I want to a start a new membership site, the site itself is going to be very complicated with many specific features, I don't have any knowledge in web development but which is better, using a web development company or a freelancer? i am sure a freelancer would cost less but what are the pros and cons? thanks
I would say hire a company. You can ask their info beforehand and verify the informations such as phone no, address, etc. Make sure they are "exist" Freelance is cost saver. Nevertheless, some of them do have bad trade. I have been scammed 3 times and all of them are freelance. Not saying all freelance are bad, but just better to spend a little more off your money worth.
Thanks proxywhereabouts. Can anyone recommend any good companies online? I've heard that indian companies are much cheaper than others, but are they any good? has anyone delt with any of them? Thanks
some company also open by one freelancer, haha both are good. but a freelancer you will more easy contact with them.
for your kind information... our Bangladeshi companies can provide cheap and quality service also. Bangladesh is located just beside India. u r welcome... thanks
The important thing you should take into consideration is communication. If you think the comany and you isn't going to have good communication, then I would suggest you to find another..its a known barrier that can make a job screwed/messed. No offense. Wish you luck in your project. Cheers,
Communication is really very important. The pros for using a freelancer is that he/she usually is more open and available more often? Big companies always plan meetings, a lot of bureaucracy... But it really depends on your project. If it is a big project that involves trading, financial stuff, etc., then going for companies is advised. Having a site "developed by John" doesn't look very good, unless John is very popular
Freelancer Pro: Cheap Cons: What happens if they get run over or are sick? If they are on holiday when your site goes down? If things go badly wrong what securities do they have to pay damages? What if they get bored half way through and cant be bothered finishing? Many do freelance around other jobs so you can only get them when they arent at their "day job" Company Pro: Have redundencies so if the above occurs then another employee steps up to the plate, more people = wider skills, greater accountability, greater availability Cons: Expensive - employing people 35hrs a week irrespective of work load, paying for offices, stationary, accountants etc all add overheads Obviously this is somewhat of a polarised view as there are some exceptional freelancers and some terrible companies but the above is a rule of thumb. You can look to none "western" countries where cost of living is lower and therefore charges are lower but if you and your developer live in the same country laws are easy to enforce, if you and they are in closely associated countries (eg USA/ Canada/ UK etc) then it isnt as easy but is certainly enforcable. Go to a very remote country (in legal terms - eg USA & Cambodia) and you are highly unlikely to ever be able to use legal means if things go very wrong (eg developer runs off with your money). Language is also a big consideration, make sure you speak to them, preferably by phone or MSN or equiv - I have worked with indian developers before and whilst as coders they were very good cultural differences meant that requirements werent always interprited correctly.
Very difficult indeed. Let me tell you something from my own experience. I have a web design company in Sweden. Before i started this company i worked as a freelancer too, and in some days i still do. The very big difference is that when the freelancer does not have the time he will put on hold your project for who knows how much time. A freelancer never has only 1 project to do..Never. A respected web design company values the client first and makes the schedule after his time and money possibilities, like i do. I have "bookings" till April but if an old client comes to me and says..hey do this site for me...i can't let him down...but i'm not putting other project on hold too. Cheap work is not always the worst one..from my experience with India i can say that 70% are scams, especially the SEO ones. At least you have a contract with the company and you can complain if the site is not as you wanted to be. Believe me a web design company can't afford bad reputation.it's hard to get to a higher level. If your budget is somehow limited do more research on small cities..Don't go straight to New York or Luxembourg for example. Wish you luck
You should not bother just post your project at freelance website like www.getafreelnacer.com and let many people bid it, be it freelancer or a web development company, first ask him to deliver the complex part, that way you will be sure of not loosing money.
I would say hire a web development company, because a freelancer is only good and cost effective if you know and have some prior knowledge of web development so that you can tell the freelancer what to do exactly. Then you will save money via the freelancing route. I think if you have no knowledge of web development at all then go for a company who can do everything for you. IMO.
I do lots of custom jobs in web development for lots of different kinds of people and small businesses. I think freelancers are much easier to have contact with, they do not have the "corpo" mindset and are not 100% in it only for the money! Most, at least myself to not require you to have any knowledge of web development, and are much easier to work with personally. What kind of job do you need done?
I would actually have said the reverse is more commonly true.... freelancer you have a single person who is naturally going to have to be technical.... within a company you will have both technical and non-technical staff who are used to dealing with each other and so talking in a way that both can understand. Larger companies or particular specialist ones will even have dedicated people (project managers or business analysts) who's main role is to cross the divide and facilitate conversation between tech and business
I need to comment this a little. If the web designer is working as a freelancer on his time than it's not good? If you call him in the morning at the company it makes you feel better? I don't think anyone came to this world with the CSS book in his hands. It's a tough subject to talk about due to the different types of people...Believe me you can get scammed by a company too..So i guess it's about luck..
If you call him in the evening and he is moonlighting (surprised anyone doesnt have some form of anti-competition clause in their contract) it would have to make you consider how important things like contracts are to them... they are willing to break their contract of employment that is paying their bills are they really going to be bothered with your contract that is only earning them pocket money? However, you missed my point.... you call your programmer in the evening and they talk about APIs and XML parsing, you call your web development company in the day and speak to the project manager instead of the developer and they talk about the communication between your site and Amazon (plus in the mean time the developer continues actually developing your site and doesnt have their concentration broken to try and find a common language with you)