When working on an offshore software project, is it best to hire offshore DevOps engineers or offshore full stack Coders to implement various software tasks? What factors should be considered to solve the challenge of hiring the best offshore development team for a software project?
With the implementation of Information Technology Operations (DevOps), software product owners have the freedom to choose between DevOps and full-stack as their primary skill set for software development services. Full-stack programmers are adept at creating front-end and back-end applications using modern programming languages and tools. (Need Full Stack Coders?)
On the other hand, DevOps are developers who are subject matter experts in specific implementation areas such as server-side programming, database management, or application programming. They also need to have expertise in one or more languages and tools used in that development area.
Full Stack Coders Vs DevOps Developers
Before deciding whether to hire an offshore full-stack developer or DevOps engineer, it is highly recommended to review the existing requirements of your business enterprise. Here are the essential factors that need to be addressed to make a definitive decision. (Get Full Stack Coders in economical hourly rate)
The complexity of the software stack. Today, software stacks are more diverse and variable. For example, Java now has two runtime environments; MySQL is not the only database solution; there is NoSQL, and the list goes on. So if you have an overly complex application stack, it’s futile to ask your full-stack developers to be experts in many technologies; it’s wise to choose DevOps and hire skilled people who specialize in a particular technology for each stack component.
The need for agile execution. Adopting Agile is for applications that are trying to keep up with the turbulent consumer industry. There is tremendous competition among similar companies to deliver the nearest feature, which affects the balance of any customer based on the utility the part brings.
If you’re an industry-facing company and need a solution that doesn’t require regular changes beyond white labeling for your customers, DevOps is not the recommended choice. You will perform better as an enterprise if you use a full-stack developer who can manage small application version changes and maintenance requirements.
Required team size and available budget. The team size for each project depends largely on your ability to allocate funds to hire a team, not on the application’s requirements. However, this can be an inefficient approach. Team size should be determined based on the complexity of the application and the specific expertise required for application development.
If it is a complex application that strives to be modular and uses various stacks, you should choose DevOps resources. Otherwise, for less complicated applications with limited scope and some update requirements, a full-stack developer is a good choice.
For complex application development, budget is a critical factor in hiring an offshore DevOps team. Offshore developers are typically more expensive to engage in exchange for their detailed background in their assigned tasks. If your budget is pretty low, you can consider a full-stack developer instead.
Future growth plans. Many startups launch new application products, usually regularly. Others try to do unscheduled software releases, which can drain time and resources, despite the limited ROI. Startups will need to adopt offshore DevOps to maintain a competitive advantage. Companies should be proactive based on their future growth plans. In doing so, they need to evaluate whether their application suite is adequate or profitable in the future. It would help if you also considered whether your chosen application is subject to frequent change or whether you have legacy applications that may evolve.
Executing software projects with agility
The agile process has been widely adopted as an “experimental model” by prominent Silicon Valley companies for many years. And through iteration, agile has become necessary in software development to get the job done quickly enough to launch a product efficiently and successfully.
However, in recent software development, the agility to create quickly, deliver regular updates, and provide continuous improvement has become a massive burden for offshore full-stack developers. By getting things done as fast as possible, full-stack developers ensure enough time to keep things on pace and consistent. Agility is not something that a full-stack developer can fully deliver.
However, offshore DevOps engineers are there to provide agility. They have the requisite background in enterprise architecture, application development environments, testing methodologies, etc., and an improved perspective that shifts things around to get the entire project done on time.
Budget constraints to hire Full stack developers or DevOps Engineers
Sometimes, the best concepts are often supported by limited funds. For software projects with small budgets, choose a full-stack developer. Just as this type of expert is an all-rounder, he is well-versed in all trades. A full-stack developer can get things done as quickly as an expert, yet at a much lower cost.
Fast Scalability
When it comes to scaling, you can extend the functionality of your product or increase your service or business offering. Either way, you will need to increase your resources, especially person-hours. If scaling up is an issue for your product’s features to improve its current ranking, you will need to hire offshore DevOps engineers. For this purpose, it is essential to do work that will enhance the product’s overall functionality. (hire Full Stack Coders)
Contrary, if you would like to expand your current service offering, you will need more person-hours for full-stack developers. A full-stack developer has the flexibility to spend more time writing code for the target programming language and platform. Also, the all-in-one functionality of the application helps to quickly release a minimal viable product or wireframe before starting the final release.
Conclusion
Offshore DevOps and full-stack software development are both equally complex software development principles. Both have their development environments, goals, and objectives. In some cases, full-stack developers help drive growth, while in other instances, DevOps engineers move software projects forward.
Software development choices are made based on specific requirements, required software stack, expected agility, and time horizon. It is also based on the budget needed for scaling the resources.
In short, there is no correct answer to choosing full-stack developers or DevOps for a software development project. It all depends on the actual needs of the business at the time of hiring the offshore development team.