If you’re considering hiring from the best app development companies then you can expect to pay a higher price to develop your app yet have the confidence you can get a complete app development solution in one place or you can choose to work with an expert app programmer on-on-one and are more likely to get an app developed cheaply.
No matter which direction you choose you want to make sure that you invest the time required to find the right partners to assist you with your app development project.
I specifically call this a “Project” because that is how you should be thinking of it yourself. There are many aspects to the project and just one of those is the technical skill of writing and assembling the code for your app.
There are two critical things to remember when choosing between an app development agency or just a programmer to work on your app:
1. Not all programmers are created equal. There are a variety of specialised skills within the spectrum of programming and development and some app programmers may be better at delivering on certain styles or types of applications.
2. Price does not always reflect quality. The highest priced developer doesn’t guarantee they know what they are doing and the cheapest may not be the worst, nor may they be the best choice even if you are working on a tight budget.
There is a clear differentiation that I would like to make here, and that is in the difference between app programmers and app development companies.
Depending on the size and complexity of the project, along with their own available skills and resources, some people choose to engage programmers just to work on the technical aspects of their app and co-ordinate all of the other elements themselves.
Whereas others may choose to engage an app development company who has a team of people who can work on all aspects of an app where it is a mostly hands-off process once the final specification is agreed upon.
When choosing an app development company, you want to make sure they are stable, have the resources that they claim and are capable of delivering on your expectations. As with programmers, development companies are not all created equal either and what may appear to be bright and shiny on the surface may not be all it is made out to be when your project gets delayed or isn’t developed to the agreed specification.
When choosing to simply hire a programmer for your app(perhaps using one of the outsourcer portals like freelancer.com.au or Guru.com) you are basically just paying for the technical skill of programming. In many cases a programmer will need to be given far more direction and is will design your app as well as the specification you have provided (i.e. an incomplete app spec given to a programmer may lead to a poorly designed and unprofitable app).
However, referring back to my earlier comment on price, in many cases here with low value, outsourced overseas programmers, it is a case of “you get what you pay for” more often than not.
There are certainly some creative ways to sort the good from the bad when it comes to working with overseas app programmers and there are certainly some exceptionally talented people out there, but you need to be prepared to manage this project to ensure it stays on track.
In choosing an app developer you are afforded a bit more breathing room, in many cases take over the management of your project and contribute their expertise to ensure that things are done right and on time (at least that is what you are hoping for).
A development company will traditionally have people working for them that can provide you with all the assistance you need, on every part of your project from exploring the initial idea through to launching your app in the market.
One of the challenges when looking at app development companies to work with is that they might seem like they are ticking all of the boxes on the surface to create the impression that they are a legitimate company however underneath, there is no substance and all of their work is outsourced to overseas development companies. You are basically hiring an expensive project manager (and maybe not even a very good one) who is actually passing themselves off as an app developer.
Once you have removed the bottom layer of the industry, there are a variety of reputable companies around who have their own resources within Australia or use overseas resources that they have more control of than a $3/hr programmer, and these reputable app developers can provide competitive quotes on your project and deliver a reliable service that will ultimately enhance the value of your app when it is released to the market.