes can be a nightmare when you have parties in different regions of the United States. It becomes infinitely more complex when those parties are in different areas of the world, as is often the case. So if things go wrong, they may go very wrong. Finding a legal solution could be extremely costly and logistically complex.

Many companies outsource projects that they could have largely handled in-house. It’s not uncommon for a company to find that it has the resources to complete some but not all of the phases of a project. For them, it makes more sense to use their more affordable in-house resources for most of the project. Then they can call in resources to fill in the blanks, so to speak. That’s where staff augmentation comes into play.

Is a Staff Augmentation Model Right for Your Company?

The staff augmentation approach entails more or less the opposite of outsourcing, as you’re bringing staff on-site to work side-by-side with your team members. Temporary staffing can be a great option for companies that are seeking a high degree of flexibility for their tech projects, without overspending on those resources.

Here are some of the ins and outs of using a staff augmentation approach:

• Reduced staffing costs are a major benefit of this staffing model, particularly if you leverage the services of a tech staffing firm that handles the entire recruiting, vetting and hiring process on your behalf.
• Companies enjoy greater flexibility in terms of project management, especially when it comes to the types of projects that you can handle in-house and your ability to accept new projects, particularly those that are excessively large or require a fast turnaround.
• You’ll have access to consulting and advice that can benefit your project management team and your operations as a whole. Many tech staffing firms also offer consulting services and guidance that will help you make the most of your in-house talent, while strategically selecting the right supplementary staff to meet your immediate and near-term needs. Your in-house staff can also gain great practical and tech knowledge from the temporary staff embedded in their midst.
• You will see a reduced implementation timeframe and minimal impact on projects since your core team members will remain intact. You won’t need to worry about lengthy onboarding processes or even educating a new team member on the fine points of company policies. Instead, staff augmentation allows you to pull in temporary staff who can work on-site for a single project, and in most cases, get to work straight away. You can avoid the days- or weeks-long gap that’s commonly present between an individual’s hire date and the point when the worker reaches his or her maximum productivity level. Similarly, temporary team members typically depart with minimal fanfare and virtually no disruption, a far cry from the upset that can arise when a part-time or full-time team member departs your company.

The staff augmentation model is widely favored because the downsides are few and far between. The only real scenario that you must actively guard against is a situation where you consistently hire temporary talent and as a result, project managers may fail to realize that they could benefit from one or more permanent part-time or full-time hires. But this issue can be avoided with a bit of active awareness.

Turning to an experienced tech staffing services company also gives you an advantage when it comes to the actual recruiting and hiring process, as you won’t need to tap your company’s HR and tech resources in an effort to find the right tech experts for your exact project and your unique company. Your staffing provider handles all of this on your behalf.

At iTech, we are experts in staff augmentation and have many years of experience consulting on IT and tech issues. This provides companies with the insight they need to hire talent with the tech skills and soft skills that will help clients achieve their goals. With offices in South Burlington, Vermont and Dallas, Texas, iTech also has presences in other regions of the country, and beyond, including Canada and India. So if you’re ready to take your tech projects to the next level and need the right staff for the job, contact the iTech team today.

The post A Look at Staff Augmentation vs an Outsourcing Model for IT and Tech Staffing first appeared on iTech.