In-House or Freelance Web Developers? Choose What’s Best For Your Business
In 2022, no business, big or small, can exist without an internet presence. A website is a way to promote your business, find new customers and expand. But building it and, what’s more, maintaining it, is not an easy task. How do you do it? And do you need to hire in-house or freelance web developers?
In-house or freelance web developers
So, the time has come for you to create a website — or, maybe, to revamp your current one. How should one go about it? Should you hire a freelancer or an in-house web developer?
It’s an easy question. but the answer is an unsatisfying “it depends.” It depends on the size of your project and your business needs. There’s nothing inherently wrong with freelancers, but any big and ambitious project requires constant upkeep, and for that, you need in-house developers.
Why?
A freelancer can be great for building a website — preferably medium-sized at best. Freelancers are good at what they do, and their price is often reasonable. They can become a part of your team and help an even bigger project, but as soon it’s over, they are gone, too. Their philosophy is: the more jobs, the better, as experience helps them find the next project to work on. Reputation is everything. On the one hand, it means they are highly motivated to do good, no matter the task’s difficulty. On the other, they aren’t “your” developers for long, so as soon as they’re done, they move on.
In-house developers are looking for a steady job and are ready for projects of any magnitude; they aren’t in a hurry to move on, and however — and whenever — you decide to scale up, they’ll be ready to assist. They are also good advisors: if you’re unsure what to do next, your salaried developers can help with a roadmap.
The other reason is more trivial: any website needs maintenance, and the bigger it is, the more issues can arise. It’s just the way it is. Finding developers to patch holes every time is not ideal, while in-house developers, who already know your site inside and out, will be able to fix things quickly.
The price
And yet, one thing we can’t ignore is the price. Freelancers aren’t perfect, but they are considerably cheaper. So, if you can’t afford to pay a salary yet, your choice is obvious. But if you can, and your project is important, then you should consider going with an in-house developer. Better be safe than sorry.