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App Development

What are the rates for development studios in Western Europe

The Tagline agency lists on its website the following average hourly rates for studio IT-specialists:

Developer. 30$/hour;

Designer/illustrator. $25/hour;

Project Manager. $25/hour;

Analyst. 30$/hour;

Tester. 20$₽/hour.

Rates like these will make up your project’s estimate when assessed by the studio. Cheaper in the regions in the capitals – maybe several times more expensive, it depends on the eminence and demand for the studio.

Depending on the goals of the project, work and payment are carried out according to one of two models:

Fixed price.

The model assumes that for the approved budget within the approved timeframe, the studio creates the things specified in the terms of reference. Suitable when the goal is to make the project by a specific date or the project is small and does not require improvements. The negative side is that the performer may neglect the quality of performance in order to meet the deadline and not receive a fine;

Time & Materials.

The model is suitable for large projects or projects whose owner will constantly change tasks in search of the right solution. You pay after the fact for the man-hours that the team spent on solving individual tasks. This path is good when you have a flexible budget and a project with a new business idea worth testing, or when you want to refine an existing one. The downside is only constant communication, but this and plus – you participate in the project, follow its movement and direct it.

Useful tips to choose IT development company:

Perhaps someone in your social circle has already launched a mobile application. Find out about the studio that worked on the product: in what manner its representatives are used to communicating with the client, how deeply they try to understand the goals and objectives, how close the communication of the project manager during development, were there any unpleasant surprises, how much did the mobile application cost.

Even people you don’t know can respond to your request for feedback on working with a particular studio. Choose a random client from the portfolio of the studio you are interested in and write to him or look for reviews on Clutch, in social networks and in general on the Internet.

If you are looking for quality interaction with the artist and the same result, pay attention to the time the studio has been on the market, the size of its staff, geographical location and portfolio. What considerations should be based on:

  • Studios with a small staff are rarely able to produce a high-level result – due to a banal lack of hands;
  • The standard of living in the regions affects the hourly rate of studio employees. The services of professionals from Siberia cost less than the services of professionals from the capital, and they can do their job just as well;
  • A studio operating on the market for two years or more already has both experience and a portfolio;

Portfolio will tell you a lot: what size clients trusted this studio, how well the studio does its job, and most importantly, whether it has previously created a product similar to yours. If yes, then you are lucky, because the studio already understands your problems and the problems of the market, and work on the project will go faster at all stages.

Many studios describe their work experience in a blog on their website or on industry sites like habr.com, cmsmagazine.ru, vc.ru and others. You can find the right studio by googling about your project and mobile app development in general: someone has written an article or a case about it. Through content marketing, studios create an image for themselves in the industry: boldly report on successes and just as boldly on mistakes that, most likely, will not be repeated when working with you.

A good and responsible studio will never evaluate a project based on your story and brief alone. Perhaps she looks at your project through some kind of template or one-time experience of working on similar tasks. But every project is unique.

A sign of a mature and competent studio is a caustic account manager who holds meeting after meeting with you, asking a lot of questions and pulling all the details of the upcoming work out of you. The result of such communication is a phased assessment of the project and a willingness to explain why each stage should take that much time and cost that much money.

To get a complete picture of the prices on the market and the quality of the work of contractors, we advise you to contact several studios. It is better if there are no more than 10 of them, otherwise it will be difficult for you to choose and you will have to spend too much time communicating with studio representatives and comparing their offers. If you decide to tender between several studios, we do not recommend making low price the main criterion for choosing a contractor. Compare participants by portfolio, quality and speed of communication, beauty of design, experience of specialists, completeness and accuracy of commercial offers.

How to work with freelancers

Live Typing has been working with freelancers for almost two years. They help a lot in a situation where there are not enough full-time employees to create an interesting product. For us, freelancers are divided into four types:

  • Specialists who are engaged only in freelancing. The most efficient. In theory, they can devote all their time only to your project;
  • “Half people” who combine freelancing with the main place of work. Work is a priority for them, so they can postpone deadlines and simply disappear. To avoid unpleasant surprises on the project associated with this type of freelancer, you will need the ability to negotiate;
  • Developers who quit their jobs but haven’t found a new one yet. The inconvenience is that they can find it in some moment;
  • Young teams that are just entering the market and experienced companies. The former can work for you with a full complement, the latter can sell the time of their employees.

They value their image, so their responsibility is higher than that of lone freelancers.

The main advantage of freelancers is low cost.

their services. The main disadvantage is the lack of personal interest in your project, which most likely will have a bad effect on both timing and quality.

Our recommendations for working with freelancers will help reduce the risks:

  • Formulate the key search parameters: what programming language the developer should write in, what tasks he will face, how many hours he should work and in what terms;
  • Choose freelancers through proven channels: exchanges Freelancing, My Circle, workspace.ru and fl.ru and via the Telegram channels Web Freelance, PHP – jobs, job search and analytics, Mobile Dev Jobs – jobs and analytics, Apple, iOS Jobs — vacancies, job search and analytics, “AndroidDev : Development. It`s Android time now!”, Design Hunters, “QA – vacancies and analytics of the job market”, “Bitrix work” and “Work in game development”;
  • Pay attention to the experience in commercial development – it should be at least two years;
  • Specify at what time the freelancer is available for communication and whether he is able to devote at least 20 hours a week to your project;
  • Provide yourself with a choice of 2-3 good specialists: if one disappears, you can try to turn to another;
  • Ask a freelancer for an estimate of each task and add 30-50% of the time received to it for safety net;
  • Control its work: arrange daily rallies, learn about the procedure for working on tasks, ask for clarification and updating of this assessment;
  • Let the freelancer feel like a part of the team: introduce him to everyone involved in the project, tell him in detail about the rules, be interested in his views to work situations.

Following these guidelines will help build strong professional relationships.