Finding a Ready-Made Dev Team? 294
marshrew writes "We are a small startup just coming out of a period of R&D with IP and prototype code (containing open source, commercial & freelancer-built custom components) developed/integrated in-house by essentially one guy. We're at the point where we want to build out first commercial implementation which will require a handful of developers for at least six months. We really don't have time or funds to go through a developer recruiting cycle, create a practice, get the team "gelled" etc. What we'd really like to do is find a small pre-existing team which which we could form a relationship to get our product out the door and possibly continue working with. We don't mean a splinter group from a larger dev house, but an agile, self-contained team, who enjoy working together and have an existing practice. Geography is not a problem as we are used to working in a distributed manner." Does such an animal exist? What have other teams done in a situation like this?
OSS Community? (Score:2, Interesting)
Be cool enough (Score:2, Interesting)
Motivation is a key factor among geeks. Spread awareness of the project, show people that it's worth something, and that its success is in their best interests, and you can stand back and watch the magic. Of course, that's easier said than done. Learn to manage your geeks [fastcompany.com].
Consulting Engineers (Score:3, Interesting)
I would be surprised if you couldn't find consulting engineers (no clue what you call them in English) that specialize in software development. While I don't personally know of any, try calling around to various consulting engineers, or visit in person if there are any in the local area. I know that my employer had calls like that at least once a week (not software development though), and they never had a problem in directing people to the right company (knowing that they in turn will direct people to them). Even if they don't know a company for sure, they'll probably know who might know, or they'll get curious and start asking around themselves.
I hope this helps - and if you manage to find some that do this, by all means tell the rest of us - we never know if it might come in handy.
Re:IBM Global Services (Score:5, Interesting)
Another poster also comments on long term support and maintenance. Combine all these factors, and I would strongly recommend keeping it in house. Yes, it's a pain, but it'll be better in the long run.
In any event, good luck.
Funding is a problem and will remain a problem. (Score:5, Interesting)
This has been touched on recently in some blogs ( http://www.wilshipley.com/blog/ [wilshipley.com] and http://www.drunkenblog.com/drunkenblog-archives/0
And no, they don't even need to be in college. Two of the most impressive code monkeys I know dropped out of High School.....
How IBM Conned My Execs Out Of Millions (Score:5, Interesting)
This is a first-person account of how IBM was able to con my execs out of millions of dollars. Gullible management tries to swim with the shark and gets chewed to pieces. Witness the exec-level FUD sales techniques and the $325/hr subcontractor labor bait and switch.... More... [kuro5hin.org]
What's in it for the developers? (Score:5, Interesting)
I don't mean to be facetious. It's just the team you describe would normally be 90% of the value of a company, so they will be in the position of strength. In their position my first question would be "Why should we go with you when we could probably get to same position by ourselves?", especially given that you seem to be low on resources.
build your own (Score:2, Interesting)
My experiences from a few years freelance consulting in mid-sized development projects are:
Of course, there are also downsides to building your own team, and you are probably aware of them. I would go and build my own.
Have you looked at... (Score:1, Interesting)
It's the Software Contractors' Guild. An organization of Software Contractors and Consultants worldwide.
You can list by many aspects.
NO, no, no, ... (Score:4, Interesting)
Disclaimer: I don't work for them, I do NOT receive any $$$ from them, but most of them are former University colleagues of mine, and I can vow for their honesty and seriousness. Visit their website, give their clients a call, give them a call, IIRC they can even send someone to talk to you in person.
Recommendation (Score:5, Interesting)
These are a varied and skilled bunch of coding mercenaries, and they quickly and graciously executed a number of small projects for me (figureheading for a small company that was the actual customer). Their prices are a bit higher than your run-of-the-mill Indian/Chinese shop, but that was compensated by their ability to think for themselves and produce a working product off a simple, not overly detailed spec. Also, and I find this important, they ask questions rather than stumbling into blind alleys. As I mentioned, I'm a one man show and my projects were small, on the order of few man-weeks, and I was sorry not to have a decent-sized job for them to chew on. They certainly suggested they had manpower in reserve.
No, I'm not affiliated or kickbacked or anything. I'm just a satisfied customer and would likely hire them again for the next project that comes up.
Re:How IBM Conned My Execs Out Of Millions (Score:2, Interesting)
Nice link, but it has zero relevancy to our relationship with IBM. If you're an idiot and don't manager hourly billing with any vendor you will get burned. That's especially true when dealing with lawyers and more so with Certified Public Crooks^H^H^H^H^H Accountants. For programmers you will get burned if you don't give them good specs and make sure they're giving you what you need as they're building. The sooner you correct a programmer the cheaper it is.
Also, in the link the guy admitted:
There was one IBM consultant on site, and a second would show up occasionally.
The nine IBM programmers we had were in the office next door. Every single day I saw their progress. The project manager was in town for a minimum of two days per week. Paying $325/hour to a group of programmers you never meet sounds like a recipe for disaster. If they're software isn't doing what you need, then you won't know it until later and it will be more expensive to fix.
We paid about $75/hour for 40 hours per week (even though IBM required they work many more hours per week) plus living expenses (which weren't that much since the owner of the company owns an apartment complex and the grocery store next door to it and the restaurant in our office building). I've heard that IBM charges more now, but I don't know their current rates. From hints I got from the programmers as to their pay, I think they made about $2k per week which comes-out to $50/hour for 40 hours (well, they really worked about 110 hours per week so that comes-out to $18/hour without overtime). All nine guys were pretty good, and we brought in a friend of the owner that's a world-class programmer. They worked well with him even though he wasn't an IBM employee like the rest.
And in all the years of working with GS, I have never seen them subcontract. Every single person I met that worked for them did not work for a contractor of IBM. That article claimed IBM subcontracted and then the subcontractor hired sub-subcontractors. The article's claim is a load of crap from what I've seen.
Another way to look at it is, how would you find a group of local guys that work together well that are all willing to work 80+ hours per week? The time constraints we had were severe so I needed a few good programmers that could work a lot. I didn't have time to keep training new people or holding meetings so a large group could stay current. I can't find a single descent programmer locally, and I've been in IT for 34 years. I called IBM and two weeks later their team was in the office. They were all friends. They had all worked together. Since they were out of town and all single, they were able to work about 15/hours per day 7 days per week we needed. We were so happy with them that we not only paid for every meal. We brought it to them. We hired chefs to cook for them in their apartments so they could save time. We hired maids at our expense to keep their apartments clean and to wash their clothes. We gave them $3k cash to upfit their office. We wouldn't have done those things unless we were happy with them.
Re:Dev Team hiring (Score:2, Interesting)
On the whole, this is good advice. However, I would like to provide more detail here:
You can do this if you core IP is marketing and after you have been established. Nike would be one classic example where the company thinks of itself as a marketer of shoes not a maker of them. Tom Hilfiger use to be a bunch of upscale shops in New York - and now they make their money licensing the name.
The key wrinkle is start-up companies. I think it is possible to have management be your core competency. The fact that you are taking the chance, approving the specs, and bringing something to market that hasn't existed before (and fills an important need) is something of value. The problem with this is two-fold: 1. It is difficult to do and 2. Once you prove it is possible, you will spawn copy-cats (let's face it, management is not a specialized skill). Neither puts you in the position for the long term success of a Google, Yahoo or whatever.