App Developers for Hire

by: Adam Fingerman | Oct 2, 2015

App developers for hire and app designers for hire span from individuals, hobbyists and students with limited experience all the way to trusted professional app development companies like ArcTouch, with experienced mobile app developers who have successfully designed and developed over 350 app projects. We have a proven track record to handle anything, including mobile strategy, visual design, mobile app development and testing, deployment and follow on maintenance.

HIRING AN APP DEVELOPMENT COMPANY

Do any Internet search for “best app development company for hire” or “best app developers for hire” or “hire mobile app developers” and you’ll discover hundreds of search results and dozens of “paid advertisements” for application developers and app development companies. You can also search on craigslist where you’ll find individuals, students and hobbyists with limited experience, or you can post projects onto eLance to find offshore firms who offer cut rate per hour prices.

These firms may seem like the ideal option, but you’ll find that you need two or three times the number of people to get the project completed (eliminating any cost savings). You’ll also need to create explicit specifications for them to follow and be in constant communication with them (often via Skype or equivalent at midnight while they work), or be prepared for a real discrepancy between what you wanted in your app, and what you actually get from them.

ArcTouch has taken over many “distressed projects” that have gone awry from inexperienced developers who have incorrectly built the app, under estimated the time or cost to do it right, or have simply stopped work and are holding the code in as “ransom” until the client pays more money.

APP DEVELOPERS FOR HIRE – TIPS

You will encounter a wide variety of rates and prices from app developers for hire. When hiring an app development company, don’t be tempted by price alone – it’s become clear that app development is one area where you do get what you pay for. Beware of a low-ball estimate for the whole project or the daily rate of the project team. You should ask any application development company questions like these:

APP DEVELOPMENT COMPANY

Is it a real company that you can trust, or a bunch individuals and freelancers working together?
How many apps have they developed that are actually shipping in the app stores?
What platforms do they have expertise in? ArcTouch knows iOS, Android, Windows, Xamarin and more.
Can they do the app user interface and visual design work? How about the backend web services work?
Do they handle deployment in the app stores and on-going maintenance?
What is their business model? Do they sell their own apps? Watch out for conflicts of interest!
What is the deliverable? Is source code included? Who owns it? Clarity of ownership is key.
Have they been recognized as a top app developer by independent authority?

CUSTOMERS

How many of their clients are “recognizable” Fortune 500, name brands, leading media companies?
Can they provide references to these recognizable clients?
How many of their apps have reached the #1 spot, received industry award recognition, or reached over 1M downloads?
Do they know “insiders” at Apple, Google, and Microsoft to help get your app “noticed”?
Do they have a portfolio of recognizable showcase apps?

APP DEVELOPMENT TEAM

What’s the average experience of their app developers? Mobile experience? Back-end development experience?
Do they have experience with modern experiences – AR, chatbots, IOT, and more?
Are they direct employees of the app development company or are they a network of freelancers without any accountability?
Where are they located? Can the app developers for hire actually work on-site at your location, side-by-side with your team?
Do they provide a dedicated product manager who manages the process, or do you have to manage it via Skype and email, at 12 midnight?

PROCESS

Have you seen a detailed estimate showing each functional area and the number of days it will take to design, develop and test?
How often will you get status updates?
Can you have kick-off meetings, app design meetings and status meetings in person at their office?
What is the project tracking site/system you use to track documentation?
How often will you get actual test apps to try out on your phone or tablet?
Do they provide a password protected location for you to download and install your app regularly during development?
How often can you have in person meetings with your team?
Is the app user interface design and other creative work done in-house or outsourced?

TESTING

Who does QA (quality assurance)? Have they included QA in the estimate?
Do their app developers test on actual devices? Which devices? How many? Which OS versions and languages?
Do they do test-driven development?
Do they do automated testing?
Do they use a continuous build server?

The answers to these questions will vary considerably from vendor to vendor, and many app development companies will not be able to answer them.

We’ll answer any question from the list above.

We provide full transparency into our company, our processes, our estimates, and our app design, development and testing methods. When you hire ArcTouch as your app development company, you’ll have a dedicated product manager who handles the whole process for you, and a team of mobile app designers and app development experts with the collective experience of having completed over 350 app projects. We sweat the details so you don’t have to. Your app is delivered exactly as you want it.